Influence is being reconfigured around the world; in the Gulf, it is being actively reshaped. As energy, capital and technology converge, the region is emerging as a global connector, linking markets and systems globally.
Reuters NEXT Gulf convenes leaders in Abu Dhabi at a moment of accelerating change, as diversification gathers pace and new industries scale beyond oil. From financial innovation and AI deployment to climate pressures and geopolitical realignment, the region faces a defining test: converting ambition into execution.
Powered by Reuters’ global newsroom, the summit delivers trusted intelligence that connects these shifting trajectories of influence into one strategic view.
Join us where the Gulf’s growing influence is translated into global impact.
These sessions are hosted by Reuters journalists under the Trust Principles.
The Gulf’s ambition to become a pivotal “middle power” is being stress-tested in real time. Backed by sovereign wealth and an ambitious trade policy, the region is targeting high-growth sectors - from AI and data centres to clean energy and advanced manufacturing – as it focuses on both deepening existing alliances and growing new ones. However, the recent disruption in global travel and trade has hit the very arteries the region's trade model depends upon, and Gulf states face trade-offs between security imperatives and development ambitions. We discuss how Gulf trade alliances, investment corridors and diversification strategies must evolve - and which sectors and partnerships will define the decade ahead.
This session is in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.
Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development Chairman H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi
Geopolitical disruption has become a reality of doing business in the Gulf, yet companies across the region continue to grow and invest. Despite airspace closures, threats to critical infrastructure, supply chain bottlenecks and higher insurance and shipping costs, businesses are finding new ways to maintain momentum and strengthen resilience. Leaders across energy, aviation, logistics and consumer goods examine how businesses are adapting to a more volatile operating environment. From supply chains and transport routes to infrastructure security and investment planning, how are companies balancing development ambitions with rising geopolitical risk? Will the Gulf's next phase of growth be defined not just by ambition, but by its ability to adapt and thrive in an uncertain world?
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
Dubai Airports Chief Executive Officer Paul Griffiths
Space42 Chief Executive Officer Ali Al Hashmi
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
For decades, globalisation made capital allocation straightforward. Today, investors must navigate geopolitical tensions, supply-chain realignment and technological disruption. Capital is now moving in every direction, from East to West and back again. From sovereign wealth funds to highly strategic investment groups, how are long-term investors balancing returns with wider economic objectives, and where are they finding value? What drives their investment thesis across sectors including energy, tourism, climate and infrastructure? And how is soft power shaping decisions, and what are the hot investments for the next 6-12 months?
Khazanah Nasional Berhad Managing Director Dato' Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir
2PointZero Group Chief Executive Officer Samia Bouazza
First Abu Dhabi Bank Managing Director & Global Head of Sovereign Wealth Funds Sophia Oumary
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
AI adoption is accelerating fast across the Gulf - new research shows AI adoption among UAE businesses has surged to 72%, up from 53% a year earlier, a 36% year-on-year rise, with 74% of business leaders now naming AI a top or high strategic priority. As adoption shifts from pilot projects to mass-scale, agentic deployment -and as the region's AI ambitions accelerate against the backdrop of an intensifying U.S.-China tech race this session discusses what this growth means for productivity, investment and competitiveness across Gulf economies, and how businesses and governments can capture the upside of AI at scale while managing the risks to trust, security and market confidence.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managing Director UAE & MENA Growth Markets Chris Erasmus
Moderator: Thomson Reuters Head of Reuters Professional Josh London
This session is in partnership with AWS.
"Foreign direct investment, alongside other investment streams, is driving growth as Gulf economies diversify beyond hydrocarbons. Promising returns and technological advancements in non-oil sectors including clean energy, transport, and AI are attracting international capital, prompting regulatory liberalisation. Will these incentives be enough to maintain momentum and foreign investor confidence in the wake of regional uncertainty? How are domestic and international investors leveraging public-private partnership models to deliver major projects? And which sectors - and sources of capital - are likely to shape the region’s next wave of investment?
Bank of America President Middle East & North Africa Arshad Ghafur
Brookfield Managing Partner & Regional Head of the Middle East Jad Ellawn
Investment Agency of Georgia Chief Executive Officer Mikheil Khidureli
Moderator: Nazanine Moshiri
This session is in partnership with Investment Agency of Georgia.
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
"This session will bring together leading voices from luxury and retail to examine how the industry is adapting to new market realities. What do changing consumer behaviours mean for growth and positioning? How is AI transforming brand strategy and operations? And how are brands balancing heritage with innovation in an increasingly competitive global market?
Harrods Managing Director Michael Ward
Kering President Middle East & Africa Miral Youssef
Kerzner International Managment Chief Executive Officer Philippe Zuber
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
Real estate is evolving from a traditional asset class into a platform for long-term economic development, infrastructure investment and capital formation. Amid regional uncertainty, how are developers continuing to build for the future, and what does disciplined capital management look like? OMNIYAT Founder & Executive Chairman Mahdi Amjad discusses how he identifies the next opportunities for growth, the role of strategic partnerships, private capital and debt markets in financing the communities and assets of the future, and what it takes to create a market for excellence ahead of demand.
OMNIYAT Founder & Executive Chairman Mahdi Amjad
Moderator: Thomson Reuters Head of Reuters Professional Josh London
This session is in partnership with OMNIYAT.
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
Gulf states are making a bold shift - moving from importing AI to building it end-to-end, training national models on local data and investing heavily in the datacentres and power systems to support them. We examine what ""sovereign AI"" means in practice for the GCC, the infrastructure race it is driving, and the real challenges that come with it: grid capacity, cooling in extreme heat, water and land use, and talent shortages, and the cross-border cooperation and data governance questions that come with scaling at this pace. With ambitions to serve compute demand across Europe, Asia and Africa, can the Gulf position itself as the world's next great AI infrastructure hub - and what would it mean for the wider global balance of AI capability?
HUMAIN Chief Executive Officer Tareq Amin
Digital Cooperation Organization Secretary General H.E. Deemah Alyahya
Moderator: Event Moderator Nazanine Moshiri
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
This session is hosted by a Reuters journalist under the Trust Principles.
This session will bring together leading voices to discuss how women are shaping the tech agenda, the barriers that remain, and what is needed to accelerate progress in the region’s fast-growing tech ecosystem.
Women in AI Head of Data and AI for UAE Shayma Kurz
eJaby Founder & Investor Menna Shahin
GoDaddy Vice President, International Markets Selina Bieber
Moderator: Women Lead Conglomerate Chief Executive Officer Dr. Sheeba Sultan Hasnain
With global AI spend hitting $2.59 trillion and most enterprises still unable to prove P&L impact, leadership is shifting from usage to returns — auditing token spend, routing tasks to the cheapest capable model, and demanding unit economics that hold up under CFO scrutiny. This session explores how organisations convert AI-driven efficiency into sustained value: measuring freed capacity, redeploying it into new revenue, and building feedback loops that compound returns rather than spend.
Technology Innovation Insitute Chief Researcher Dr. Hakim Hacid
Mashreq Chief AI Officer Xi Liang
Disrupt.com Founding Partner Aaqib Gadit
Moderator: Kyndryl Chief Operating Officer, Middle East & Africa Elena Overchuk
This session is in partnership with Disrupt.
Hear from the region’s most ambitious tech founders as they share their vision and showcase their breakthroughs. Hosted in collaboration with a leading innovation partner, this session showcases the next generation of technology pioneers.
Hosts:
Disrupt.com Senior Vice President Value Building Dr. Jonathan Doerr
Disrupt.com Senior Vice President Strategy, Partnerships & Investment Ali Samir Oosman
Judges:
Aliph Capital Managing Director Simona Di Vietri
Key Capital Managing Director Basil Moftah
Shorooq Partner Bilal Baloch
Founders:
Ridge Co-Founder Martin-Munjo Vogdt
Articos CEO & Co-Founder Shaheer Gadit
Zamanat CEO & Founder Umair Tariq
Wellows CEO & Founder Masab Gadit
This session is in partnership with Disrupt.com
As AI moves from pilot to economy-wide deployment, the Gulf faces a defining leadership challenge: how to operationalise AI sovereignty across both public institutions and the private sector. This roundtable brings together senior leaders to examine the governance models, incentive structures and risk frameworks needed to scale AI responsibly - and the leadership capabilities required to drive it.
AI Asia Pacific Institute President & Executive Director Kelly Forbes
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managing Director UAE & MENA Growth Markets Chris Erasmus
This is an invitation-only session, in partnership with AWS, held under Chatham House rule.
Traditional financial institutions are increasingly collaborating with fintech companies to reach new private credit markets and meet consumers’ digitisation demands. Advancements in digital and real-time payment solutions and crypto, central bank digital currency pilots, and tokenised private credit via blockchain are causing knock-on effects in the investment space. How are institutional investors reacting to the digital transformation in the finance sector; and what does this mean for consumer trust, the future of cybersecurity and regulatory realms?
Citigroup Saudi Arabia Chiarman Mutlaq H. Al-Morished
Abu Dhabi Investment Office Head of the FIDA Cluster Fatima Al Hamadi
National Bank of Egypt Group Head Cyber Security; Chair of the Cyber Security Committee at the Federation of Egyptian Banks Abeer Khedr
Solana Chief Strategy Officer Rachel Conlan
Moderator: MSA Capital Managing Partner & Chief Operating Officer Walid Faza
GCC investors are deploying capital in an environment shaped by geopolitical fragmentation, energy-market volatility, and supply chain disruption – conditions that require swift operational and strategic pivots. Alongside traditional allocations, commodities, such as gold and critical minerals, serve differentiated roles from strategic hedges to growth engines for the energy transition. This session will explore how institutional investors are designing portfolios that absorb shock, remain resilient, and achieve long-term objectives.
Principal Asset Management Senior Managing Director & Head of Middle East Charles Brooke
World Gold Council Head of Policy and External Affairs EMEA Lisa Vainio
Moderator: 3iQ Head of Middle East Rachel Pether
The legal ecosystem is transforming. How in-house legal functions operate, how law firms compete how technology enables scale, is all changing. Organizations that understand and lead this transformation are winning deals, attracting capital, and competing globally. Those that don't are falling behind. Thomson Reuters works with 1000+ legal organizations globally (in-house and law firms). We see the transformation happening. We observe what's working, what's not, and how different regions and organizations are adapting.
The Gulf shopper is trading down and trading up at once - saving on staples while splurging on beauty, fragrance, and wellness in markets that often set trends for wider emerging consumers. This panel explores how brands protect margins without losing share through segmentation, innovation, pricing and promotions, pack architecture, and channel strategy across modern trade, e-commerce, and tourism-driven retail. We'll also cover the people engine: building and retaining global teams in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Riyadh, and leading multicultural, fast-scaling organisations—using Gulf consumer behaviour as an early signal for global luxury, travel, and lifestyle demand.
This is an invitation-only session, in partnership with Mars, held under Chatham House rule.
It's a great event for two things. One, to learn about what's next, what's coming our way, and to connect with great leaders from across the globe. Two, it's connecting everything in the world and making a meaning out of it together because things don't happen independently, and how it is going to give meaning to the future of the world.
