The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), a joint initiative of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has announced aerospace multinational Thales as an industry partner.

Solar will become the dominant contributor in the UAE energy mix with a 44% share which will cut CO2 emissions by 70% and produce savings of $190bn versus natural gas. The UAE is also the first country in the Middle East to develop nuclear power, with the first of four reactors.

The Virtual Summit is taking place when the pandemic has placed the global economy under severe strain. GMIS aims to place manufacturing at the heart of economic regeneration and government policymaking, and to be a tool for global cooperation and collaboration. A virtual edition of the Summit is scheduled to take place on September 4-5, 2020.

Emilian Papadopoulos, President of Good Harbor Security, stressed that the crisis had hit companies hard and imposed financial constraints that meant investments in cybersecurity are not necessarily a top priority. The attackers are still coming at us. They didn’t stay at home and stop working. And the coronavirus has just taught us that Black Swan events happen.