"What comes after the crisis?" — that was the title of one of the sessions at this week's UAE Media Forum, a question preoccupying the entire region after more than 100 days of war that closed the Strait of Hormuz and redrawn many political and economic calculations: What comes after the war? What comes after the strait reopens? What comes after the US-Iran understanding?
As far as the UAE is concerned, it appeared that a large part of the answer was already being put into practice. Over 115 days of war, the UAE took three decisions, any one of which could alone have constituted a strategic shift in peacetime: a withdrawal from OPEC that ended a 59-year membership.
Then there was the establishment of a unified national authority for artificial intelligence and data to lead a transformation towards a government that relies on smart systems for half its services within two years, and the acceleration of a $1.4 trillion investment framework with the United States that exceeded its first-year targets despite wartime conditions.
Three decisions taken while missiles were targeting vital installations and the strait was closed. On the surface these files appear unrelated, but they converge on a single objective: broadening the UAE's capacity to chart its own economic and technological choices in a new regional era taking shape before our eyes. Countries that prepare their tools during a crisis possess the freedom to reposition themselves afterwards; those that wait will adapt to a reality shaped by others.
In the same session, Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee in the Federal National Council, described what had occurred as a crisis for others and an opportunity for the UAE, stressing that "the region is fragile but the UAE is resilient." Resilience here means the ability to make long-term decisions at the most complex of moments, and the capacity to look beyond the immediate event and see the transformations taking shape behind it.
Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Emaar Properties, offered a practical illustration of this mindset during a session moderated by Hamid bin Karam, Editor-in-Chief of Al Bayan. During the crisis, a new project worth 200 billion dirhams was designed, and the Creek Tower project was re-examined in light of the variables imposed by global shipping disruptions, with preparations made to launch implementation phases in line with the market's new realities.
Alabbar also presented a reading of a real estate market heading towards a more balanced phase in 2027 after years of accelerated growth. What these decisions share is that they stem from a reading of the period ahead — which explains the ability of UAE institutions to convert periods of uncertainty into space for preparation and repositioning.
This capacity to think about the next phase rests on a broad economic base built over many years. In 2025, the UAE's GDP grew by 6.2%, surpassing $517 billion.
The contribution of non-oil sectors rose to 77% of GDP and recorded growth of 6.8%, led by construction, financial services, real estate and transport. Over the same period, non-oil foreign trade exceeded $1 trillion for the first time, driven by a network of economic partnership agreements linking the UAE to markets encompassing billions of consumers around the world.
These indicators explain an important dimension of the picture: a country with multiple sources of growth and a trading network spanning continents is better positioned to make long-term decisions during periods of turbulence. That is why Standard & Poor's affirmed the UAE's sovereign rating at AA, and Moody's maintained its rating at Aa2 with a stable outlook, at a time when the region was passing through one of its most complex phases in recent decades.
At the same time, the UAE was expanding its presence in the sectors that will shape the global economy in the decades ahead. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive of Mubadala Investment Company, announced during meetings with the US Vice President and the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce projects including 5.7 gigawatts of computing infrastructure inside the United States and the first new aluminium smelter there in 45 years.
Domestically, the country continues to build its national artificial intelligence ecosystem: 70% of its workforce uses generative AI tools, according to Microsoft — the highest proportion in the world. The overall picture reveals a single direction: investing the present moment in building the advantages of the period ahead.
The session's title was "What comes after the crisis?" Throughout the months of war, the UAE was turning that question into policies, investments and major decisions. As the new regional order begins to take shape, it is becoming clear that what appears to others as an upcoming phase to be prepared for has, in the UAE, already become part of the reality currently being built.