Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, honoured the winners of the 18th edition of the Dubai Government Excellence Programme at the Dubai World Trade Centre today (Wednesday).
During the award ceremony, Shaikh Mohammad gave an impromptu speech where he took the audience down memory lane, to the time, 18 years ago, when he announced the launch of the Dubai Government Excellence Programme. The initiative aimed to discover talent in government departments and institutions, stimulate men and women employees to compete in creativity and innovation and come up with constructive ideas that contribute to the development and improvement of government performance.
Shaikh Mohammad added, “Now, after more than 18 years, you are competing among yourselves to win this programme’s awards and work to achieve success that will qualify to receive your honours on this platform.”
Shaikh Mohammad took to the stage with Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and Abdullah Al Shaibani, Dubai Executive Council’s Secretary-General and Chairman of the Dubai Government Excellence Programme.
The celebration started with the arrival of Shaikh Mohammad, the sponsor of the ceremony, and the playing of the UAE national anthem. A pictorial documentary on the march of the Dubai Government Excellence Programme was shown to the audience.
The honorees in the previous editions of the programme thanked Shaikh Mohammad for his kind sponsorship of the innovation and excellence march in government departments and institutions of Dubai.
The ceremony was also attended by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairma and CEO of Emirates airline and Group; Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaibani, Director-General of the Office of the Ruler of Dubai; Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, deputy chief of police and public security in Dubai; Juma Al Majid, Chairman of the Juma Al Majid Culture and Heritage Centre; Lieutenant General Saif Abdullah Al Shafar, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, and more than 3,000 public employees.
The ceremony concluded with Shaikh Mohammad taking commemorative photos with the winners.
Shaikh Hamdan recited a poem titled ‘Oh my country’ where he congratulated the nation, its departments, and achievers of excellence.
