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The UAE is well prepared to ensure food, medicine, and other necessities remain available for its 11.6 million residents, according to a senior official at Abu Dhabi’s port operator, as the country faces one of the most uncertain national security episodes in memory.
Comparing the current crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yasser Al Wahedi, president of the Abu Dhabi Maritime Academy, a unit of AD Ports Group, said that the flow of goods into the Emirates was expected to continue, and that disruptions and safety risks have remained “localized.”
“I’m quite confident, quite certain, the country and the government managed to handle something more difficult than whatever we’re facing right now,” he said in an interview. “The case of COVID, where there was a huge disruption in logistics across the whole globe, and [here] it was managed effectively, amicably, and quite efficiently. This is, I think, good evidence that, yes, what we are going to experience right now should be nothing compared to whatever we have experienced before.”
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Since Saturday, the UAE has been working to intercept Iranian missiles and drones fired at the country, with most residents and visitors sheltering in place for safety.
Office workers have shifted to working from home, while malls, hospitals, and clinics have largely remained open. Schools are closed until at least Thursday.
Many in the UAE are wondering what the attacks will mean for the country’s service continuity and the supply of basic necessities. Its handling of the pandemic is a proof point of how it handles a crisis: The UAE was among the best in the world on a Bloomberg ranking of resilience at the time, with the least social and economic disruption and high freedom of movement.
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- Riyadh has emerged as a key exit route for the super-rich and senior executives stranded in the Gulf looking for a safe passage out of the region, Semafor reported.