UAE: Abu Dhabi Industry

With the first phase of the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) projected for completion in the fourth quarter of 2012, Abu Dhabi’s manufacturing base looks set to expand significantly over the next few years. Authorities from Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), the state-owned entity that is developing KIZAD and other manufacturing zones and ports in the emirate, are confident that KIZAD’s low-cost business environment and links to transportation infrastructure will help ensure its success.

Abu Dhabi is looking to increase the role industry plays in its burgeoning economy, stepping up investments in leading manufacturing sectors with an eye to building export markets in the medium term and laying the foundation for a more advanced industrial base in the longer run.

Although it is a relatively newcomer to the local economy, Abu Dhabi’s aerospace industry is proving admirably nimble in its development. As part of the emirate’s long-term development plan, Economic Vision 2030, which was released in early 2009, policy experts highlighted aerospace as one of the many areas in which they envisage future growth, with this expected to play a key role in efforts to diversify the economy away from its traditional mainstay, hydrocarbons.

Abu Dhabi’s industrialists, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and contractors have received welcome news with the announcement that the Shah natural gas project is back on track following the signing of a deal with a new foreign partner.

Ongoing developments in Abu Dhabi’s nascent microchip industry, such as plans for a major production plant and big investments by state-owned firms in cutting edge technologies, indicate a bright future for the sector.