Washington, DC

The U.A.E. defense sector continues to defy the economic downturn and grab world headlines. The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council hosted a policy dinner and discussion highlighting these trends on 23 February 2009 on the margins of IDEX. The gathering attracted a broad range of high level U.A.E. and American executives including Walid Al Mokarrab, the Chief of Operating Officer of Mubadala, Fadil Al Kaabi, C.E.O. of the International Golden Group, Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri, C.E.O. of the U.A.E. Offset Program Bureau and Tawazun Holdings, and Hussain Al Hammadi, CEO and Chairman of  Emirates Advanced Investment. Each business leader described the broad shift in U.A.E. defense markets toward indigenization, military modernization, and domestic job creation.  They also described their specific niche in the overall U.A.E. defense industrial landscape.

The Business Council policy dinner also served to highlight that the U.A.E. is using defense offsets to expand targeted sectors of the economy to diversify the state’s financial base. The C.E.O. of the Offsets Program Bureau said at the dinner that his organization has helped set up 35+ successful joint ventures and attract over $8 billion dirhams of foreign investment to date.  The U.A.E. executives attending the dinner said that they look forward to cooperating with the U.S. to obtain training and technology because they see America as a vital source of economic and management insight.  U.S. business executives had a number of questions concerning U.A.E. policy and goals for the development of the indigenous defense sector.

Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen capped the evening’s discussion by providing his views on how the new Obama Administration would engage with the Middle East.  U.S. –U.A.E. Business Council President Danny Sebright concluded the evening by noting the importance of building partnerships between U.S. and U.A.E. companies and the Emirati and U.S. jobs that are created by business in the defense sector.