The UAE is preparing to host a world gathering on managing water resources in December, emphasizing the need for investment and new technologies in the face of climate change, pollution, and rising demand.

The U.N. Water Conference, co-hosted with Senegal, will bring leaders in government, business, and non-profit organizations to Abu Dhabi for three days of discussions centered on addressing the needs of the 2.1 billion people who lack access to clean drinking water.

At the same time, organizers plan to focus on mobilizing private capital for the water needed to generate energy, develop more efficient infrastructure, and build AI data centers, Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Energy and Sustainability at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters today in Abu Dhabi. 

“Water and energy are… inseparable,” Balalaa said. “We need water to produce and move energy, and we need energy to generate, treat, transport, and secure water,” he said.

The Dec. 8-10 gathering – only the third U.N. water conference in almost 50 years – will also address the organization’s previous goal of ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030, Balalaa said.

UAE officials are urging governments, financial institutions and businesses to treat water as an “investable asset” and integrate water-related risks and opportunities into investment decisions, Balalaa said. They want to broaden the water debate, linking it to economic growth, food security, energy, technology and jobs, he said.

China’s ROX Motor Co. has started assembling electric vehicles in Abu Dhabi. 

The company, which is working with state-owned Abu Dhabi Investment Office, plans to unveil its first UAE-designed car in March 2027, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports. 

The plant is already producing three ROX Adamas models at Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi, known as Kezad.

ROX said it plans to produce 20,000 vehicles in Abu Dhabi next year and expand capacity to 300,000 annually by 2030, serving both domestic and export markets.

The Chinese company is also preparing to manufacture its vehicles in Egypt.

Pressure is mounting on the German government to let Dubai-based Emirates airline schedule more flights to Germany. 

The Germany-UAE Business Council is calling on the Chancellor’s office to support daily direct flights by the airline, both between Dubai and Berlin and between Dubai and Stuttgart, according to a letter obtained by The Circuit.

In its letter to the Federal Chancellery, the business lobby expressed regret that talks between Germany and the UAE on expanding air-traffic rights ended without an agreement. According to the group, the German side offered only two weekly flights for UAE airlines to Berlin.

“From a commercial perspective, such a limited frequency would neither provide a viable basis for establishing and sustainably operating the route, nor would it adequately meet the level of the demand identified,” the letter said, seeking support from the Chancellery for the extra service.

The dispute is rooted in a long-running disagreement over traffic rights to German destinations for airlines from the UAE. Emirates currently serves Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. To add regular services to Berlin and Stuttgart, the airline needs to expand its existing traffic rights.

The issue gained fresh momentum following Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to the UAE in February. In its letter, the GUBC pointed to “positive signals” from the Chancellor regarding additional traffic rights. According to media reports, however, there were differing views within the German government.

While the Transport Ministry was said to have initially offered two weekly flights to Berlin, the Chancellery pushed for a broader agreement allowing six or seven flights a week to Berlin and Stuttgart.

The dispute is politically sensitive in part because additional Emirates services could intensify competition with Lufthansa and other European airlines. Lufthansa opposes an expansion of the traffic rights. Germany and the UAE have yet to reach an agreement, Tagesspiegel reported.

The GUBC’s German Chairperson is Günther Oettinger, a former Minister-President of the state of Baden-Württemberg and past EU commissioner. The UAE Chairperson is Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO for upstream operations at ADNOC

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Chinese President Xi Jinping is pushing deeper into Egypt’s economy with plans that range from electric vehicles and renewable energy to semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

The two countries agreed during Xi’s visit this week to expand cooperation in data centers, cloud computing, critical metals and the Suez Canal Economic Zone, according to a joint statement issued Thursday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the Chinese leader said they plan to increase the use of their currencies in trade and investment while renewing and expanding an existing currency-swap agreement.

Chinese companies will be encouraged to build EVs, ships, solar panels and wind turbines in Egypt, helping Cairo position itself as an industrial and logistics hub linking Asia, Africa and Europe.

The agreements build on China’s Belt and Road projects in Egypt and come as regional wars disrupt trade and strain the country’s fragile economy.

Jared Kushner’s artificial intelligence startup, Brain Co., is teaming up with Saudi Arabia’s Humain company to develop business applications for AI.

The companies announced on Tuesday they will combine Humain’s computing infrastructure and AI models with Brain Co.’s technology to build tools for Saudi businesses and government agencies.

Humain is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Kushner co-founded Brain Co. with technology investor Elad Gil, former Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and entrepreneur Eric Wu, incubating the startup through his investment firm, Affinity Partners.

Brain Co. emerged from stealth last year after raising $30 million in a funding round co-led by Affinity and Gil Capital.

Adam Neumann is bringing Flow, his post-WeWork residential real estate venture, to the UAE.

The company has obtained a Dubai International Financial Centre license and is negotiating for its first properties in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with openings planned by early 2027, The National reports.

Flow, founded in 2021 with $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz, represents Neumann’s comeback after WeWork’s failed IPO, his 2019 ouster and the company’s 2023 bankruptcy.

The firm entered Saudi Arabia in 2024 and now says it manages or is developing 8,500 homes in a portfolio valued at $2.5 billion.

Arif Shah, chief executive of Flow UAE, said the team in Dubai will also oversee and support Flow development projects globally, initially across the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, he said.

UAE developer Arada signed a $7 billion agreement with the Syrian Sovereign Fund to build its first project in Syria.

The development will include homes, schools, healthcare facilities and entertainment venues.

The deal marks a step toward warmer ties between Damascus and Abu Dhabi, which has moved more cautiously than Saudi Arabia and Qatar in engaging with President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, Reuters reports.

Syria is seeking foreign investment to rebuild an economy devastated by more than a decade of war and Western sanctions, most of which have been lifted.

Saudi Arabia wants to deploy autonomous trucks on its roads by 2030 as it turns its vast desert highways into an alternative freight route to the war-disrupted Strait of Hormuz.

Humain, an artificial intelligence owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund and Saudi Aramco, announced on Monday that it’s teaming up with California-based Applied Intuition to build a national autonomous logistics network that could eventually include robotaxis and ports.

Applied Intuition has opened an office in Riyadh, and Humain CEO Tareq Amin said that together the two companies will make this region the first to deploy autonomous trucking at scale.”

Humain has been building data centers and investing in AI companies since its launch last year. Recently, it took a stake in AI video-generation startup Luma AI and formed a joint venture with chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. to increase data center capacity in Saudi Arabia.

The project also advances the Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s push into logistics as attacks by Iran and Yemen have made shipping treacherous through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.