UAE's wealth reserves hold firm at $2.5tr amid regional volatility

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Dubai: The UAE has not just weathered the geopolitical disruption of recent months. It has validated the economic architecture built over decades to withstand exactly this kind of pressure.

That was the central message from Badr Jafar, Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Business and Philanthropy, as he opened The Briefing by Arabian Business at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai.

Speaking to gathering of hundreds of chief executives and company founders, Badr Jafar described the country’s response to pressure as something engineered over decades.

“Resilience in the UAE was never improvised in a crisis,” he said. “It is the material we were made from. By design.”

Badr Jafar traced that resilience to the country’s founding. Recalling the late Sheikh, he reminded the room that “no matter how many buildings we raise, or how many bridges... the real spirit behind our progress is the human spirit.”

He recalled how the country had functioned through its most difficult weeks. “While the skies were contested, the country kept its word,” he said. “The ports, the flights, the hospitals, the markets — the daily rhythm of a working country. It held.”

A society under pressure, he added, “does not reveal its slogans. It reveals its character. And ours — two hundred nationalities, one people — did not flinch.”

The Briefing brought together senior decision-makers from finance, aviation, tourism, technology and retail. Speakers included Accor Chief Commercial Officer Kerry Healy; Dubai Airports Chief Executive Paul Griffiths; Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority Chief Executive Phillipa Harrison; The Giving Movement Chief Executive Rania Masri El Khatib; and Mashreq Group Chief Executive Ahmed Abdelaal.

Far from retreating, Badr Jafar argued, activity accelerated through the disruption. “And none of this paused for the recent disruption,” he said. “In fact, it accelerated.” He pointed to the most recent Make it in the Emirates, where “we signed over two hundred new deals worth nearly $50 billion,” and to a widening trade network — “thirty-six trade partnerships, and counting — now connecting UAE companies to three billion people across Asia, Africa and Europe.”

Broader fundamentals reinforce the picture: the UAE’s non-oil sectors now account for close to four-fifths of the economy, while sovereign-owned assets stand at roughly $2.5 trillion and official foreign-exchange reserves exceed $215 billion.

The country runs the world’s busiest international airport, with airports and seaports reaching more than 700 cities and ports across six continents.

Looking ahead, Badr Jafar set out an ambition beyond stability. He described the UAE as more than a global trading hub: “We built it as a crossroads of trade. We have become something rarer — a crossroads of minds.” The country, he argued, would shape rather than merely absorb what comes next. “We will not merely adopt the future,” he said. “We will originate it.”

That future, he insisted, is being built now. “But here is the truth about 2071 — it is not built in 2071. It is built now, in the decisions of this year and the next,” he said, adding that it would be built “the way this country was always built — government, business and community, together.

Badr Jafar closed with a direct message, “This is not a moment to endure. It is a moment to build,” he said. “The first fifty years are written. The next fifty are already imagined — and ours to build, together... This is your country. This is your moment. Let us build it — together.”

The Briefing with Arabian Business continued through the afternoon with panels on investment flows, fintech, tourism, construction, data sovereignty and business continuity.

Badr Jafar is the Special Envoy of the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs for Business & Philanthropy, CEO of Crescent Enterprises, and author of The Business of Philanthropy. He is a recognised voice on the intersection of business, philanthropy, and innovation, and serves in numerous advisory roles across global development and entrepreneurship platforms.

Crescent Enterprises is a multinational company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with strategic investments across sectors.

Established in 2007, the business comprises a diversified group of 57 subsidiaries, affiliates, and investments across 24 countries, and employs more than 1,600 people.

The corporate structure has four platforms: CE-Operates, CE-Invests, CE-Ventures, and CE-Creates.

The platforms span various business sectors, including ports, logistics, food and beverages, healthcare, life sciences, and business aviation. They also include business verticals, such as private equity, venture capital, and business incubation.

Crescent Enterprises is a subsidiary of Crescent Group, a family-owned business shaping the Mena region’s economy for over 50 years.