The UAE is planning to build a landing vehicle as part of a 13-year space mission to explore asteroids beyond Mars.

The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt will involve a series of flybys of seven asteroids, with the spaceship deployed aboard the MBR Explorer expected to land on the seventh asteroid, Justitia, to study its surface and composition in closer detail.

The project, which aims to advance the UAE’s ambition to become a global leader in space innovation, will involve collaboration between government bodies, private sector entities, and local startups.

The project signing on Jan. 9 was witnessed by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Dubai’s Crown Prince and Chairman of the UAE’s Supreme Space Council.

Environmentalists and energy companies are pouring into Abu Dhabi as a week of events focused on battling climate change kicks off.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week will draw 13 heads of state and at least 140 government ministers and senior officials from around the world when it starts on Monday with the annual assembly of IRENA, the U.N.’s International Renewable Energy Agency, which is based in the emirate.

With the week’s centerpiece ADSW Summit slated for Wednesday, other notable gatherings include the Global Climate Finance Annual Meeting, the World Future Energy Summit, the Green Energy Summit, the WiSER Forum for Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy, and the ceremony to award the annual Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards.

Choreographing all the activities is Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Group CEO of ADNOC and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar sustainable energy company. Al Jaber was President of COP28, the annual U.N. climate conference held in Dubai two years ago.

Among the national leaders joining the coming week’s events are Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Azerbaijani President, Kenyan President William Ruto, Rwandan President Paul Kagame. ADSW is conducted under the patronage of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.

”By bringing together leaders in policy, business and technology, ADSW Summit 2025 will unite the global community to deliver interconnected solutions for energy, economies, and the environment,” Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Sustainability Week’s official host, said in a statement.

Topping the list of ADSW speakers will be Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director and CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Paris-based Engie; Greg Jackson, CEO of the U.K.’s Octopus Energy; Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the international Energy Transitions Commission; Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Special Envoy for Financing the U.N.’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, United Nations; Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO of ADNOC’s Upstream division; and Himanshu Gupta, CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based ClimateAi.

First came DXB, the world’s busiest airport for international travelers.

Now, there’s DXV, the first commercial hub for flying taxis in the UAE.

Dubai authorities on Thursday approved the establishment of Dubai International Vertiport – based adjacent to Dubai International Airport – setting operations to begin in 2026.

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, meanwhile, said the total number of drones registered in the country is 23,960 – with 93 companies and 270 individuals having applied so far for permission to fly.

Every October, the tech world floods into the UAE for GITEX. This week, the UAE joins the global crowd in Las Vegas for CES, the mother of all tech conferences.

Leading the Emirati corporate leaders and policymakers on the U.S. pilgrimage to the annual Consumer Electronics Show is Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, the UAE’s globe-trotting Minister of State for Foreign Trade.

In Las Vegas, Al Zeyoudi participated in a CES panel on geopolitical challenges to global trade, where he described the UAE’s efforts to bridge markets and facilitate trade flows, according to an Emirates News Agency dispatch.

He also highlighted the country’s three-year-old campaign to sign more than two dozen free trade agreements around the world.

“The UAE’s dynamic tech ecosystem… offers fresh opportunities for US companies looking to scale their operations and access high-growth markets,” Al Zeyoudi said at CES on Wednesday.

“As we expand our partnerships in advanced technology, we aim to foster innovation, create jobs, and accelerate the adoption of next-generation technologies.”

During the three-day visit, Al Zeyoudi met with executives from tech companies specializing in AI, health, and automotive technologies, including Accenture, Qualcomm, the Consumer Technology Association, Skylo and MGM Resorts International, the state news agency said.

After pledging $20 billion to build data centers in the U.S. while sharing the Mar-a-Lago podium with President-elect Donald Trump, Damac Group CEO Hussain Sajwani needs to deliver.

In a television interview with Bloomberg today, the billionaire property developer said that level of investment will require close involvement with banks and other financial institutions.

“This is an asset-based business. With infrastructure, normally you borrow 60% to 70% from the banks or financial institutions, or bonds – leverage,” he said.

“Damac Properties will be able to put the equity, which will be in the range of the other 30%, which will be around $5 to $6 billion.”

Wa’ed Ventures, Aramco’s venture capital unit, is teaming up with Japan’s Sumitomo conglomerate, to fund a Saudi consumer electronics startup.

The two companies joined Dubai-based Global Ventures in a $30 million financing round for Zension Technologies, which provides warranties, buy-back services and upgrades for mobile phones, Bloomberg reports.

Middle East startups raised $1.5 billion last year, a 29% decline compared to the previous year, according to a Magnitt report

Saudi Arabia attracted almost half of the region’s VC investing in 2024.

Competition between sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar is likely to deepen in 2025 as the three Gulf states pour money into China and other developing markets.

The growing focus on Asia is evident from data assembled by Singapore-based Global SWF, whose 2024 report released last week showed Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala edging past Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as the world’s most active sovereign investor.

Mubadala and its subsidiaries invested $29.2 billion last year, up from $17.5 billion in 2023, and a 67% increase in total deals.

The PIF chopped its investment spending by 37% to $19.9 billion last year, down from $31.6 billion in 2023.

Three other Gulf funds were ranked among the top 10 global dealmakers: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ADQ and the Qatar Investment Authority, the Global SWF report showed.

Over the past 12 months, Gulf sovereign wealth funds invested almost $10 billion in China, the largest such volume in history, Global SWF Managing Director Diago Lopez said in an interview published today with Arabian Gulf Business Insight.

Every time investment managers come across “a good opportunity to invest in emerging economies, they are now taking it because they know that they need to diversify away from developed markets,” Lopez told AGBI.

Oman is resuming copper exports after nearly 30 years as part of efforts to diversify its economy.

Minerals Development Oman announced the first shipment of copper concentrates this week from its Lasail mine and plans to start mining operations in Al Baydha by 2026.

“The project is a natural hedge for Oman,“ Michael Widmer, head of metals research at Bank of America, told The National. “The country’s export revenue [is] heavily geared towards oil and gas, making the investment in metals and mining interesting.”

Copper mining in Oman ceased in 1994. The country has been taking steps to resume production since 2017.