Starmer visits Gulf for meetings with Saudi, UAE leaders

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is making the rounds in the Gulf, consulting with leaders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia about trade and the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape.

After being greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Starmer told reporters his main focus was on business between the two countries, The Guardian reports.

“I’ve been making the case that now’s the time for further investment into our country,” he said.

Starmer met earlier in the day with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi.

The Daily Circuit: Abu Dhabi filled with financiers + CYVN to acquire McLaren

👋 Hello from Abu Dhabi!

In The Daily Circuit today, we’re looking at the takeover of British carmaker McLaren by Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s meetings with leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Egypt’s Madinat Misr’s $208 million cash infusion for Cairo real estate projects and the UAE’s new 15% tax on large companies. But first, it’s Finance Week in the Emirati capital.

Investors from around the world have been pouring into Abu Dhabi this week for conferences focused on decoding the state of global finance and cashing in on the exploding growth of cryptocurrencies.

An exuberant crowd of crypto traders cheered Eric Trump at Abu Dhabi’s Bitcoin MENA conference on Tuesday as the President-elect’s son hailed the digital currency’s cracking the $100,000 mark and said it has a “special place in our heart,” The Circuit’s Omnia Al Desoukie reports from the ADNEC center.

With some among the thousands at the event wearing red MAGA-like hats with the words, “Make Crypto Great Again,” Eric Trump said he believes Bitcoin will eventually reach $1 million. “You are going to have the most pro-crypto president in America,” he said.

Among those spotted at the conference were Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and the former White House communications director who was fired by Trump after 11 days on the job. Other speakers included Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and David Bailey, co-founder and CEO of BTC Inc., which publishes Bitcoin magazine.

At Abu Dhabi Finance Week in the city’s ADGM financial center, billionaire investor Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, warned against the clash of America-first ideology with an increasingly globalized business landscape. “It’s now a case of  individual interests at odds in a world that has greater internal conflict and also greater external conflict,” Dalio said. “We are a world at war.”

Also at ADFW came the announcement that the AE Coin, the UAE’s first government-regulated digital currency, will launch soon, following it’s having received final approval from the Central Bank.

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The Daily Circuit: PIF connects with China banks + U.K. property lures Gulf

👋 Hello from the Middle East!

Today in the Daily Circuit, we’re looking at a surge of Gulf investment in U.K. real estate, the UAE’s amnesty offer for lapsed visa-holders, an IPO filing by Abu Dhabi-backed California chipmaker Cerebras and Live Nation Arabia’s deal to manage AlUla’s stunning mirror-wrapped desert concert hall. But first Saudi Arabia’s PIF connects with China’s biggest banks.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is putting its $925 billion in assets to work in China. Following a trip to Beijing last month by a delegation of Saudi executives led by PIF Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan, the sovereign wealth fund corralled preliminary agreements worth $50 billion with six major Chinese financial institutions.

Besides a series of deals focused on renewable energy and steel manufacturing that were already disclosed, the PIF said in a statement on Thursday that it signed the memorandums of understanding with the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, China Export and Credit Insurance Corp., the Export-Import Bank of China, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The new agreements “demonstrate the PIF’s strong and deepening relationships with leading financial institutions and accentuate PIF’s commitment to enhancing partnerships globally,” Fahad Al Saif, the fund’s Head of Global Capital Finance, said in the statement.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf states have been engaged in a delicate balancing act of strengthening commercial ties with China, the world’s second-biggest economy, while steering clear of U.S. efforts to restrict Chinese access to cutting-edge technology in artificial intelligence and other competitive fields.

📰 Developing Stories

LONDON CALLING

Investors from the Gulf region are pouring an unprecedented amount of money into the U.K. property market. Citing a rare economic alignment of slowing inflation, a drop in commercial real estate prices and anticipated interest rate cuts, Gulf investors are expected to spend over $4 billion a year on property in London and other parts of the country, according to a report by The Bank of London and the Middle East. “We anticipate investors from the GCC will look to the U.K. to diversify their portfolios, and they will see profitable opportunities to invest and improve existing building stock,” said Rashid Khan-Gandapur, the bank’s Director of Real Estate Finance. Among the opportunities for property owners is a demographic shift that is boosting the number of students looking for rental housing, the report said.

FREE PASS

Residents of the UAE with lapsed or invalid documentation will be given the chance to rectify their status without penalty when the country holds a two-month visa amnesty, starting on Sept. 1. The grace period, to be overseen by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, will allow those with expired residency visas to either leave the country without being fined for overstaying, or apply for new documentation in order to get a fresh start in the UAE. It is the first time such a program has been held since 2018, when hundreds of thousands of residents took advantage of an amnesty period, leading to lengthy queues at immigration centers. Many people who overstay visas do so unintentionally, having lost a job or gone through a family break-up, or after being duped by unauthorized job agencies, a welfare organization told The National.

💲 Sovereign Circuit

ADQ: Abu Dhabi-backed California semiconductor startup Cerebras Systems has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the U.S. and picked Citigroup as its lead bank, Bloomberg reports. Cerebras was valued at over $4 billion in a 2021 funding round, when it raised $250 million. Billed as an alternative to dominant chipmaker Nvidia, Cerebras is backed by the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, an investment fund established by sovereign wealth fund ADQ, and Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence company G42. Meanwhile, Joszef Varadi, CEO of Wizz Air, said in an interview with The National that the budget carrier’s plans to expand flight capacity in Abu Dhabi, where it runs a joint venture with ADQ, were put on hold. The action stemmed from a shortage of aircraft because of problems with Pratt & Whitney engines that led to grounding 21% of the airline’s fleet, he said. 

Public Investment Fund: Concert promoter Live Nation Arabia will manage operations at AlUla’s Maraya Hall cultural center after striking a three-year deal with PIF-backed AlUla Development Co. The PIF is reported to be looking into bankrolling a ninth team to be added to the Hundred tournament in order to gain a stake in the U.K. cricket franchise, according to London’s The Times. The head of world cycling’s governing body, David Lappartient, meanwhile, told Bloomberg that Saudi investments are welcome to help stabilize finances in the road racing circuit, as long as they don’t create a parallel league to the UCI.

↪↩ Closing Circuit

🩺 Drug Developer: Ozon Pharmaceuticals, a New Delhi-based drugmaker, signed an agreement to build a new $80 million manufacturing facility in Dubai Industrial City to serve its growing MENA business.

⛽ Gas Expansion: Chevron and other partners in Israel’s Leviathan offshore gas project approved a $429 million investment to expand the field and increase production.

⚗️ Chemical Rebound: Saudi Arabia’s biggest chemical company, Sabic Basic Industries, beat analyst profit estimates for second-quarter profit, earning $581 million and indicating the industry may be recovering from last year’s downturn.

📺 Monetizing Video: Outbrain, the Israeli-founded content recommendation company that trades on Nasdaq, said it will buy Teads, a video monetization business owned by French billionaire Patrick Drahi’s Altice media firm.

🗣 Circuit Chatter

🛩️ Aircraft Fuel: Abu Dhabi’s clean energy company Masdar signed an agreement with France’s TotalEnergies to explore a sustainable aviation fuel project using methanol produced from green hydrogen.

☪️ Changing Direction: Kuwait Finance House, which provides Shariah-compliant Islamic banking services, plans to shut down its subsidiary in Malaysia as it expands in the GCC and other Middle East markets.

💱 Payment Platform: National Pulse, a strategic management company in the UAE, has invested in Singapore-based cross-border payment platform Aleta Planet to help it expand across the MENA region.

🛢️ Iraqi Energy: British oil and gas company BP signed an initial agreement with Iraq to negotiate the development of its Kirkuk oil and gas fields, including power generation, introduction of solar facilities and further energy exploration.

🌐 Chip Probe: The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Nvidia’s acquisition of Run:ai, an Israeli artificial intelligence start-up, for potential antitrust violations, the Financial Times reports.

🌍 Power Circuit

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, approved the launch of the Medeem Center for Family Nurturing, which seeks to “equip engaged and newly married couples and families with the necessary social, physical, psychological skills and knowledge for a successful married life and enable them to raise their children responsibly.”

Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad issued a decision formally reconstituting the country’s National Human Rights Committee, with a board composed of five government representatives and eight members of civil society organizations.

➿ On the Circuit

UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq and Azerbaijani Minister of the Economy Mikayil Jabbarov met in the Azerbaijani city of Shusha on Thursday and agreed to strengthen commercial ties between the two countries, particularly in the realms of tourism, aviation, technology, agriculture, energy and food security.`

Stefan Gumuseli was named Air France-KLM’s Dubai-based General Manager for the airline company’s India-Middle East branch, with authority over business in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt.

🎶 Culture Circuit

🕌 Mosques of Tomorrow: Inspiring new ways of thinking about Islamic art and encouraging novel mosque designs will be the underlying theme of this year’s Islamic Art Conference at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (Ithra). To be held between Nov. 25-30, the event will identify emerging trends from across the Arab world, while continuing to explore the heritage of Islamic arts and crafts.

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🗓️ Ahead on The Circuit

July 2-Aug. 25, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Esports World Cup. An international competition for professional gamers with a $60 million prize pot. Boulevard City.

July 27-Aug. 4, Washington D.C. Mubadala Citi DC Open. Tennis tournament featuring nine of the world’s top 20 players. Rock Creek Park.

Aug. 12-15, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Food Expo. One of the kingdom’s largest trade shows for the food & beverage industry. Riyadh Front Exhibitions.

Sept. 10-11, Dubai, UAE: Global Vertical Farming Show 2024. Annual event brings together investors, growers, and executives in the vertical farming industry from around the world. Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre.

Sept. 24-25, Dubai, UAE: ACT Middle East Treasurers Summit. Corporate treasurers and financial professionals from across the region gather for policy discussions on issues ranging from cash management to sustainability. Grand Hyatt Dubai

Sep. 30-Oct. 2, Dubai, UAE: Future Hospitality Summit. The global conference for leaders in the hospitality industry expands this year at a new location with dedicated space for ESG planning, country pavilions and a larger exhibition area. Madinat Jumeirah.  

RedBird IMI completes acquisition of U.K.’s All3Media

RedBird IMI completed its $1.45 billion acquisition of All3Media, the largest independent production company in the U.K., after receiving approval from British, U.S. and German regulators.

Under the agreement, Jeff Zucker, CEO of Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI, becomes All3Media’s chairman, while All3Media CEO Jane Turton will continue to lead the company.

The London-based studio, which is jointly owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global, has 50 production labels, including Studio Lambert, Raw, Two Brothers Pictures, Silverback Films, New Pictures and Neal Street Productions.

Redbird IMI gave up on its bid to take over London’s Telegraph newspaper last month after encountering vigorous government opposition.

The Daily Circuit: UAE revels with Man City + Alef heads for IPO

👋 Hello from the Middle East!

Today in the Daily Circuit, we’re looking at Alef Education’s upcoming IPO, Redbird IMI’s $1.45 billion U.K. studio acquisition, ADQ’s new Jordan infrastructure fund and plaudits for Saudi Arabia’s “Norah” at the Cannes Film Festival. But first, on the football pitch with Mubadala’s Khaldoon Al Mubarak. 

The Premier League Trophy is coming home… to Abu Dhabi. Manchester City, owned by UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, won a record fourth straight Premier League title on Sunday, beating West Ham 3-1 in the final game of the season. City, as the club is known, is the first to clinch the champion title of English soccer’s top division four years in a row.

The team to beat in the U.K. is in many ways the UAE capital’s soccer team as well — from a business perspective at least. City is part of a multi-club ownership structure under City Football Group (CFG), owned by Sheikh Mansour and chaired by Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak. Other board members include attorney Martin Edelman, who has served on the board of Abu Dhabi’s listed developer Aldar as well as an advisor to Mubadala; UAE communications fixer Simon Pearce; oil and gas executive John MacBeath; Alberto Galassi, CEO of Italian yacht builder Ferretti Group; and Abdulla Khouri, whose entertainment and events group, Ethara, puts on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix each year.

Since coming under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership in 2008, when he bought the club for $254 million, City has become the fifth most valuable soccer team in the world, worth just shy of $5 billion — and notably had the highest revenue of any club last year, according to Forbes. In 2019, American private equity firm Silver Lake invested $500 million for a 10% stake in CFG, and three years later made an undisclosed follow-on investment to increase its holding to around 18%. CFG holds stakes in 13 football clubs over five continents including New York City FC and Melbourne FC. Sheikh Mansour is the chairman of Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s second largest sovereign wealth fund, whose holdings swelled to $302 billion in assets under management last year. 

IPO SCHOOL

Alef Education Holding is planning an IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange as it seeks to expand its business beyond the UAE. The company, which develops digital tools that are broadly used in Emirati schools, said today that it will sell 20% of its shares during a subscription period that starts May 28, with trading on the ADX expected to start June 12. “We intend to solidify our market leadership at home and grow our presence across our target markets through continued investment in our digital capabilities, broadening our product offering and expanding our geographic footprint,” Alef CEO Geoffrey Alphonso said in a statement. First Abu Dhabi Bank and EFG Hermes UAE were appointed as lead managers and  bookrunners for the IPO.

STUDIO BOSS

RedBird IMI completed its $1.45 billion acquisition of All3Media, the largest independent production company in the U.K., after receiving approval from British, U.S. and German regulators. Under the agreement, Jeff Zucker, CEO of Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI, becomes All3Media’s chairman, while All3Media CEO Jane Turton will continue to lead the company. The London-based studio, which is jointly owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global, has 50 production labels, including Studio Lambert, Raw, Two Brothers Pictures, Silverback Films, New Pictures and Neal Street Productions. Redbird IMI gave up on its bid to take over London’s Telegraph newspaper last month after encountering vigorous government opposition.

Mubadala: The infrastructure arm of Mubadala has made a “cornerstone” investment in PAG’s Asia Pacific renewable energy platform, known as PAG REN I, to facilitate businesses in the country buying solar power. Meanwhile, Mamoura Diversified Global Holding, a unit of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, expects credit losses of about $315 million related to loans issued to Austria’s now-insolvent Signa real estate conglomerate, Bloomberg reports.

Public Investment Fund: Maxim Timchenko, CEO of Ukraine’s DTEK, said the energy company is in high-level talks with the PIF and other Saudi institutions regarding possible investments.

ADQ: The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund established an infrastructure investment fund in Jordan that aims to spend $5 billion on development projects in the kingdom.

🛢️ Energy Finance: The Arab Energy Fund, which makes loans to Arab oil exporting countries, signed a preliminary agreement valued at $200 million with the Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Co., known as Dussur, to finance so-called “greenfield” energy projects.

🔌 Extra Power: Kuwait signed contracts on Sunday to buy 500 megawatts of power from Oman and Qatar through the GCC Interconnection Authority.

📞 No Deal: Telecom Egypt called off its plan to sell a stake in Vodafone Egypt, explaining that the state owned company earns significant returns for the government from Vodafone shares.

📬 In the Mail: An investment group led by Phoenix Insurance and municipal services provider Milgam won the bidding to buy Israel’s financially distressed postal service from the govenrment for $124 million, less than half the price at which it was valued last year.

Christiana Maxion, UAE matchmaker and founder of dating app Maxion, announced her startup is looking to raise $1.5 million in seed investment to fund expansion in the Middle East.

Hadley Gamble interviewed actress and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett in Cannes today.

Rakefet Russak Aminoach, former CEO of Bank Leumi, Israel’s largest bank, was named chairwoman of Hailo, a startup valued at $1.3 billion that develops AI chips.

📽️ New Chapter: The inclusion of “Norah,” Saudi Arabia’s first movie in the Cannes Film Festival official selection is the start of a remarkable chapter in Saudi Cinema, according to Jomana Al Rashid, CEO of Saudi integrated media group SMRG and Chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Festival. Director Tawfik Alzaidi’s debut film was picked for Un Certain Regard, a category of the festival that showcases unusual, innovative and non-traditional films.

🥊 Boxing Champ: Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk became the undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion after beating Britain’s Tyson Fury at Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Arena in Riyadh early Sunday.

📷 Photo of The Day

🗓️ Circuit Calendar

May 18-26, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Abu Dhabi Comedy Week. Standup comics Dave Chapelle, Aziz Ansari, Bassem Yousef and Chris Tucker headline the first annual festival. Etihad Arena. 

May 20-21, New York City: SALT iConnections. SALT brings together more than 1,500 asset owners, asset managers and entrepreneurs for curated capital introductions and panel discussions. The Glasshouse.

May 20-22, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Future Aviation Forum. Airline executives, investors and government ministers gather for the third annual conference on the aviation industry. King Abdulaziz International Conference Center.

May 25-26, Dubai, UAE. Summer Blessings. Dubai festival celebrates the palm tree as the UAE’s national icon with live performances, date-themed events and artisan marketplace. Shindagha Museum.

May 29-31, Marrakech, Morocco: GITEX Africa. The second edition of the biggest tech and startup gathering in Africa. Place Bab Jdid. 

June 5, Hong Kong: Bloomberg Wealth Event. A gathering to bring actionable intelligence to portfolio managers and other dealmakers and analysts from asset managers and owners, family offices and hedge funds. Conrad Hong Kong. 

June 23-26, National Harbor, Maryland: SelectUSA Investment Summit. The highest profile event in the U.S. to facilitate business investment by connecting thousands of investors, companies, economic development organizations and industry experts to make deals. Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.

Rishi Sunak eyes Saudi capital as U.K. sends trade delegation to Riyadh

The Brits will beat a path to Riyadh next month under the banner of a trade expo between the two nations as U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak eyes the trillions of dollars Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is plowing into his Vision 2030 economic diversification plan.

A delegation of more than 750 British and Saudi executives, some from British Airways, HSBC and NEOM, will meet at Saudi Great Futures on May 14 and 15.

The event will launch a year-long campaign to showcase U.K. firms to Saudi investors with a focus on sectors that support the kingdom’s bold economic ambitions, putting a spotlight on opportunities in the kingdom for burgeoning sectors like renewable energy, tourism, gaming and fashion and push the U.K. as a potential collaborator.

The U.K. — and some of its most storied institutions — have long been a destination for Gulf capital. Legendary Knightsbridge department store Harrod’s is owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and the UAE’s Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed is the owner of Premier League football club Manchester City. Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s sovereigns both own a stake in Heathrow Airport. That’s just to name a few. 

A two-way street for trade and investment flows has picked up pace in the last several years as Saudi Arabia has opened up to tourism and mega-projects like NEOM have gotten underway.

Trade between the U.K. and Saudi Arabia has increased to $20.4 billion in 2022 from $15 billion in 2018, Bloomberg reports.

The invitation is open: “We are looking for senior U.K. leaders of businesses, organizations, and educational institutions to join us in Riyadh to participate not only as delegates but as speakers, exhibitors and sponsors, presenting the very best of what the U.K. has to offer,” the Great Future website says. 

Why is Abu Dhabi’s PureHealth buying up U.K. hospitals?

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The UAE’s biggest health-care network, PureHealth, has made two big-ticket acquisitions since forming last year, looking outside the region to the U.S. and U.K. for growth, while forging a research relationship with Israel. 

Last week, PureHealth bought one of the U.K.’s largest independent hospital operators in a $1.2 billion deal. Circle Health Group operates 53 private hospitals and marks PureHealth’s entrance into the British market. The news came three months after a deal was finalized for a minority stake in U.S.-based Ardent Health Services. The $490 million equity investment made PureHealth the only UAE-based health-care provider to ever directly acquire assets in U.S. hospitals and clinics.

ADQ, PureHealth’s largest shareholder, is one of the Middle East’s largest holding companies with a broad portfolio of large Abu Dhabi firms. 

As one of several sovereign wealth funds in the capital emirate it also has a unique mandate: to be the lead investor driving the UAE’s economic transformation from petro-state to a knowledge-based economy. Chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country’s national security adviser and brother to president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, its portfolio includes holdings in agriculture, energy, financial services, health care and life sciences. 

ADQ merged its health-care subsidiaries with Alpha Dhabi’s Pure Health Medical Supplies in January 2022. PureHealth, which had branded itself as a research and clinical hub focused on longevity, was the main provider of the nation’s massive COVID-19 testing effort at the time. ADQ’s agreement consolidated the public health provider SEHA, major health insurer Daman and stem cell research center ADSCC into one group, creating a footprint of more than 25 hospitals, more than 100 clinics and more than 160 laboratories in the UAE. Its shareholders include Alpha Dhabi Holding, AH Capital, Ataa Financial Investments as well as International Holding Co., a company also led by Sheikh Tahnoon. 

“Going forward, PureHealth will actively seek expansion opportunities globally to further diversify its portfolio and leverage its success in the UAE,” Mohamed Thani Murshed Al Rumaithi, chairman of Alpha Dhabi Holding, a minority shareholder, said at the time.

Earlier this year, PureHealth also struck a strategic partnership with Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, a globally recognized medical research institution.

The two entities said at the time they will closely collaborate on joint clinical research projects, promote the use of advanced technology in health care, expand genetic research initiatives and boost health tourism in both countries.

The alliance will also focus on education and training. Both parties will jointly organize conferences and events, and create clinical specialization projects and internships.

This expansion strategy follows a wider trend in the Gulf, Bloomberg noted last week, with a glut of deals happening between the Middle East and the West in sectors spanning sport, energy, logistics and yes, health care. 

“Corporates in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are being empowered by their sovereign backers to go out and seek transformative transactions,” Hamza Girach, co-head of Citigroup Inc.’s Middle East and Africa, banking, capital markets and advisory unit, told Bloomberg in an interview. “This is the biggest shift that we are seeing when it comes to dealmaking in the Middle East, which is the emergence of these companies who are seeking overseas growth and keen to expand via acquisitions.” 

PureHealth’s deal with Ardent, which was first announced in September 2022, gives PureHealth board observer rights, although not a seat on Ardent’s board of directors. The investment also “does not include plans for either the expansion of Ardent’s physical footprint or collaboration between Ardent and PureHealth in the delivery of care”, according to a statement.

“The conclusion of this transaction marks the beginning of a new phase of growth for PureHealth in which we will build on our global relationships and strengthen our international reputation,” Farhan Malik, managing director and CEO of PureHealth, said at the time.

These global ambitions for UAE health care came after a strong pandemic performance, which to outsiders may have appeared unexpected. Health-care costs were increasing when COVID-19 took hold and the country had a shortage of nurses relative to Western nations, according to analysis by the U.S.-UAE Business Council in 2021. Yet on Bloomberg’s monthly global COVID-19 resilience ranking the UAE regularly sat in the top three, thanks to a high vaccination rate and relatively limited interference to travel and economic activity. 

Today, Abu Dhabi has ambitions to capture the world’s first population-wide genetic library and localize pharmaceuticals manufacturing while becoming a destination for clinical trials and research. The genome project is a foundational piece to Abu Dhabi’s ambitious plans for personalized medicine, which also include a connected network of the emirate’s medical records.