With oil prices remaining at $30 per barrel, the leadership of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) has signaled a range of initiatives to further diversify the U.A.E. away from a carbon-based economy.

Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, highlighted a new strategy in the coming weeks that will encompass the following four areas : human capital, building a knowledge-based economy, government policies, and community.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, made it clear that success is the only option for the U.A.E. when shifting reliance away from natural resources to Emirati human capital.

According to Jeffrey Sachs, a U.S. economist from Columbia University, Dubai has been more successful than other regions in the Gulf in so far as independence from fluctuations in oil prices due to the variety of services the city provides. However, the country at-large continues to earn approximately 80% of government revenues from oil sales and the fall of oil prices from $110 per barrel in June of 2014 to $35 per barrel in February has negatively impacted the Emirates’ fiscal position.

Initiatives that were presented for possible implementation in the national post-oil strategy were formed by four working groups respectively chaired by Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Minister of Finance, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

A full readout can be found here “Leaders chart new strategic roadmap for the UAE after oil”