Welcome to the 2025 Global Markets Summit, with HSBC

Your excellencies, distinguished guests, good afternoon. It's a privilege to join you for Abu Dhabi Finance Week. For 80 years, we've been partners in the UAE's progress. From trading merchants to sovereign wealth to a thriving post oil future. As the map of global finance is redrawn, the UAE takes its place at new coordinates.

Across this map, three routes chart the journey ahead. Trade, trust, and technology. Today I'll discuss how global trade and capital flows are shifting and what that means for the UAE. So first on trade, trade and capital flows are realigning across regions. New links, new agreements, new flows.

The UEE sits at the center linking supply chains, trade routes and capital flows. Take trade. In the past three years, the UEE has signed 32 economic partnerships to boost non-oil trade to 1 trillion US dollars by 2031. The deals cover nearly a quarter of the world's population. Asia is the world's fastest growing region, contributing 60% of global growth.

With India, new links are delivering real results. Nono oil trade jumped a third this year. Momentum is accelerating. Both countries moving toward the $100 billion target as the global trade realigns. The UAE is adapting, connecting, and leading.

Take the new UAE global center of trade. Eight clears initiatives, one powerful platform. modern practical trade tools, a global gateway for goods and services. The UEE isn't just connecting markets, it's connecting opportunities. Take the new FITP partnership.

16 countries convened by the UAE, Singapore, Switzerland, and New Zealand. Onethird already linked by UAE deals. Modern trade, real world impact with Hong Kong. The UEE has connected debt markets, simplifying issuance, trading, and settlement. A clear example of financial connectivity.

Europe is part of this story, too. Trade talks with the EU are advanced. Links connecting EU and CPTPPP economies are in motion, coupling the carriages of a third of global GDP. Across regions, the UEE's message is consistent cooperation, connectivity, and openness. And across these corridors sit significant pools of capital.

Nine of the world's 10 largest sovereign wealth funds call Asia Middle East home. These institutions shape long-term capital flows. Abu Dhabi is a natural point of connection. HSBC is present across three quarters of the GDP in the UAE's new trade network and we're seeing that momentum move faster. Second, trust in Abu Dhabi.

The foundations are strong. Clear rules, consistent supervision, modern market and digital infrastructure drives next generation technology. ADGM is growing fast. Assets and registered firms up more than 40% after a record-breaking 2024. Investors know capital flows freely and securely here.

These foundations give confidence and allow companies to grow. For HSBC, this is familiar. We've worked with the UEE for 80 years as its financial system and global role have grown. And third, technology. The UE is looking ahead.

Innovation is accelerating. AI is moving fast here. The story is global and gathering pace. The UEE has invested in national compute capacity and it is building the skills and scale that modern AI demands. It's also looking outward, reaching across continents, launching a Silicon Valley research center, building new partnerships at home with leading AI firms to strengthen science skills and scale.

The UAE now leads in AI, digital trade, and nextgen tech, including blockchain settlement. Here, technology is not just used, it is created. Technology alone is not enough. Talent turns capability into competitiveness. The UAE ranks among the top countries worldwide for attracting skilled people.

That supports the next phase of growth. Open, fast, and powered by global innovation. That's why we're launching tokenized deposits here. NextG programmable payments, instant, always on, from Asia to Europe to the US. connecting corporates across continents, money moving in real time.

So in closing, across trade, trust and technology, one thing is clear. The UEE brings people together. It brings capital together. It brings ideas together. From Abu Dhabi, the world connects.

On the new map of global finance, the UEE sits on its new coordinates. All roots converge here.