Economy Middle East meets Tim Stekkinger, head of TradeTech Initiative, International Trade and Investment at the World Economic Forum, during the TradeTech Forum 2025, taking place at the ADNEC Center in Abu Dhabi on April 8.
With the UAE Ministry of Economy, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED), and the World Economic Forum hosting the event, this year’s forum unites global leaders, tech innovators, and experts to reimagine trade through technology.
In this interview, Stekkinger shares how the Forum is catalyzing cross-border collaboration, supporting SME inclusion, and piloting digital solutions that could redefine the future of global trade.
What unique opportunities does the TradeTech Forum offer for international and regional businesses?
The forum brings together a focused ecosystem – policy makers, technology innovators, logistics operators – to accelerate the digitalization of global trade. Hosted in the UAE, a growing hub for next-generation commerce, it offers businesses the opportunity to collaborate as equal partners in shaping new digital trade systems.
Companies can build cross-border partnerships, engage directly with policymakers and standard-setters, and help design practical solutions that support more efficient, inclusive, and scalable trade. With alignment growing across sectors, there’s a shared sense that real progress is within reach.
Read: Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade grows to $83.31 billion in 2024 on exports boom
With prominent global leaders attending this year’s forum, what significant technological and trade alliances do you anticipate developing?
We anticipate progress on cross-border data exchange agreements, particularly around digital trade documentation and the legal recognition of electronic records. There is growing momentum behind forming regional nodes for blockchain-based trade infrastructure, with initiatives like TWIN – a neutral, shared digital layer for trade data exchange – emerging as promising models.
We also expect to see deeper collaboration between Gulf countries and international partners on trusted trade data sharing. Discussions may further advance alignment on AI governance in trade and unlock new pilots for digital identity solutions across customs zones.
AI and blockchain-based solutions are assisting in closing the financial gaps facing SMEs. How can financial institutions and policymakers scale these innovations? Could you elaborate on the Regulatory Sandbox project?
Scaling these innovations requires regulatory flexibility and demonstrable impact. The UAE has taken a leadership role by enabling forward-looking frameworks. Our TradeTech Regulatory Sandbox, developed in partnership with UAE financial authorities, provides a secure environment for fintechs and financial institutions to test solutions – ranging from stablecoin-based settlement mechanisms to tokenized trade assets and digitized trade documents.
These pilots use synthetic data to inform smarter regulation and validate new models that can be scaled with confidence. We’re open to expanding the sandbox to other regions, and see cross-border sandboxing as a powerful tool to accelerate the global adoption of standardized digital trade regulations.
TradeTech is becoming more and more supportive of humanitarian initiatives. Could you give instances of how technology is making it possible to respond to crises more quickly?
The humanitarian sector is facing some of its greatest challenges, especially as donor funding becomes more limited. While saving lives remains the immediate priority, there is a growing recognition that long-term investment in core infrastructure is just as vital.
Donors understandably seek visible, short-term impact, but humanitarian organizations also need the kind of strategic investment that has allowed the private sector to make its supply chains faster, smarter, and more resilient.
In this context, we are in the early stages of developing a global supply chain visibility tool together with humanitarian agencies. The goal is to leverage real-time shipment data and AI-powered disruption forecasting to help responders anticipate delays and allocate resources more effectively during crises.
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