ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates is working on developing a national investment strategy, its recently appointed investment minister, Mohamed Al Suwaidi, said on Thursday.

The UAE said in July it would set up a new federal ministry of investment - appointing Suwaidi to lead it - to develop the Gulf state's investment strategy globally and domestically as it contends with growing economic competition from neighbours.

"We have been spending the last few months putting together a strategy for the UAE," Suwaidi said, speaking at the Milken Institute's Middle East and Africa Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE is a federation of seven emirates, dominated by capital Abu Dhabi and regional trade and tourism hub Dubai, with each having their own individual investment strategies.

Suwaidi, who is also the chief executive of one of Abu Dhabi's biggest sovereign funds, ADQ, said the new ministry's role would not be that of a regulator or a policymaker. It would instead advocate for UAE companies to tap new markets globally and grow opportunities for foreign investment.

Economic competition in the Gulf is growing as states there try to diversify income sources and increase non-oil growth.

The UAE is among the most advanced in that effort, with the non-oil sector accounting for more than 70% of its GDP. Trade and logistics, financial services, manufacturing and tourism are its key economic sectors.

Neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the region's biggest economy, is also forging ahead with a transformation plan known as Vision 2030 that is overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi Arabia is trying to attract billions in foreign direct investment and has offered incentives to global firms to set up regional headquarters in the kingdom, which could eventually challenge the UAE's regional commercial dominance. (Reporting by Rachna Uppal; Editing by Jamie Freed and Tom Hogue)