Dubai: The Knowledge Summit organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) opened on Monday at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The event is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Media Council, and Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), attended the inauguration of the event.
Held under the theme ‘Knowledge: Protecting People and the Planet in the Pandemic’, the event kicked off at Expo in the presence of experts, leaders, and government officials from around the world. In-person sessions of the seventh edition of the Knowledge Summit will be held on March 14 and 15, while virtual sessions will be held from March 16 to 18.
Jamal Bin Huwaireb, CEO of MBRF, said: “The seventh edition of the Knowledge Summit, which was first held in 2014, aims to revitalise the role of knowledge worldwide by promoting new methodologies and mechanisms for producing and disseminating knowledge. It also aims to create an avenue for constructive debate about the role of knowledge in protecting people from pandemics and other global challenges.”
Highlights
He added: “This year’s summit highlights various global challenges such as climate change, food security, and poverty. It also reviews the general legal landscape to explore new legal practices in the post-pandemic world and innovative economic and environmental systems to shape a better future.”
In her speech, Dr Khalida Bouzar, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Regional Director, Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP, also commended the success of Expo and the pivotal role played by MBRF at the regional and global levels in building knowledge-based societies.
She said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major global disruption that has directly affected countries’ progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, putting its gains at risk.”
She added: “At the United Nations Development Programme and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, we are committed to pursuing our knowledge initiatives, believing that knowledge is the only way for humanity to confront threats. We have released the results of the Global Knowledge Index for 2020 and 2021, and here we are today at this global knowledge event, the Knowledge Summit in its seventh edition, launching the Future of Knowledge Foresight Report in its third edition. The report focuses on the transformative capacities that enable countries to continue to grow in the face of shocks and to sustain development gains.”
The Summit will see the results of Arab countries in the Global Knowledge Index 2021, an important and major initiative under the Knowledge Project, a long-term strategic partnership between the MBRF and UNDP.
In addition, the third edition of The Future of Knowledge Foresight Report will also be launched. The report showcases the future knowledge landscape and examines the differences between countries’ transformative capacities for major global risks, using large data over two years, which offer new insights into countries’ readiness to meet future risks.
