Abu Dhabi To Invest Dh300 Billion In Power, Water Resilience, Reveals UAE Official

As global economies remain rattled by the fallout of the recent regional conflict, the Gulf's response has been to double down rather than pull back.

That was the message from panellists at the Hili Forum's plenary on "The Gulf and the World: Navigating the New Geoeconomic Reality" in Abu Dhabi on Monday, where officials and economists argued the crisis had exposed both the region's vulnerabilities and its growing weight in the global economic order.

Speaking on the panel, Abdulaziz Al Obaidli, Director General of Regulatory Affairs at the UAE's Department of Energy, revealed that Abu Dhabi is planning investments exceeding Dh300 billion ($81.7 billion) in its power and water systems over the coming decades, with billions of dollars expected annually from foreign investment alone.

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Al Obaidli said the recent regional conflict had reinforced a shift in how energy security is defined, adding "Energy security is ultimately a question of system resiliency, not only production capacity." He said this meant designing physical infrastructure, from generation and networks to storage and digital systems, to anticipate disruption, maintain continuity and recover quickly, rather than treating individual assets in isolation. Quoting Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, he said, "The UAE does not stop and will not stop," adding that global investor confidence requires continuous investment in regulatory transparency and system resilience.

Al Obaidli also pointed to the UAE's advantage in attracting artificial intelligence infrastructure, noting that unlike Western markets where developers can wait years to secure grid connections, the UAE can make power available ahead of data infrastructure being built, an advantage reflected in major investments from OpenAI, Oracle and G42 under the Stargate project in the UAE.

Fellow panellist Dr Samir Saran, President of India's Observer Research Foundation, said the crisis had reinforced the Gulf's centrality to a far larger global economy than energy exports alone, demonstrating its resilience and reliability as a partner across technology and investment.

Róbert Vass, founder and president of Slovakia's GLOBSEC, said the war had shown how deeply regional conflicts are now tied to global systems, pointing to Slovakia's own experience reducing its dependence on Russian gas, which stood at 80 per cent four years ago, only to find itself newly exposed to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. He cited aviation industry data showing Middle East revenue falls of 57 per cent for Lufthansa, roughly 53 per cent for KLM and 50 per cent for British Airways, alongside a nearly 49 per cent rise for Iberia, arguing this reflected a redistribution of global connectivity rather than vanishing demand.

Dr Ralf Wiegert, Head of the Middle East and North Africa economic forecasting team at S&P Global Market Intelligence, pointed to improving regional purchasing managers' index data as evidence of economic resilience through the crisis, forecasting a strong rebound in regional growth, both oil and non-oil, through 2027 and 2028. The session was moderated by Salim A. Essaid, Business Editor at The National.

The third edition of the Hili Forum is being held at The St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort under the theme "Gulf at Crossroads: Conflict, Consequences and Course Correction," jointly organised by ECSSR and AGDA.

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