Five levers shaping the GCC resilience agenda

This investment reflects long-term political commitment to security, continuity and preparedness. It has endured through several periods of economic and operational uncertainty, including oil-price volatility and the COVID-19 pandemic. The significance of this continuity is strategic: the GCC’s current challenge is not a lack of investment, but the need to convert scale into deeper resilience, readiness and sovereign sustainment.

Space-enabled services are also becoming increasingly important to resilience. Satellite communications, Earth observation, navigation, timing services and geospatial intelligence support infrastructure monitoring, maritime awareness and operational decision-making. Recent initiatives, including Qatar's Space Radio Monitoring Center and the UAE's GIQ geospatial intelligence platform and Arab Satellite 813 program, demonstrate the growing role of sovereign and partner-enabled space capabilities in supporting continuity across critical sectors.

Partnerships remain a powerful strategic multiplier. Decades of cooperation among GCC countries and international partners have strengthened interoperability across operational domains through joint exercises, coordination mechanisms and established support frameworks. These relationships provide an important foundation for collective preparedness and enhance operational flexibility, institutional coordination and continuity planning.

Human capital remains a long-term strategic priority. As capabilities become more technology-intensive, continued investment in specialist skills across cyber operations, autonomous systems, advanced engineering, logistics and space systems will be essential to sustaining capability development and strengthening sovereign expertise. The ability to build and retain technical talent will play an important role in supporting resilience over the coming decade.

Through investment, partnership and operational development, the GCC has established a substantial capability base. The next challenge is ensuring that these strengths can support continuity and sustained performance across multiple interconnected systems.

2. Economic infrastructure as the center of resilience

Critical economic infrastructure has become central to resilience across the GCC. Energy facilities, desalination plants, ports, airports, logistics corridors, financial systems, telecommunications networks, data infrastructure and space-enabled services are no longer peripheral to national preparedness. These systems support economic growth, service continuity, investor confidence and regional competitiveness.
The economic operating system of the GCC is highly interconnected. A disruption affecting one component can influence supply chains, financial confidence, transport reliability, service delivery and infrastructure operations across other sectors. This interdependence means resilience must be planned across systems rather than within individual assets alone.

2.1 Energy, logistics and maritime continuity

Maritime routes remain particularly important to the region's economic position. The Strait of Hormuz continues to be one of the world's most significant trade corridors, carrying approximately 25% of global seaborne oil trade and around 20% of global seaborne LNG trade. Ports, shipping routes and logistics networks therefore play a critical role in supporting economic continuity and regional connectivity. Strengthening flexibility, redundancy and operational continuity across these networks can help sustain trade flows and support market confidence.

2.2 Cyber and digital continuity

Cyber and digital systems have become critical components of resilience. Critical infrastructure progressively depends on operational technology, data networks and digital platforms that enable coordination, monitoring and service delivery. Protecting these systems requires an integrated approach that combines physical infrastructure resilience with cyber resilience, data continuity and operational readiness.

2.3 Industrial depth and supply chain resilience

The scale of the challenge reinforces the importance of industrial depth. Resilience depends not only on frontline capability but also on the ability to sustain operations over time through reliable supply chains, maintenance capability, domestic production, stockpiles and replenishment mechanisms. Deepening sovereign industrial capability and strengthening supply chain resilience can help support continuity while contributing to economic diversification and long-term industrial development.

The report identifies six priority areas for continued focus: contested logistics, cross-domain integration, industrial depth, resilience by design, space continuity and spectrum assurance, and basing concentration. Addressing these priorities can contribute to greater continuity, flexibility and operational effectiveness across the broader economic operating system.

Ultimately, resilience is increasingly linked to the ability to sustain economic activity, maintain service continuity and preserve confidence across markets, institutions and critical sectors. Countries that strengthen these foundations will be better positioned to support stability, growth and long-term competitiveness.

3. Five levers for GCC resilience

To strengthen resilience across the GCC, the report identifies five mutually reinforcing levers that together form an integrated resilience architecture. These levers are not independent initiatives; their value lies in their interaction and their ability to support continuity, recoverability and long-term preparedness across interconnected systems. Together, they provide a framework for helping GCC countries absorb disruption, sustain operations, recover quickly and maintain confidence across critical sectors.