Catalyzing national transformation

Global supply chains are under pressure – whether from geopolitical shocks, adverse climate events, tightening trade controls, or rising logistics complexity. For GCC economies, this has exposed the risks of import dependency across critical industries. In parallel, national agendas such as the UAE’s "We the UAE 2031" and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 are accelerating the push toward industrial self-sufficiency and economic diversification.

Localization has become a strategic imperative – not only to mitigate disruption, but to create long-term industrial capability and unlock economic value. 

Developed from Efficio’s experience supporting national industrial development across the GCC, this paper outlines how localization is becoming a core pillar of GCC industrial policy. 

It introduces four key success factors:

1. Value chain positioning
2. Value creation potential
3. Strategic criticality
4. Local viability – for identifying high-impact opportunities

It then discusses how an AI-driven intelligence ecosystem can accelerate the execution of localization, and shares strategic recommendations for policymakers and industry leaders to turn localization strategies into action:

1. Initiate end-to-end value chain approach
2. Support supplier capability development
3. Digitize the entire localization lifecycle to accelerate time to impact

The message is clear. The GCC has taken concrete steps to lead on localization – the opportunity now is to scale and accelerate impact, by applying a structured, value chain-led approach that catalyzes national transformation agendas into industrial outcomes.

For decades, GCC economies have thrived on open global trade, enabling fast, large-scale import of essential goods. However, today’s fragmented and volatile trade environment is making this model of dependency increasingly unsustainable.

This vulnerability is compounded by the region’s narrow industrial base, which remains heavily concentrated around oil and gas. Most consumer goods, such as consumer electronics, apparel, and pharmaceuticals, continue to be sourced internationally. In the case of food, the reliance is particularly acute, with countries in the GCC importing 85% of their food supply; the limited ground water also restricts the growing of certain crops.

With imports dominating key supply chains, the region’s exposure to global volatility is rising. Export controls, tariffs, and logistics disruptions can trigger ripple effects through entire economies.

The urgent need to build industrial resilience is accelerating national transformation agendas. Flagship initiatives such as the UAE’s "We the UAE 2031", Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, and Oman’s Vision 2040 aim to move their economies beyond oil and gas processing to build competitive, high-value industrial capabilities.

Yet many key supply chains in the GCC still lack the local industrial breadth needed to meet these ambitions.

To close this gap, GCC governments are building comprehensive ecosystems to support localization – combining regulation, financial and non-financial incentives, workforce development, and market development frameworks. Sovereign wealth investors such as Mubadala, ADQ (both UAE) and PIF (Saudi Arabia) are also playing a critical role, deploying long-term capital into domestic manufacturing and industrial cluster development.

Most executives now view localization as a strategic priority. GCC countries have a clear opportunity to embed localization at the core of industrial policies, allowing them to build diversified economies that are more competitive and more resilient to global disruptions.