It was Charles Darwin who said, ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change’. When I first visited Dubai I wondered why they had built a golf course so far out of town. Coming back a few years later I discovered that they hadn’t – the town had expanded far beyond the golf course. And change in Dubai continues at an amazing rate. Indeed, the pace of change has increased dramatically across the whole region in recent years, most notably also in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, spurred on by high oil and gas revenues and in response to changing politics, economics and demographics.

With declining growth in the west and expansion of trade to the east, the region could shape global investment flows in the years to come. To do this it is recognised that the Middle East needs to develop a strong home-grown labour market, a modern education system and sustainable financial markets that channel funds to where they can best be used, in the small- and medium- sized enterprises that will be the life blood of the economy and help develop the industrial leaders of the future.

The private sector and in particular the oil industry finds itself aligned closely behind these goals. International energy companies need to respond to the needs and expectations of the governments that they work with and the communities within which they work. If companies like Shell do not stay in tune with governments, if we are not seen as responsible members of the communities in which we work, then we will not be welcome and will lose our licence to operate.

Consequently what Shell refers to as Sustainable Development underpins everything that we do in the region – and to us Sustainable Development means maximising the value of national resources, minimising the environmental footprint whilst addressing climate change and focusing, perhaps above all, on capability development across the region.

As was recently stated in an analysis of the industry: ‘The people are where the projects were’. We quite simply need more regional staff capable of delivering the projects of the future. We also depend on capability development within local markets and the channelling of funding to the supply chains that are going to be required to support the mega- projects of the future.

Every company has its own way of addressing change. Sustainable Development is one vehicle that can be used to manage such changes. And given the resistance that there is to change and the nature of the challenges that we face, this requires increasing use of innovation – innovation in the technologies we use, innovation in the way we use them and, perhaps most challenging of all, innovation in the way we work together. Only by working together can we hope to make a difference.

For Shell this has meant looking to new forms of partnership. We have worked in joint ventures in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Syria and Abu Dhabi for many years. We aim to build on these experiences to develop new relationships in countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Iran and Iraq while responding to the changing competitive landscape in the region. This has seen Shell develop new partnerships with companies like Mubadala, Sinopec and ONGC of India and work more closely with companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries which is developing technologies of the future, technologies that can lead to the more efficient capture of CO2 [carbon dioxide], technologies that can ultimately impact on climate change.

In addition, recognising the increasing need in the region for capability development, we have focused on creating in-country partnerships. These have resulted in the development of the Middle East Learning Hub in Oman and close co-operation with Al Masdar, and the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, with the Science and Technology Park in Qatar and in the progressive development of the Intilaaqah initiative, to give young entrepreneurs the skills they need to start their own businesses, across the region.

An exciting project that brings into play a new approach to partnership, and one that I personally believe could have a far reaching impact across the region, is the Middle East and North Africa Learning & Leadership programme, sponsored by the Middle East Association and Compass Rose, working together with the Emirates Foundation.

The initial symposium, held last February, has led to the initiation of projects focusing on, for example, Youth Leadership, Business Incubators and Women in the Workplace. Initiatives such as this have the potential to change the world we live in and help us to look at tomorrow through the eyes of tomorrow, not through the occasionally blinkered eyes of the familiar world we live in today.

So change is the life blood of our industry. And responding to that change is the secret to a successful and sustainable future. As a Chinese proverb puts it, rather simply: ‘If we don’t change our direction, we’re likely to end up where we’re headed’. Time to change that direction.