Opinion | Editorials
Capital seeks growth through diversification
Non-oil investment is a vital reminder of the strong fundamentals of Abu Dhabi.
- Gulf News
- Published: 23:38 January 8, 2009
Abu Dhabi has set out its optimistic and demanding economic vision for the next 21 years, forecasting that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will have grown by five-fold by 2030, that the crucial oil sector will have substantial investments, and that the non-oil sector will have caught up to become half of the total economy. As the emirate seeks to diversify away from oil into a whole range of new sectors, its confidence in seeking non-oil investment is an important reminder of the exceptional fundamentals of the emirate. It has one of the world's largest reserves of hydrocarbons yet to be extracted, and it has one of the world's largest financial reserves based on decades of successful extraction.
The vigorous plan for growth takes a long-term view. It recognises that there will be years when there are ups and downs, but it reminds the world that the present recession will not last forever, and that Abu Dhabi (and by inference the UAE and Gulf states) will help lead the world back into a more upbeat economy in time.
The Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 also has very important social messages. It explicitly lays out a strategy of building a large and successful economy in which jobs will be created for the future large population of UAE nationals, demanding good education and effective training to create that workforce. At the same time the Vision 2030 emphasises that the emirate must take steps to attract and retain highly skilled expatriates.
This vital emphasis on the human potential makes the Vision 2030 especially powerful in its blunt recognition that the emirate's educational sector was still "in its infancy", and its call for world class education and research to become part of Abu Dhabi. Economies, industries, GDPs, all come down to people, and it is important that Abu Dhabi's vision places such importance on that from the start.
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