The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has significantly accelerated its adoption of blockchain and Web3 technologies. In a new development, the UAE Ministry of Economy has announced plans to set up a headquarters in Metaverse.

The announcement was made by Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, while speaking at the Metaverse conference in Dubai earlier this week. In addition to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the ministry called its Metaverse the “third address” in the country. With this launch, the ministry is exploring ways to expand the use cases of Web3 technology.

During a live tour of the virtual office, Marri demonstrated the creation of a lobby with luxurious interiors for the Ministry of Economy’s office in the virtual world. A beautifully decorated virtual auditorium looks ready for events and meetings. People will be able to visit Metaverse offices as avatars and also be able to sign legally binding documents, eliminating the need for signers to visit one of their physical locations just to sign.

“Our digital address represents the complete building of the ministry. Each floor can serve a different purpose. Visitors will be given a virtual ticket/token and a notification will be sent to our Customer Wellbeing Centre for visitors to enter us The office in the Metaverse,” said Khalifa Al Jaziri, the avatar representing the Ministry in the Metaverse.

A Nasdaq report predicts that the market opportunity in the Metaverse will reach $800 billion by 2024.

The UAE has arranged a series of promising projects ready to debut in the Metaverse.

In April, UAE-based Emirates announced its entry into the Metaverse and Non-Fungible Token (NFT) space.

In May, Dubai’s recently established Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) officially began work on its Metaverse presence. After partnering with Metaverse player The Sandbox, VARA has revealed plans to create a virtual headquarters in the digital world. This VARA office in The Sandbox is called “MetaHQ”.

Back in July, the UAE announced plans to launch the world’s first hospital in a virtual world, where patients will be able to visit as avatars for virtual consultations.