The National says ADNOC's 60 billion dirham push could lift UAE manufacturing

Abu Dhabi's The National writes in its 26 October editorial that the UAE's industrial strategy will be judged by the factories built, the skilled jobs created and the quality of locally made goods. At the 2nd Make it with ADNOC Forum in Abu Dhabi on 25 October, the national oil company set out more than 60 billion dirhams of local manufacturing opportunity to 2030. ADNOC also announced changes to procurement, supplier registration and in-country value rules that make it easier for manufacturers to bid for work.

The editorial recalls that Operation 300bn, launched by the Ministry of Industry in 2021, aims to raise industry's contribution to GDP from 133 billion dirhams to 300 billion dirhams by 2031. By the paper's account, the in-country value programme ADNOC began in 2018 has channelled more than 307 billion dirhams into the national economy. The company has signed roughly 80 billion dirhams of offtake agreements for local manufacturing. At the 1st forum in May it set out a plan to tender 200 billion dirhams of projects over 2026–2028.

The editorial board argues that Covid-19 and the war with Iran showed why domestic industry matters in reducing dependence on foreign suppliers. Success, it says, rests above all on whether small and medium-sized enterprises can reach finance, contracts and modern technology. The paper points to the Make it in the Emirates event of May 2027 as the next stop at which progress will be measured.