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and Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair of Cleveland Clinic and U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council Co-Chair; and H.E. Yousef Al Otaiba, U.A.E. Ambassador to the United States
On Thursday October 10th 2024, His Excellency Waleed Al Muhairi, the Deputy Group CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, and Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic, President and CEO and Morton L. Mandel Chair of Cleveland Clinic, co-chaired the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council’s 17th annual Board Meeting. U.S. Ambassador to the U.A.E., Martina Strong, and the U.A.E. Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Yousef Al Otaiba, briefed Board members on the U.S.-U.A.E. strategic partnership. H.E. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of Mubadala, offered remarks on the state of the bilateral relationship and Mubadala’s plans for the U.S market. Additional featured speakers included U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council Co-Vice Chairs, Microsoft UAE General Manager Naim Yazbeck and Honeywell President for Middle East and Africa Khaled Hashem, as well as Board members Talal Al Kaissi, Group Chief Global Affairs Officer at G42, and Ahmed Yahya Al Idrissi, CEO of MGX. Coming after last month’s historic visit to the White House by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Board meeting highlighted the deepening U.S.-U.A.E. geo-economic relationship, particularly in the technology and investment sectors.
U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council President Mr. Danny Sebright highlighted AI and advanced technology, space, healthcare and life sciences, aerospace and defense, and renewable energy as priority sectors in the next year. He also outlined 2025 areas of focus as policy advocacy, engagements with Congressional officials to build bipartisan Congressional support for the relationship and support for visiting state-level leadership delegations. Moreover, the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council will increase efforts to expand its footprint in the Northern Emirates. Mr. Sebright noted that the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council will remain a valuable policy clearinghouse and produce thought leadership products in key sectors.
Dr. Mihaljevic characterized the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council as a vehicle for accelerating both commercial partnerships and educational, research, and innovation goals. He recounted the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD) journey from inception to its emergence as a key player in the U.A.E.’s healthcare and life sciences ecosystem. Dr. Mihaljevic mentioned CCAD’s relationships with G42 and M42 that have bolstered the digital capabilities of CCAD. He emphasized the importance of technology and AI and the opportunities this presents in the healthcare sector, particularly as it relates to education. Dr. Mihaljevic cited trust and an aligned long-term vision as the bases for Cleveland Clinic’s partnership in the U.A.E.
H.E. Al Muhairi commended the work of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council and the vital role it plays in deepening the bilateral commercial and trade relationship. He touted the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council as the “gold standard” for bilateral business associations. H.E. Al Muhairi highlighted the visit of the U.A.E. President, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and mentioned that the bilateral partnership is moving from “strength to strength.” Noting the growth in the number and the diversity of U.S. companies now present in the U.A.E., H.E. Al Muhairi credited these relationships for spurring innovation, advancing knowledge capital, increasing productivity, and elevating the U.A.E.’s position in global competitiveness rankings. He also commended the Business Council for studiously working to ensure that its membership reflected this broad diversity of business verticals and focus. Conversely, he emphasized the U.A.E.’s important contributions as a reliable partner to the U.S. economy through long-term and sustained investment and partnerships. He predicted that the United States will remain the top destination for U.A.E. investments, student exchanges, and healthcare visitations. H.E. Al Muhairi noted that the already dynamic bilateral partnership is expected to grow due to U.S.-U.A.E. AI and technology collaboration. He cited recent deals involving G42, Microsoft, MGX, and BlackRock as a base for future partnerships in the advanced technology and AI sector.
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Ambassador Strong noted that the Board meeting was particularly timely given the recent historic visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed to the United States. Detailing key aspects of the bilateral visit, she characterized the engagements as “action-orientated” citing the Joint Leaders Statement and the announcement of new joint AI initiative. She underscored that the bilateral relationship is incredibly valuable to the United States and to President Biden, which was evident in the discussion between the two leaders. She recounted that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and President Biden recognized the intertwined nature of our economies, as well as long-standing security and defense ties. At the beginning of their discussions, President Biden immediately brought up the role of AI and the promise it holds for both countries. Ambassador Strong emphasized that completing the process towards a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on AI is top on her agenda and a critical next step for further bilateral cooperation.
Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba echoed Ambassador Strong’s positive assessment of the state of the bilateral relationship and emphasized that the visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed was a first for a sitting U.A.E. President. He thanked the Biden Administration for their support and very close collaboration and cooperation during the visit, which ensured that the visit was a remarkable success. He listed key engagements during the visit, which included meetings with President Biden, Vice President Harris, National Security Advisor Sullivan, Secretary Blinken, Secretary Raimondo, among others. His Highness Sheikh Mohamed also met with congressional leaders, three U.S. corporate CEOs, Emirati students attending U.S. schools, and Emirati patients. Ambassador Al Otaiba remarked that there has been progress made in the relationship in the last two years, and there is now a high level of trust between the two governments. He assessed that the new parameters of the bilateral relationship have set it on a new strategic direction which is being driven by economic and business and not primarily defense and security concerns. He predicted that companies such as MGX, Mubadala, and G42 will continue to significantly reshape the relationship along these new parameters.
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H.E. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, spoke about accompanying His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed on his historic visit to the United States.
H.E. Khaldoon Al Mubarak remarked that he was honored to accompany His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed on his historic visit to the United States. H.E. Al Mubarak recounted that discussions with top U.S. officials highlighted the evolution of the U.A.E. from an energy-based economy to a tech-driven future. His Highness Sheikh Mohamed identified the United States as a key partner for this transition, highlighted by discussions during the visit as well as the pace of collaboration between the two countries in this sector. H.E. Al Mubarak outlined the role Mubadala has played in the U.A.E.’s development of its technology sector. He noted that “Mubadala has been at the forefront of the U.A.E.’s technology initiatives for nearly two decades, collaborating with U.S. partners to strengthen American semiconductor manufacturing, foster shared prosperity, and position the U.A.E. as a global tech leader.” H.E. Al Mubarak remarked that Mubadala is “all in” with conviction on becoming an AI and technology leader in partnership with the United States.
H.E. Al Mubarak mentioned that additional U.A.E. entities such as “Masdar and MGX now drive innovation in clean energy and AI across Abu Dhabi, the U.S. and worldwide.” He confirmed that, this year, a significant portion of Mubadala’s global capital deployments will be in the U.S. spanning sectors from life sciences to digital industries, contributing to the expansion of the U.S.-U.A.E. technology relationship. In addition to commercial partnerships, H.E. Al Mubarak recognized the importance of the collaboration between the two governments to develop policy and regulatory frameworks that protect critical technologies, set global standards for the ethical use of AI, and ensure greater accessibility to technology in the Global South.
H.E. Al Mubarak agreed with Ambassador Al Otaiba that the bilateral relationship is taking on a different dimension, focused on prosperity, development, and economic activity. He singled out the advanced technology sector as holding particular promise for the relationship. H.E. Al Mubarak affirmed that the U.A.E. will continue to lean forward on investing in the United States across a range of verticals including technology, energy, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Mr. Naim Yazbeck, U.A.E. General Manager for Microsoft and co-Vice Chair of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, recounted that the past year has seen several U.S.-U.A.E. strategic collaborations in the advanced technology sector. He highlighted Microsoft’s landmark $1.5 billion investment into G42. He also referenced the establishment of the Global Engineering Development Center in Abu Dhabi as a significant milestone. Mr. Yazbeck previewed GITEX 2024 and noted that this year’s conference will support the U.A.E.’s efforts to become a global AI hub. Mr. Khaled Hashem, President of Honeywell in the Middle East and Africa region and co-Vice Chair of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, noted that the U.A.E. is considered Honeywell’s “technology accelerator.” He mentioned that the U.A.E.’s strong AI enabling environment has led to increased innovation at Honeywell and joint U.S.-U.A.E. partnerships in areas such as energy transition and cloud services. Mr. Hashem added that the U.A.E. is leading the world in other high-tech fields such as urban mobility.
Mr. Al Kaissi, Group Chief Global Affairs Officer at G42, outlined G42’s growing global footprint including an engineering office in California and super-computer clusters in California, Texas, and Minnesota. In the U.A.E., G42 is deploying a NVIDIA H100 cluster in Abu Dhabi as part of its Regulated Technology Environment. Calling for equitable access to AI, he argued that AI adoption can help overcome development hurdles in the Global South, and that all industries, including healthcare, education, and energy transition, will be profoundly transformed by the adoption of AI. Mr. Al Kaissi expressed excitement over the opportunity to elevate the partnership with the United States in light of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed’s visit.
Mr. Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, CEO of MGX, noted the rapid pace of AI adoption and the positive impact this will have on global wealth and prosperity. He predicted that by 2030 forty percent of tasks will be automated and driven by artificial intelligence. He also cautioned that the fast deployment of AI comes with its own risks to society, warranting continued focus on the development of the necessary infrastructure for its deployment as well as guardrails to ensure safety in its use. Mr. Al Idrissi outlined that the key challenges of AI deployment include its high energy consumption and connectivity issues, as well as the potential for its uses that are detrimental to society.
Mr. Al Idrissi remarked that MGX is seeking to support and enable the global AI ecosystem in both infrastructure buildout and AI adoption in a responsible way. MGX will invest along three main dimensions: ensuring investments in large language models (LLMs) and foundational models, investments in emerging AI companies, and working with existing businesses that have distribution and data capabilities. Mr. Al Idrissi cited MGX’s recent partnership with Microsoft and BlackRock to deploy capital to build data centers and scale up AI infrastructure, 70-75 percent of which will be deployed in the U.S. market, and the remaining 25-30 percent in the U.A.E. and the Global South. He envisioned Abu Dhabi as an international hub for AI and set the goal of the U.A.E. being top 5 globally in the AI field. He touted the favorable regulatory environment in the U.A.E. and the quality of U.S.-U.A.E. commercial partnerships involving tech leaders such as Microsoft, Dell, Amazon, and Meta, among others, as critical drivers of the Abu Dhabi technology and innovation ecosystem.
For questions about this meeting or the Business Council’s activities, please contact David Greenhalgh at dgreenhalgh@usuaebusiness.org.