His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group C.E.O. of Mubadala Investment Company, shared his outlook for the global economy, the U.A.E., and Mubadala during a fireside chat with U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council President Danny Sebright in Washington, D.C. on 16 March.

The fireside followed remarks by Mubadala’s Deputy Group C.E.O. and Co-Chairman of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council’s Board of Directors, His Excellency Waleed Al Muhairi. H.E. Al Muhairi lauded the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council’s work. H.E. also commented on the many strong U.S.-U.A.E. partnerships, noting the recently opened state-of-the-art oncology center at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

H.E. Al Mubarak provided insights into the U.A.E.’s future trajectory and priorities under the Presidency of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who continues the legacy of “forward-leaning” U.A.E. Presidents. The conversation covered economic reforms to advance the nation’s position as the region’s largest destination for FDI, establish new multilateral trade and investment pathways, and develop new economic sectors, including life sciences and A.I.

H.E. Al Mubarak shared views on the range of forces that have buffeted the global economy over the past year and explained the U.A.E.’s adept management of “multiple black swans” and role in leading and supporting urgently needed collective action to challenges, including health innovation, future mobility, and climate change. He spoke in particular about the pandemic’s effect of “supercharging” the U.A.E.’s healthcare sector.

The discussion covered the evolution of Mubadala’s business since the Business Council last hosted H.E. Al Mubarak in Washington, D.C., in October 2021. With the U.S. as Mubadala’s largest overseas market since its formation in 2002, H.E. Al Mubarak explained how the business had accelerated its U.S. partnerships and investments across various sectors, such as clean energy, technology, healthcare, consumer services, and digital infrastructure.

H.E. Al Mubarak then reviewed the need to accelerate the energy transition while maintaining energy security. He outlined how the combined effect of decades of diversification efforts and clean energy investment had equipped the U.A.E. to lead the energy transition.

H.E. Al Mubarak explained how Masdar was established in Abu Dhabi sixteen years ago based on an early conviction that building capabilities and supporting innovation and scale across the clean energy spectrum would be transformative for the nation and an investment in future generations. He expressed pride in the U.A.E.’s construction of two of the world’s three largest solar power plants, and in reducing the cost of solar power to just 1.2 cents per kw today from 33 cents per kw when Masdar first started.

The session covered the business and investment community’s tremendous opportunity and responsibility to accelerate the energy transition while maintaining sufficient energy investment to meet current economic demand, with COP28 in Dubai this November a critical moment to review and galvanize action towards the Paris Agreement and UAE Net Zero by 2050.

For more information on this event, please contact Graham Reitman at greitman@usuaebusiness.org.