Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy Signs Agentic AI Agreement With Alibaba Cloud

The agreement was signed in Shenzhen during the Dubai Business Forum – China, which Dubai Chambers organised. Saeed Al Gergawi, Vice President of the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, signed for the chamber. Dr. Feifei Li, Chief Technology Officer and President of International Business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, signed for the company. The Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy is one of the three chambers under the Dubai Chambers umbrella.

The memorandum sets up a framework for cooperation. It does not commit either side to a specific investment, and WAM's report gave no financial terms.

Three Areas of Cooperation

The agreement covers three areas: skills, startups and enterprise adoption.

On skills, the Dubai Chambers Academy will give companies access to Alibaba Cloud's training content, certifications, technical workshops and expert-led sessions. It will also run train-the-trainer programmes and provide learning material for employees.

For startups, the deal offers technical mentorship, technology credits, compute resources and software licences. Selected startups will be connected to Alibaba Cloud's programmes and network.

The third area is enterprise use. The two sides will look at how to support companies' pilots and production deployments, provide technical and implementation expertise, and showcase working solutions through Alibaba Cloud Marketplace, the company's online store for third-party software, data and services. They also plan to produce case studies measuring business impact and commercial value.

Part of a Government Push

According to WAM, the agreement supports an initiative launched by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai. The initiative aims to speed up the private sector's move to agentic AI, and Dubai Chambers oversees it. Agentic AI refers to systems that can plan and carry out multi-step tasks with limited human direction, rather than simply answering prompts.

"We are committed to strengthening international partnerships in Agentic AI as an important enabler for knowledge exchange and broader access to specialised technologies and expertise," Al Gergawi said. He added that the aim was to help Dubai-based companies build their capabilities and create new business models.

Eric Wan, General Manager of Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said agentic AI "is moving from experimentation to everyday business use, and the companies that move first will set the pace for Dubai's digital economy."

Alibaba Cloud has served customers in the UAE since 2016 and has launched two data centres in the country, according to the chamber's statement.

Why It Matters

The agreement adds a large Chinese provider to the partners the UAE is working with as it pushes businesses to adopt AI. US companies, notably OpenAI and Microsoft, have been the most prominent of these. For Dubai companies, especially smaller firms and startups, the practical value will depend on how much training, credits and compute actually reach them. A memorandum sets intentions but not volumes. The commitment to publish case studies on commercial value could give the chamber a way to show whether its agentic AI programme is producing results beyond pilots.

The signing also shows Dubai Chambers using its overseas trade forums to bring in technology partners as well as trade and investment. China is one of Dubai's largest trading partners.