Trade & Investment

Abu Dhabi has leveraged its hydrocarbons wealth to pursue a sovereign investment strategy that spans the globe, establishing itself as one of the largest overseas investors in the world. To strengthen the exchange of capital and ideas, the government has worked to create free zones to capture foreign direct investment, benefitting the emirate’s economic diversification strategy. Abu Dhabi’s status as a trading power, meanwhile, is supported by large export volumes of crude and refined oil bound for destinations as diverse as the Netherlands and Japan, and the emirate’s expansive logistics infrastructure has helped it become a primary intake point for imports to GCC countries. This chapter contains interviews with Tariq Bin Hendi, Director-General, Abu Dhabi Investment Office; and Mohamed Helal Almheiri, Director-General, Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.