Three key developments were announced last week by the UAE in line with its role as a principal member of the U.S.’s new Middle East strategy to counter China’s dramatically increasing influence over the region: plans for a major economic expansion; plans to attract more oil trade into new contracts; and plans to counter Iranian threats to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. The first of these developments – announced by UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai – is ‘Operation 300 Billion’. This is an initiative that intends to raise the contribution of the UAE’s industrial sector to AED300 billion (US$81 billion) from the current AED133 billion within the next 10 years. The objective will be achieved in large part through the creation of 13,500 industrial companies over that period, […]