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With new hospitals under construction, existing facilities expanding, and ambitious plans to improve the quality of treatment available not only for residents but also the growing number of medical tourists, Dubai has a competitive health care sector. Included in its expansion is the introduction of the universal health insurance programme in 2017, providing a sustainable safety net for the over 4m people who live or work in the city and their dependants. Looking ahead, Dubai aims to implement 15 strategic programmes encompassing 100 health care initiatives through the Dubai Health Strategy 2016-21, an overarching project of reform involving both the public and private sectors. This chapter contains an interview with Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Chairperson, Dubai Healthcare City Authority.

The economy of Dubai may be considered an outlier for the region, for although its growth and prosperity has been fuelled by its proximity to oil, its own modest hydrocarbons endowment accounted for just 1.3% of GDP in 2016. While its oil-rich Gulf neighbours have long recognised the need to diversify their economies, Dubai’s leaders understood decades ago that the emirate could only prosper by innovating and tapping a range of revenue streams. Dubai operates as a centre for oil and gas trade and is home to many companies servicing the energy industry. Its government-owned oil and gas companies have an international footprint with upstream developments at home and overseas, as well as dozens of downstream ventures. Outside of hydrocarbons, Dubai has set ambitious targets to boost the share of renewables in its energy ecosystem, while striving to set an example for curbing consumption. This chapter contains an interview with Saeed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority; and Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, Emirates National Oil Company.

Dubai is one of the world’s leading shopping capitals, and the retail and wholesale sector is the biggest single contributor to the economy. Local iconic malls are constantly reinventing themselves, searching for new brands and experiences to attract global consumers to spend on fly-and-buy excursions. The relationship between retail, real estate, air transport and tourism is key to the emirate’s value proposition for consumers and investors. The market’s ecosystem is driven for the most part by the franchise model, which integrates global brands and privately owned family firms to represent their interests in the country and region. The emirate also serves as the base of operations for regional retail and wholesale giants that may have started with a single small shop in Damascus, Basra or Manama, while local brands are using the location to spread across the region. This chapter contains an interview with Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO, Dubai Duty Free.

With a significant number of new hotels set to open, a raft of private sector-led investments in leisure and business facilities, and the government’s ambitious transport infrastructure development plan well under way, Dubai’s tourism industry is poised for a period of considerable growth in 2018. While the emirate has long been a tourist destination in the Middle East and a key stopover point for international air travellers, under the government’s current sector blueprint Dubai is set to become one of the most popular destinations in the world. The emirate’s reputation is fuelled by the rising number of tourist arrivals in recent years, with many local players optimistic that Dubai will meet its medium-term target of 20m tourist arrivals annually by 2020. This chapter contains an interview with Mohamed Almulla, CEO, DXB Entertainments.

In 2017 Dubai was on the cusp of what is widely expected to be a multi-year building boom. Driven most immediately by preparations for Expo 2020, the construction of new and improved infrastructure and major event spaces constitutes an important component of the construction pipeline for the foreseeable future. At the same time, Dubai’s steadily increasing population, the rising number of incoming visitors and strong investment growth in recent years have fuelled an influx of new residential areas, hotels and warehouses. This chapter contains an interview with Hussain Sajwani, Chairman, DAMAC Properties.

Over the past half-decade Dubai has risen into the upper echelons of the global maritime industry. In April 2017 it was named the fifth-most competitive maritime cluster in the world, and the 10th maritime capital overall by the Norway-based Menon Business Economics Group, which publishes a bi-annual report on the international maritime industry. The report measures various cities on attractiveness and competitiveness, technology, finance and law, ports and logistics, and shipping. As the 10th-highest-ranking centre, Dubai was rated best in the MENA region. Furthermore, this is a notable rise from the previous edition, published in 2015, in which Dubai ranked 13th overall. The report predicts that Dubai will continue to grow in importance in coming years, becoming the sixth most-important maritime centre by 2022. This chapter contains an interview with Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman, Dubai Maritime City Authority.