• On the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank Alexander Vedyakhin stated that the UAE is a key partner for Sber in the Middle East. The country is seen not only as an important economic player but also as a key platform for technological dialogue and the exchange of expertise in the field of AI.

Commenting on the prospects for cooperation, Alexander Vedyakhin emphasized Sber’s pragmatic approach: any partnership must be technologically rich, comply with regulatory requirements, and bring tangible benefits to both parties. The most interesting areas for partners from the UAE are likely to be Russian competencies in AI, digital platforms, fintech, and cybersecurity.

Russian technologies at major events in the UAE

In 2025, Sber significantly strengthened its presence at the main technology events held in the UAE. At the GITEX Global exhibition in Dubai, the company showcased a booth with advanced products, including the GigaChat neural network model for business, the GigaStudio website generation service, and the SymFormer music model with support for Arabic language and vocals.

At the ICOMP 2025 conference in Abu Dhabi, Sber held its own session on the latest trends in AI and also presented unique technological solutions.

Reciprocal interest: UAE startups in Sber's accelerator

The interest in cooperation is mutual. Last year, the sixth intake of the Sber500 accelerator received over 1,900 applications from 42 countries. The UAE was among the top 5 countries in terms of the number of applications. Moreover, six out of the 25 accelerator finalists are international teams, including startups from the UAE, which underwent rigorous selection and a 7-week programme with international mentors.

Prospects for integrating language models

Speaking about potential partnerships with Arabic language models, Alexander Vedyakhin confirmed Sber's interest in creating bilingual services. According to him, the international development of GigaChat should proceed through adaptation to local languages, cultures, and regulatory requirements.

Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank:

«We see that the development of large language models will increasingly proceed not only through competition between individual solutions but also through their adaptation to the languages, cultures, and applied tasks of specific markets. For GigaChat, the international direction is interesting precisely in this logic, and the UAE is no exception. Here, it is important not just to translate a model from one language to another, but to ensure quality in understanding context, terminology, regulatory requirements, and cultural specifics.

Such solutions require serious technological, legal, and partnership groundwork. But as a direction for dialogue with partners from the UAE, this is certainly of interest to us. For Sber, it is important that such initiatives have clear practical value and can be scaled into real products».

Press Office
media@sberbank.ru

About PJSC Sberbank

PJSC Sberbank is one of the largest banks in Russia and one of the leading global financial institutions. Sberbank accounts for about one-third of the assets of the entire Russian banking sector. Sberbank is a key lender to the national economy and holds one of the largest shares in the deposit market. The main shareholder of PJSC Sberbank is the Russian Federation represented by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, which owns 50% of the authorised capital of PJSC Sberbank plus one voting share. The remaining 50% minus one voting share of the bank's authorised capital is owned by Russian and international investors. General banking licence No. 1481 issued by the Bank of Russia on 11 August 2015. Official bank websites: www.sberbank.com (Sberbank Group website), www.sberbank.ru.