Abu Dhabi: The UAE has laid the foundation for a roadmap for a national green growth strategy that will be lanched by September this year, Rashid Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, told reporters at the World Future Energy Summit 2013.
Following the launch of the National Green Growth Strategy for the UAE at last year’s World Future Energy Summit (WFES) by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Ministry of Environment and Water had been given the responsibility to build and put a strategy in place.
Bin Fahad said yesterday that since the launch of the strategy in January of last year, they’ve been conducting many meetings with various government entities as well as members of the private sector to promote the initiative and to put together a number of executive programs for the strategy.
The Ministry of Environment and Water has been working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Global Green Growth Institute on the priorities of the strategy.
The GGGI, opened its Middle East and North Africa headquarters in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City in July of 2011, and provides support for the development of green growth plans in developing and emerging countries.
Bin Fahad spoke about four main aspects for the strategy which will be looked into closely and they are: policies and governance, data collection, building capacities, and working on pilot projects in the field of green growth.
“Right now we’re in the second phase, and that is promoting executive projects and workshops to achieve our goals in partnership with the GGGI,” he said.
“We’ve got the political will, the ability, the direction and the culture to build such a strategy to build a green economy and maintain sustainability in the UAE,” he added.
