UAE's Economic Resilience Is Built On Friendship And Partnerships, Says Minister

The UAE's economic resilience cannot be bought or created overnight; it has to be built through strong partnerships, friendships and forward-looking policies, Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri said.

Speaking during a session titled 'Building the National Narrative', at the Arab Media Summit, Bin Touq said the UAE's approach was to first envision what it wanted to achieve, understand why it wanted it and how it would be done, before moving to implementation.

“Resilience cannot be bought. Yes, the storm has hit. Yes, our banks stood still. Our government stood still. But resilience is built,” he said.

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He described resilience as the“insurance of economies”, saying the UAE was incorporating it into the way it designs its policies and plans for future growth.

Bin Touq said economic diversification should increasingly be viewed through the lens of friendship rather than simply partnerships, as economies seek greater resilience in an increasingly fragmented global environment.

“When we talk about diversification, we don't talk about partnership, we talk about friendship,” he said.

He explained that traditional economic thinking focused on finding the cheapest supplier or the fastest route, while economies today need to consider resilience and redundancy.

“What does it mean when it comes to our friendship? What does it mean when it comes to our partnership? We need more friendships and more partners when we come forward designing the resilience,” he said.

Bin Touq also highlighted the role of government communication and journalism in shaping how the UAE's development is understood globally.

“When you have a great policy and good journalism and great government communication, the answer is Dubai. The answer is what you see today,” he said.

He said the world was experiencing increasingly fragmented policies, but argued that this should not come at the expense of prosperity.

The minister also pointed to Dubai's approach of turning ideas into action as a key part of the UAE's national narrative.

“We design what we want, we say why we want it, how we're going to do it, then we go and do it,” he said.

Referring to the crises of recent months, he said the UAE had maintained the same economic message rather than changing its communication in response to external shocks.

“Diversification is one, connectivity is two, investment is three, and that's the kind of aspect that we want to push forward to keep this message ongoing,” he said.

Bin Touq also stressed that during a crisis, communication should be constant, rather than simply louder.

“When a crisis or when a storm hits the shores, communication shouldn't be loud; communication should be constant,” he said.

He said international journalists and audiences would assess the UAE based not only on what it says during a crisis, but also on whether its message remains constant with the policies it has pursued over many years.

“They understand and believe that the UAE dedication to keep on pushing their message forward, their communication forward because the policies are in place decades ago,” he said.

Bin Touq said effective national communication required policymakers to treat communication as an integral part of delivering policy.

“I always say 50 per cent of the work is policy, 50 per cent of the work is communicate the policy,” he said.

“We can't have a strong policy with weak communication,” he added, saying the UAE's approach was to develop policies, remain committed to them and communicate them consistently.

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