Iran’s blacklist tests UAE’s shuttle trade

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Production back up and running at Ruwais + Adia backs USD 3.2 bn India fund

Good morning, everyone. The UAE’s Hormuz workaround is now facing its own test, even as reconstruction wagers and refinery repairs show resilience elsewhere.

Iran’s blacklisting of 45 vessels, including Adnoc-owned tankers, is a direct hit to the UAE’s workaround tactics, threatening the shuttle and ship-to-ship transfer network it built to keep crude moving during the war. In today’s Big Story, we take a look at the benefits of — and problems with — the shuttle trade that has kept much of the UAE’s crude flowing over the past few months.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Adnoc has fully restarted production at Ruwais, the UAE’s largest refinery, while further afield, Arada is joining the growing list of Emirati players wagering on Syria’s reconstruction via a USD 7 bn agreement.

PLUS- ePointZero is acquiring 90% of pan-African power producer Azura Power Holdings, and Alpha Dhabi is doubling its commitment to its private credit JV with Mubadala Capital.

BUT FIRST- The UAE Defense Ministry intercepted a drone over Emirati waters yesterday, with authorities saying the UAV had come from Iran, after the US and Iran traded strikes for the first time in weeks. Iran’s armed forces said it had targeted US military bases in Jordan, as well as the Al Menhad airbase in the UAE, in retaliation for US strikes on Lark Island.

UAE authorities, however, have said Al Menhad wasn’t targeted and urged people to use only official sources of information to avoid the spread of rumors. In an X post, Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic advisor to the UAE president, said, “the policy of targeting Arab Gulf states and Jordan has proved to be a failure,” and called for “realistic and sustainable political solutions” to the conflict.

Signs of severed trade ties with Iran are also evident, as traffic along the once-busy shipping route from Dubai Creek to Iran has largely dried up, the Financial Times reports. Coupled with increased US economic sanctions, the Emirates’ shunning of trade relations with Iran has cut off access to what was once a vital offshore hub for Iranian commercial activity.

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Alpha Dhabi puts more skin in the game

Alpha Dhabi has doubled down on its private credit JV with Mubadala, even as the underlying portfolio barely moved. ADX-listed Alpha Dhabi Holding is doubling its capital commitment to USD 1 bn in MICAD Credit JV and raising its ownership stake in the Mubadala Capital joint venture to 40% from 20%, according to a disclosure (pdf). The JV will also broaden its mandate beyond its existing US and European direct lending focus into other private credit strategies.

BACKGROUND- Mubadala and Alpha Dhabi formed the JV in 2023, with Mubadala holding an 80% stake. The JV has a joint target of USD 2.5 bn in private credit investments by 2028, leaning on Mubadala’s relationship with Apollo Global Management. It reached USD 1.6 bn in assets across 39 obligors in December after buying a USD 600 mn Apollo-managed European direct lending portfolio. It has since grown to roughly USD 1.7 bn, with the number of portfolio companies rising to 45 from 39.

What’s next: Watch for whether the extra commitment raises the JV’s USD 2.5 bn 2028 target or simply rebalances funding of the same target between the two partners. Also watch for the first agreements under the broadened mandate — Mubadala Capital’s own platform runs private equity, secondaries, venture capital, and credit-adjacent strategies alongside direct lending, so that’s the likely menu once “additional private credit strategies” get tested in practice.

Another day, another Adia India play

Adia backs USD 3.2 bn India fund: In its latest India play, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) took part in a roughly USD 2 bn fundraise by the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), India’s quasi-sovereign wealth fund, according to an NIIF statement. The specific value of Adia’s participation, which came through a subsidiary, was not disclosed. Overall, the Indian government anchored the close.

The bigger picture: So far, NIIF’s Infrastructure Fund II has raised INR 19k crore (USD 2 bn), putting it 60% of the way to its wider goal of INR 30k crore (USD 3.2 bn). The fund is targeting the energy, electric mobility, and transport sectors, with another INR 9k crore (USD 950 mn) also set to be deployed via co-investment capital.

ICYMI- Adia has been a key NIIF backer following its USD 1 bn investment in 2017 to become a shareholder and institutional investor in its master fund. NIIF itself has big ambitions and said last year that it aimed to double its AUM to USD 10 bn over 30 months. The fund is also reportedly looking to raise a USD 2 bn private credit vehicle.

This latest move combines two of Adia’s favorite investment targets: infrastructure and India. Last year, it committed to investing USD 500 mn in US power infrastructure firm Alpha Generations. The fund has also backed a succession of Indian IPOs in recent months, including Manipal Health Enterprises, KRN Heat Exchangers, and SBI Funds Management, while also anchoring a USD 1 bn India real estate fund.

Ruwais is back online

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has fully resumed production at Ruwais, the UAE’s largest refinery, months after a drone strike forced operations to halt, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. The 922k bbl / d facility has been running at full capacity for about a month, while exports of diesel, jet fuel, and naphtha have recovered to around 70% of pre-war levels.

BACKGROUND- The refinery was shut after an Iranian drone strike caused a fire back in March, after already running at reduced rates as Strait of Hormuz traffic constraints disrupted supplies. Ruwais is a major exporter of refined products, including diesel to Europe, making its return more significant as global product markets remain tight.

PSAs

Prices at the pump climb again: The UAE Fuel Price Committee has raised pump prices again for September, marking the second consecutive monthly increase, according to a post on X. The latest hike comes after petrol rose by around 6% in August, following July price cuts that offered brief respite from successive increases between March and June. Once again, diesel is seeing the sharpest increase this month, after a 72.4% spike in April following the outbreak of the war:

Super 98 rises to AED 3.80, up from AED 3.60 in August (+5.6%);
Special 95 rises to AED 3.69, up from AED 3.49 (+5.7%);
E-Plus 91 rises to AED 3.61, up from AED 3.41 (+5.9%);
Diesel rises to AED 4.30, up from AED 3.80 (+13.2%).

WEATHER- It’s still hotter in Abu Dhabi, with temperatures reaching 45°C before cooling to 31°C overnight, while Dubai will see a high of 41°C and a low of 33°C.

Data point

59 — that’s how many b’naires lived in the UAE last year, up 11.3% y-o-y, with a combined wealth of USD 201 bn, according to Altrata’s 2026 census (pdf). That placed it 14th among the top 15 countries for b’naires. It was also the only Middle Eastern country to feature in the top 15 list. Dubai held the lion’s share of b’naires, with 43 in total — adding two b’naires from last year and ranking eighth in the list of top 15 b’naire cities, tied with Shenzhen, China.

The growth in the UAE’s b’naire population came despite what Altrata said was a “challenging year” for Middle East b’naires amid the region’s reliance on hydrocarbon exports and weak oil markets. However, ongoing non-oil diversification activity and large sovereign infrastructure programs in Saudi Arabia and the UAE helped support capital inflows, the report said. Despite the challenges facing the region, the b’naire population grew a modest 5% y-o-y, according to Altrata.

BACKGROUND- Capgemini’s report on high-net-worth individuals’ wealth flows had also said Middle East wealth was down 1.5% last year, even as every other region recorded growth. The overall HNWI population also dropped 1.4%, with the report citing pressure on fiscal coffers from lower oil prices, weak labor markets, and regional instability as the primary drivers of the contraction.

Expect that trend to continue: The UAE — and the wider GCC — was well positioned to catch a larger intake of HNWIs relocating from countries like the UK in search of more favorable tax policies and investment environments. However, the regional war has prompted many HNWIs in the UAE to either leave or scout other locations for long-term residency, with inquiries for Henley & Partners’ UAE residence program down 13% in 1Q 2026.

Happening today

Middle East Energy is kicking off today at the Dubai World Trade Center and will run until Thursday, 3 September. The three-day exhibition — which was delayed from April due to the conflict — will host over 1.9k exhibitors. They will display their offerings and solutions in power generation, distribution, transmission, and storage to buyers from the energy sector.

The big story abroad

Political drama at the G20 finance meeting has top billing in the international press today, after Russia’s participation drew opposition from European officials. This week’s summit of finance ministers and central bankers in North Carolina marks Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov’s first time at a G20 meeting since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Amazon in hot water: The US Federal Trade Commission has filed a suit against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant misled advertisers by manipulating the prices they paid to promote products on its platform. The suit, filed by a bipartisan coalition of 22 states, claims Amazon illegally made USD 20 bn by deceiving some 1.2 mn US advertising customers.

Logistics is big in Japan: US-based investment firm Ares Management, through its real estate arm, raised USD 4 bn for its fifth logistics development fund, which is almost 50% larger than its predecessor. The Japan Logistics Development Partners fund reached its maximum target, marking the unit’s largest closed-end institutional fundraise, drawing investments from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurers across four continents.

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Iran’s blacklist is the latest test of how sustainable the UAE’s fast-growing shuttle trade really is

The UAE’s shuttle and ship-to-ship (STS) transfer network scaled rapidly to keep regional crude barrels moving. But the workaround is now running into the same geopolitical risk it was designed to avoid: Iran has blacklisted 45 vessels, including tankers owned by Adnoc, for flouting its rules on crossing the Strait of Hormuz, threatening ships conducting STS transfers with fines, detention, or cargo confiscation.

What is the shuttle trade? Adnoc has built its export strategy around a shuttle model since the war disrupted normal Hormuz transits. Under the setup, vessels move crude from inside the Gulf to transfer points like Fujairah, where buyers — including China’s biggest state tanker operators, Cosco and CMES, which have avoided the strait entirely — collect it without having to send their own ships through the danger zone. That workaround let Adnoc sell more than 100 mn barrels via tenders even as chokepoint traffic collapsed. “It is a [form of] de-risking,” former head of supply chain and transport industries at the World Economic Forum Wolfgang Lehmacher tells EnterpriseAM. The model gives both sellers and buyers greater certainty that cargoes can actually be delivered, while adding another option to the supply chain.

The threat from Iran, however, could impact STS throughput, with at least three Indian refiners and a global energy major already planning to avoid Iran-blacklisted vessels, including for STS transfers, Reuters reports.

Iran’s threat could make more shipowners wary of receiving cargo from blacklisted tankers, shrinking the pool of vessels available for STS transfers, Lehmacher tells us. “The immediate issue is not whether every transfer stops, but whether a ship remains acceptable to insurers, charterers, and cargo interests,” he explains. “The reported avoidance of listed ships suggests that this risk is already affecting commercial decisions.”

The threat came just as Adnoc’s model was starting to scale up and get replicated by other regional oil firms. Saudi Aramco was observed to be moving crude through the strait aboard dedicated shuttle vessels before transferring it off Fujairah or Sohar last month, and QatarEnergy recently opted for the same switch, offering its first crude cargoes through STS transfers outside Hormuz. Shuttle-related STS liftings doubled to 3 mn bbl / d in June, up from 1.5 mn bbl / d in May and roughly 500k bpd in 2025, commodity analyst at Oil Price Natalia Katona estimates.

There was always a level of risk to the model anyway

“Every additional leg in a supply chain creates costs, creates risks,” says Lehmacher, citing costs like fuel, STS equipment and personnel, support craft, surveys, waiting time, ins., and demurrage. Plus: Moving the transfer outside Hormuz alone does not eliminate geopolitical exposure. “We may de-risk [the vessels] from a security point of view in Hormuz, but then the new STS locations become the target,” Lehmacher says. “No oil or gas field is safe nowadays and an insurer might look at it like that.”

By the numbers: Reported Hormuz war-risk rates reached 7.5-12.5% of vessel value in mid-August, Katona notes. The crude itself also takes a haircut: Countries with alternative pipelines or tanker fleets can command higher prices for their crude, while producers reliant on spot charters must offer much deeper discounts to compensate buyers, “particularly when owners are unwilling to enter the Gulf at almost any price,” explains Katona.

“The [shuttle trade] model can therefore be viewed as a continuity mechanism rather than new export capacity,” Katona says. For context: Even with the STS operations, estimated crude and petroleum-liquid flows through Hormuz averaged just 4.9 mn bbl / d in 2Q 2026, against 21.6 mn bbl / d before the conflict, she adds.

That’s precisely why the UAE is working on a more long-term workaround, with construction on a new West-East pipeline that will double crude export capacity from Fujairah accelerating — the project is set to be operational next year.

But that pipeline solves Adnoc’s problem, not the region’s. Fujairah’s appeal runs deeper than one pipe — which is why other producers are angling for a piece of it too.

Placing Fujairah in the bigger picture

Fujairah’s build-out is turning into a shared regional workaround, not just an Adnoc project other producers happen to use. Kuwait, which does not have a Hormuz bypass to export its crude, is also now in talks to route crude through Fujairah, Saudi Arabia, and Oman instead, The National reports.

Does it have the capacity? Oil storage capacity is at almost 18 mn cbm today, according to the Port of Fujairah’s figures, and around 1.5 mn sqm of reclaimed land is earmarked for further build-out by 2028.

That’s what separates Fujairah from a patch of open water where tankers happen to meet. It’s the world’s third-largest bunkering hub after Singapore and Rotterdam, backed by three decades of pipeline, storage, and berth investment. Sohar, 150 km south in Oman, has spent years trying to chip into that position — but the war has pushed more of the region’s crude toward both anchorages at once.

Storage isn’t the constraint, though — choreography is. Precise, continuous counts of vessels anchoring at Fujairah don’t exist, but the snapshots available point the same way. Tracking data from Misbar shows 20 simultaneous STS transfers across the Gulf of Oman on August 25, including six off Fujairah and 10 off Sohar. That marks a sharp surge from mid-July, when Bloomberg satellite tracking spotted roughly four combined transfers off Fujairah and Sohar. More tankers are now competing for the same anchorage slots and the same pool of trained crews.

Scaling the model further means finding not only more available tankers and STS equipment, but a higher number of shipowners, trained crews, and insurers willing to accept the transit risk, Katona says. That’s in addition to constraints like weather-safe transfer slots, vessel synchronization, and maintenance, she adds.

Could some relief be coming? DP World is in talks to build a new multipurpose port and a container terminal at Fujairah, which would add further anchorage and berth capacity. The potential port is still just talks — a term sheet, no financing confirmed — and DP World’s plans center on containers and general cargo rather than crude, so how much that specific build-out eases pressure on the STS anchorage itself is still an open question.

On the tanker side, at least, Adnoc isn’t waiting for the market to catch up. It’s chartered around 15 crude carriers this year alone to keep shuttle movements running, and Adnoc L&S has committed roughly USD 2.7 bn to vessel acquisitions in 2026 — including six VLCCs bought in the past few weeks, the same class of supertanker that collects shuttled crude at anchorages like Fujairah.

Abu Dhabi’s ePointZero to acquire 90% of pan-African power producer Azura Power

Abu Dhabi’s ePointZero is acquiring a 90% stake in Azura Power Holdings, an independent power producer with 752 MW of operating capacity across Nigeria, Senegal, and Mozambique, according to a company statement. EPointZero, the energy infrastructure arm of 2PointZero Group, is buying out existing investors Actis and Africa50 through a new acquisition vehicle formed with Amaya Capital, the firm that founded Azura in 2010 and will retain the remaining 10%. The transaction value wasn’t disclosed. Closing is subject to customary regulatory approvals across the three countries.

Why it matters: This is ePointZero’s first acquisition in African power generation and its fourth cross-border energy agreement since November, following a solar development partnership with Elsewedy Electric in Zambia, a USD 2.25 bn buy into US gas pipelines through Traverse Midstream in July, and a renewables JV with Adani Green Energy in India in April. It also comes as regional power demand in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to nearly double by 2040, with electrification rates currently sitting at 55%.

More on Azura: Azura’s three plants generate roughly 10% of grid baseload power in each of the countries in which they operate. Its 1.5 GW development pipeline of gas, renewable, and battery storage projects could more than double the platform’s capacity.

Arada signs USD 7 bn agreement for its first real estate project in Syria

UAE developer Arada is undertaking its first project in Syria to the tune of USD 7 bn, after inking an agreement with the Syrian Sovereign Fund for a real estate development, according to the Syrian state news agency Sana.

What’s being built: The 4 mn sqm project will include residential complexes alongside healthcare, education, and entertainment facilities and will be built in the New Damascus area.

Why it matters: Arada is the latest Gulf investor lining up capital for Syria’s reconstruction as Damascus looks abroad to rebuild an economy battered by more than a decade of war and sanctions. Syria has already signed bns of USD worth of agreements and MoUs with Gulf and US investors.

And there’s plenty more UAE real estate money on the table: Mohamed Alabbar is separately planning up to USD 18 bn in investment through Abu Dhabi-based Eagle Hills, including a mixed-use development in Damascus and a beachfront project in Latakia that spans tens of thousands of homes alongside hotels, retail spaces, offices, schools, and hospitals.

IN CONTEXT- UAE capital is already moving into other parts of Syria’s rebuild. DP World began implementing its USD 800 mn investment in Tartus port late last year, while AD Ports Group agreed to acquire a 20% stake in the Latakia International Container Terminal — widening the Emirati footprint from ports into large-scale property development.

Fertiglobe taps new CFO

Daniel Shook (LinkedIn) will take over as Fertiglobe’s CFO on 1 October, succeeding Andrew Tait (LinkedIn), who has resigned from the role, according to an ADX filing (pdf). No reason was given for Tait’s departure. Shook was previously CFO of IMI for more than a decade and of Borealis for over seven years, and currently serves as a non-executive director and audit committee chair at XP Power.

Wheat and corn surge as Black Sea risks meet hawkish Fed

A war-driven commodity shock and a hawkish Fed are hitting the same import bills at once. Wheat settled at 784 cents a bushel on Friday, its highest close since February 2023, up 12.1% on the week and more than 54.5% YTD, CNBC reports. December corn settled at 536.5 cents a bushel, its highest close since July 2023 and up 21.8% YTD. The corn contract was up 15.6% in August, putting it on track for its best month since April 2021.

IN CONTEXT- This rally comes as Russia prepares to intensify attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure after peace talks reached a dead end, Bloomberg reported last week. Russia and Ukraine together account for more than a quarter of global wheat exports, while damage to port and grain export infrastructure, attacks on vessels, and rising ins. costs are disrupting what is still moving through the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. The exposure isn’t uniform. Jordan had already canceled two wheat tenders and two barley tenders that month after receiving few offers amid high prices and shipping risk. Tunisia was warning suppliers against invoking force majeure. Indonesia — the No. 2 global buyer — had locked in roughly 600k tons from former Soviet exporters for July-September while already scouting Bulgaria, Australia, Romania, and Argentina as backups, Reuters reported last week. Algeria, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam also rely heavily on Russian and Ukrainian wheat.

Egypt is the sharpest case in that group. The country is the world’s largest wheat importer and sourced more than 82% of its wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine in the first half of 2026. Unlike Jordan or Tunisia, Egypt’s bread subsidy program is a fixed budget line, not a purchase it can defer. The private sector, which handles more than half of Egypt’s wheat needs and holds thinner inventories than the state buyer, is absorbing most of the near-term pain, and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has discussed the threat to food supplies directly with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Egypt’s exposure isn’t limited to wheat. The country is also a major corn importer for poultry and animal feed, with Brazil supplying roughly half those inflows through mid-May 2026. A corn rally on top of a wheat rally means the feed and protein side of the food bill is moving at the same time as bread.

Then there’s the currency leg. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Friday remarks at Jackson Hole read hawkish enough that markets are now pricing higher odds of a September hike, CNBC reports, with Principal Asset Management’s Seema Shah telling the network that “the positive market reaction highlights that investors place a premium on policy clarity, even when that clarity carries a more hawkish message.” Every importer on that list is now paying more USD for the same wheat, with less room from the Fed to absorb it, but Egypt may be carrying a bigger, less flexible bill than Jordan’s or Tunisia’s.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets opened lower today, with Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi both about 0.5% in the red. This tracks with Wall Street’s overnight losses across the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq.

ADX	10,007	-0.4% (YTD: +0.2%)
DFM	5,836	-0.8% (YTD: -3.5%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,799	-0.9% (YTD: -1.8%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.5% o/n	4.4% 1 yr
TASI	11,127	-0.3% (YTD: +6.1%)
EGX30	54,866	-0.1% (YTD: +31.2%)
S&P 500	7,686	-0.3% (YTD: +12.3%)
FTSE 100	10,824	+0.3% (YTD: +9.0%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,420	-1.0% (YTD: +10.8%)
Brent crude	USD 90.49	+2.7%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.93	-0.1%
Gold	USD 4,494	+0.3%
BTC	USD 79,006	+0.5% (YTD: -9.9%)
Lunate JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.59	+0.0% (YTD: -4.3%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	151.34	-0.1% (YTD: -0.4%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	14.92	+3.4% (YTD: -0.2%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM fell 0.8% yesterday on turnover of AED 2.2 bn. The index is down 3.5% YTD.

In the green: Islamic Arab Insurance Company (+9.0%), National Cement Company (+5.3%), and Mashreqbank (+4.3%).

In the red: Taaleem Holdings (-4.9%), Union Properties (-4.6%), and Al Salam Sudan (-4.5%).

Over on the ADX, the index fell 0.4% on turnover of AED 1.9 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was down 0.9%.

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

1-3 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Middle East Energy, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

7-9 September (Monday-Wednesday): AIM Congress, Dubai World Trade Center.

7-9 September (Monday-Wednesday): International Property Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

12-13 September (Saturday-Sunday): Emirates International Congress on AI & Visionary Leadership in Transforming Healthcare, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

14-17 September (Monday-Thursday): Arabian Travel Market, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

15-16 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

17-19 September (Thursday-Saturday): International Real Estate & Investment Show (IREIS), Adnec, Abu Dhabi.

18-19 September (Friday-Saturday): EuroLeague Basketball SuperCup, Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Al Ain Future Business Forum, Adnec, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.

29-30 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): AFCM Annual Conference, Abu Dhabi.

OCTOBER

1-2 October (Thursday-Friday): MEIRA Annual Conference, Atlantis the Royal, Dubai.

4-10 October (Sunday-Saturday): World Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

5-7 October (Monday-Wednesday): AI Everything Global, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

12-14 October (Monday-Wednesday): Airport Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

14-15 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Sharjah Investment Forum, Jawaher Reception and Convention Center, Sharjah.

13-15 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders, Dubai.

20-22 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Health Summit, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

21 October (Wednesday): Reuters NEXT Gulf, St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Arab Competition Forum, Dubai.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

30 October (Friday): Large businesses achieving annual revenues equal to or above AED 50 mn must appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation.

Signposted to happen sometime in October 2026:

Abu Dhabi Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

NOVEMBER

2-6 November (Monday-Friday): Dubai Future Finance Week, Dubai.

4 November (Wednesday): Digital Transformation Summit, Sofitel, Abu Dhabi.

9-10 November (Monday-Tuesday): Annual government meetings, Abu Dhabi.

9-12 November (Monday-Thursday): EMEA Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education Conference, Dubai College of Tourism, Dubai.

9-13 November (Monday-Friday): World Congress of Military Medicine, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

10-12 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Dubai International Electric Vehicle Exhibition & Conference, Dubai World Trade Center.

16-18 November (Monday-Wednesday): World Police Summit, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

18-19 November (Wednesday-Thursday): Touchdown Middle East 2026, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

25-26 November (Saturday-Sunday): Doers Summit, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai.

DECEMBER

2-4 December (Wednesday-Friday): UN Water Conference, UAE.

4-6 December (Friday-Sunday): Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Capital Market Summit, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Water & Power Week, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday) Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association Show, DWC, Dubai Airshow Site.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2027:

1 January: Deadline for large businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1Q 2027: Completion of the first phase of Hassyan seawater desalination project;
1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): World Governments Summit;
31 March: Small businesses with annual revenues of less than AED 50 mn are obliged to contract with an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
31 March: Government entities are required to appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
21-22 April (Wednesday-Thursday): Token2049, Dubai;
1 July: Deadline for small businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1 October: Deadline for governments to implement e-invoicing;
Abu Dhabi’s solar and battery energy facility, combining 5.2 GW of solar capacity and 19 GWh of battery storage, is set for commissioning.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2028:

Artificial Intelligence Summit.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2029:

Sibos 2029 organized by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Dubai;
Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, Abu Dhabi;
The commissioning of the seventh phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

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