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Published in June 2021, this map of Yemen includes governorate boundaries, international airports, roads, oil and gas pipelines and fields, oil refineries, gas processing plants, oil tanker terminals and LNG regasification plant and export terminals. There are also graphics showing numbers of Saudi air raids for 2019, 2020, 2021. The map is available as a PDF file using eps graphics, meaning that there is no loss of resolution as the file is enlarged. 

Risk Grade – A1 Economic growth: The federal economy grew by 3.8% to AED1.49trn ($406bn) in 2021 – which was well ahead of the 2.5% predicted by local bank Emirates NBD.

The UAE Ministry of Defence announced on 23 February that it intended to buy 12 advanced jet trainer aircraft from China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (Catic), with an option on an additional 36 of the L15 model.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) announced a large natural gas discovery on 3 February. The 1.5-2tcf find was made from the first exploration well in the Offshore Block 2 exploration concession. A consortium led by Italian major Eni and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production was awarded the exploration rights for the block in 2019 as part of Adnoc’s first competitive licensing round.

A series of missile and drone attacks on the UAE killed two people but unnerved many more local residents in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as international allies. The strikes carried a clear political message, coming as the South Korean and Israeli presidents were visiting Mohammed Bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi. The UAE has been quick to react by bombing Houthi missile launch sites in Yemen, but it is clear that Abu Dhabi’s efforts to distance itself from the conflict over the past three years have not succeeded.

The Abraham Accord signed by the UAE and Israel in September 2020 appears to have provided a boost to diamond trading to Dubai. The UAE was the third biggest global importer of diamonds in 2020, behind India and the European Union, but figures for 2021 are likely to show the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) has captured second position, largely at the expense of Antwerp in Belgium.

A summit of regional leaders, held in Abu Dhabi on 18 January, appeared to be hastily arranged and did not include representatives from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. It has nevertheless prompted widespread speculation about what may have been discussed and the meeting’s wider meaning. Such interest reflects its host’s apparently ever increasing prominence in international affairs.

With tenders for major field developments and more drilling rigs being brought into service, Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) are confirming their intention to increase their influence over global oil markets.

UAE's foreign affairs and international co-operation minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan undertook a busy tour of Israel to coincide with the second anniversary of the Abraham Accords’ signing.

Dubai Crown Prince and Executive Council of Dubai chairman Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum announced a Dh500m ($136m) economic stimulus package on 24 October, in the authorities’ latest efforts to short up the emirate’s economy.

Unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear plant has started commercial operations, according to a statement from the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation on 6 April.

National carrier Saudia's fleet will be updated with at least 39 new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, but newly-established Riyadh Air could get even more, underlining Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s determination that yet another Public Investment Fund (PIF) vehicle muscles into the domestic market. The deal is worth close to $37bn, US government officials calculated – suggesting that, whatever the geopolitics, America Inc can still flex its muscles in the kingdom.

A UN-brokered deal to remove some 1m barrels of crude from the FSO Safer should avert an environmental disaster at the dangerously unstable wreck near Yemen's Hodeidah port and also points to increasing scope for deals between the Houthis and other authorities.

Anti-corruption drive: Corruption remains a critical problem, which Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani’s government will be judged on. Sudani said on 11 December the government had recovered another ID134bn ($92m) stolen from the General Commission of Taxes, in a case known as the ‘Theft of the Century’. It took the total recovered to ID317bn, out of some ID3.7tn reported stolen.

Recent developments Attempts continue to renew the ceasefire in Yemen, but the emphasis has switched to finding a permanent settlement. Much of recent diplomatic activity has been necessarily secret. Saudi Arabia appears more urgently determined to extract itself from the war.