Launched by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, in June 2022, ADIS has accelerated the transformation of the emirate’s manufacturing sector, thus boosting its position as the region's most competitive industrial hub within its first year.

 

Increased activity has been registered across all three stages of Abu Dhabi’s manufacturer licensing journey - *Rowad (initial licence to establish an industrial company), 

*Construction (to begin constructing an industrial facility) and 

*Production (to commence operations).

 

The 12-month period since July 2022 has seen the number of new industrial Rowad licences granted in Abu Dhabi surge from 204 to 238, thus registering a 16.6% increase over last year. 

 

According to ADEX, the 116 new Rowad industrial licences were issued during the first half of 2023 alone, up 63.3 per cent over from the number issued last year.

 

Also nearly AED15.36 billion in capital investments made by manufacturing facilities moved to the in-production phase over the year, a growth of 85.7 per cent from a year earlier. 

 

As a result, total capital investments by manufacturers operating in the emirate grew AED12.42 billion to AED384.06 billion in the same period, up from AED371.64 billion a year ago.

 

The number of operational manufacturers in the emirate now stands at 966, up from 922 manufacturers at the end of H1 2022, it added.  

 

Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development Chairman Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi said: "Guided by our leadership’s foresight and unwavering commitment, ADDED is doubling down on our efforts to enhance Abu Dhabi’s competitiveness through a new multi-polar economic strategy, where the industrial strategy sits at its core."

 

ADIS aims to strengthen the emirate’s position as the region’s premier industrial hub by doubling the size of industrial sector to AED172 billion, creating 13,600 new skilled jobs, and increasing the emirate’s non-oil exports to AED178.8 billion by 2031.

 

The strategy involves an investment of AED10 billion across six transformational programmes: Talent Development, Industry 4.0, Circular Economy, Ecosystem Enablement, Homegrown Supply Chain, and Value Chain Development.

 

"As an ambitious blueprint to guide the emirate’s manufacturing sector, the Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy has ushered in a new era in the economic landscape that leverages innovation and advanced technologies to harmonise human development, sustainability, and growth," he added.

 

Al Zaabi pointed out that the robust performance of the manufacturing sector was a testament to Abu Dhabi’s ongoing economic resilience. 

 

"Our manufacturing sector, which contributed 16.4 per cent to Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP in 2022 and represents 49.9 per cent of the total industrial sector in the UAE, is moving from strength to strength, powered by successful implementation of the industrial strategy’s transformational programmes to enhance the sector’s competitiveness by increasing access to financing, enhancing ease of doing business, and attracting domestic and foreign direct investments," he added.-TradeArabia News Service