Post by : Mariam
Al-Faris
The United Arab Emirates is proudly celebrating its 54th Eid Al Etihad, marking another year of unity, strength, and continuous progress. The year 2025, known as the Year of Community, witnessed many important achievements that strengthened the UAE’s position both at home and across the world. With the guidance of its wise leadership, the country continued moving steadily toward a bright and successful future.
Throughout 2025, the UAE increased its presence on the global stage and proved itself as a powerful economic and humanitarian supporter. The nation expanded its partnerships, contributed to global development, and carried forward several initiatives that highlighted its commitment to progress and innovation. Within the country, many high-quality projects were completed that supported sustainable development and improved the overall quality of life.
One of the most important areas of progress was environmental sustainability. The UAE announced a first-of-its-kind marine exploration mission to study seabed geology in national waters. A new geospatial platform was also introduced to help manage agriculture and water resources more effectively. In Sharjah, the Khor Kalba Mangrove Centre was officially added to the Wetlands Link International network, a global group that supports wetland education and conservation.
The country also continued launching major environmental projects. Abu Dhabi announced the “Abu Dhabi Coral Garden” initiative, the largest coral restoration project in the Middle East. Sharjah opened its first solar power plant, called “SANA," which covers 850,000 square meters and can generate 60 megawatts of clean energy. Additionally, the area of nature reserves in Abu Dhabi increased to 20% of the emirate’s total land.
A major global milestone was achieved when the UAE began building a huge clean energy project that combines a 5.2 GW solar plant with a 19 GWh battery storage system. This project will deliver 1 GW of round-the-clock clean power, making it the largest solar-and-storage system in the world. The UAE also expanded clean energy projects across several countries—including Saudi Arabia, Spain, Indonesia, Egypt, Africa, and Yemen—through Masdar, supplying clean power to millions of people.
In the digital and technology sector, the UAE made excellent progress. The country reached a 97% usage rate of artificial intelligence tools, the highest in the world. The number of programmers in the UAE also crossed 450,000. Abu Dhabi launched the UAE–US AI Campus with a capacity of 5 gigawatts, the biggest outside the United States. A new UAE–France AI cooperation framework was also introduced to develop a 1 GW AI Campus in France and strengthen infrastructure such as data centers and supercomputers.
Major investment announcements also took place as MGX, in partnership with BlackRock and Microsoft, welcomed Nvidia and xAI into the “AI Infrastructure Partnership,” which aims to invest up to USD 100 billion in advanced digital and energy projects.
To support digital safety, the UAE Cabinet approved the launch of Google Cloud’s first Global Cyber Security Centre of Excellence in Abu Dhabi. This project will help create more than 20,300 specialised cybersecurity jobs.
On the international stage, the UAE launched a US$1 billion “AI for Development” initiative at the G20 Summit to support AI projects across Africa. Domestically, the UAE also introduced four new visit visa categories focused on AI specialists, entertainment, events, and cruise tourism. The country launched the National Artificial Intelligence System, which will serve as an advisory member to the Cabinet and federal departments from January 2026.
The year 2025 also featured the rollout of several national strategies, including the National Cybersecurity Strategy, the National Geospatial Information Policy, the Zero Bureaucracy Programme (phase two), the National Policy for Economic Clusters, the Family Growth Agenda 2031, and the Emirati National Identity Strategy.
Together, these achievements show the UAE’s strong commitment to a sustainable, innovative, and community-focused future.
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