His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade Statement on the UNCTAD FDI Report 2024

“The UAE continues to reap the rewards of opening our economy to the world. In 2023, we attracted a total of US$30.7 billion, a world-leading increase of 35 percent over 2022 – and a sharp contrast to the 2 percent global decline in investment flows. These figures, which were revealed in a new report by UNCTAD, have enabled the UAE to advance five places to 11th in the global rankings for FDI attraction while confirming our number one position in the Arab World, accounting for 45.4 percent of the total FDI inflows into the region.

“This is no accident. The UAE continues to take confident steps in pursuit of economic diversification and long-term, sustainable growth, which includes the ongoing development of our business ecosystem, our laws and regulations, and our global trade network to ensure we are a foremost destination for overseas investors and entrepreneurs. Embodying these ambitions is the NextGen FDI initiative, which was launched in 2022 to attract pioneering companies in future-focused industries from across the world, and has succeeded in welcoming enterprises specializing in robotics, agri-tech, hybrid aviation and concentrated solar power. 

“In addition, our Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements program, which we launched in 2021 as a pillar of our efforts to increase our non-oil foreign trade to AED4 trillion by 2031, has delivered preferential market access to a quarter of the world’s population for UAE-based exporters, and consolidated the UAE’s status as a global trade hub.

“Importantly, the UNCTAD figures aren’t just about FDI attraction. They confirm that we are also the 16th-largest source of outbound investment globally, and the largest in the Arab World. In 2023, we committed US$22.3 billion to projects around the world, which underlines our growing importance to the global economy – and, in particular, to the long-term economic ambitions of the developing world. We remain steadfast in our belief that stability and prosperity go hand in hand, and we look forward to playing a leading role in economic development in the years ahead.”