Trade is being reshaped by a more uncertain global economy, as businesses and governments rethink how goods, capital and technology move across borders. From the Middle East to other major trading hubs, maintaining global connectivity increasingly depends on building systems that can absorb disruption without retreating from openness. What will it take to keep trade open, adaptable and resilient as the rules and routes of the global economy continue to shift?

What will it take to keep trade open, adaptable and resilient as the rules and routes of the global economy continue to shift?

This session was developed in collaboration with CNN.

This session was recorded at the Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders in Dubai in October 2026.

Speakers:
Farid Belbouab, Group CEO, Gulftainer; Florence Gaub, Director, Research Division, NATO Defense College; Fahad Al Gergawi, Undersecretary, Ministry of Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates; Paula Hancocks; International Correspondent, CNN; Timcho Mucunski; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the Republic of North Macedonia; Karen E. Young, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University.

To learn more about the Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders, read here: https://events.weforum.org/en/events/annual-meeting-of-global-future-leaders-2026/home