UAE accelerates drive to take national products to global markets

Abu Dhabi: The UAE continues to strengthen an integrated ecosystem linking domestic production with quality, innovation, technology, supply chains and global markets, enhancing the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the national economy. The approach spans the production cycle, from agriculture and food production to advanced manufacturing, product identity, marketing and exports, while directing government and institutional demand towards priority national products. In April, the Cabinet approved the National Project for the Protection of Geographically Defined Products to identify and protect agricultural, industrial and traditional products whose quality, characteristics or reputation are associated with specific areas of the UAE. It also adopted a policy to increase the presence of national products across retail outlets and digital platforms and facilitate manufacturers' access to major supply chains. In agriculture, the National Agriculture Centre (NAC) and the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) have unveiled the National Project for UAE Good Agricultural Practices (UAE GAP) to raise local production standards and improve access to new markets. The programme aims for 80 percent of local farms to obtain UAE GAP certification. Other measures include the National Agricultural Initiative for the Adoption of Climate-Smart Crops, aimed at diversifying the national food basket and reducing reliance on imports, and the Sustainable Product initiative, which seeks to increase the share of locally produced agricultural and livestock products used by the UAE's restaurant and hotel sector to 25 percent. In industry, an Dh1 billion National Industrial Resilience Fund has been approved to support the localisation of critical industries, strengthen supply-chain resilience and accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across production, operations and planning. The UAE has also expanded the National In-Country Value Programme, making its application mandatory in selected sectors to channel more government and institutional demand towards national products and strengthen their integration into supply chains. The Make it in the Emirates platform further connects investors, manufacturers and industry leaders with domestic production and investment opportunities, while ADNOC's Local+ initiative gives greater priority to UAE-manufactured products across its projects. Efforts to retain greater value within the national economy also include the launch of the UAE's largest aluminium recycling plant, the Al Taweelah recycling plant in Abu Dhabi-with an annual capacity of 185,000 tonnes, enabling aluminium scrap to be processed locally into high-quality, lower-carbon products. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology's Factory Forward UAE initiative brings industrial technology transformation programmes and enablers under a single framework. Programmes within the ecosystem have supported more than 700 factories, while over 620 have been assessed through the Industrial Technology Transformation Index (ITTI). Alongside expanding domestic production, the UAE is strengthening international investments and partnerships to connect national capabilities with regional and global resources, markets and value chains. Together, these initiatives reflect the UAE's drive to build a more competitive and technology-enabled national production base, capable of meeting domestic demand while expanding into global markets and strengthening the country's position in international value chains.