Abu Dhabi: The UAE under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has underlined the principle of integration established by founding father Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and institutionalised the making of the future to achieve the UAE Centennial 2071 goals
This was stated by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on his Twitter account.
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid was speaking following the opening of the second annual government meetings on Monday, which aim to highlight programmes and efforts undertaken to meet the UAE Vision 2021 and targets set for the next 10 years in addition to developing plans and strategies that lay the foundation for the UAE Centennial 2071.
“The aim of the meetings is to answer two questions: Where did we get today as a state? And where do we want to get in the next 50 years?” he said.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, stressed that the UAE is striving to build a better future for next generations on a comprehensive integration formula that brings together all the federal and local government bodies to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid and Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed chaired the meetings where seven national strategies that outline the early stages of implementing the UAE Centennial 2071 in vital sectors were presented.
They praised the pivotal role of the annual government meetings in uniting the efforts to strengthen the spirit of the Union and support the development process. They urged ministerial teams to redouble their efforts and work together at an accelerated pace and to invest opportunities to achieve the goals of UAE Centennial 2071.
The meetings adopted seven strategies with 100 initiatives.
Dr Ahmad Bin Abdullah Humaid Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills, presented the advanced skills strategy; Sara Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Science, reviewed the advanced science strategy; Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, presented the strategy for artificial intelligence; Mariam Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Future Food Security, presented the national strategy for food security, and Noora Mohammad Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, presented the UAE’s cultural agenda.
Ohoud Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness and presented the National Strategy for Quality of Life.
The National Employment Strategy 2031 seeks to increase the participation of citizens in the labour market by enhancing women’s participation and increasing Emiratisation rates in value-added economic sectors, the most important of which are the energy, communications, technology, transport and storage sectors, the financial, health and educational sectors, UAE in the areas of artificial intelligence, space, digital transactions and advanced science, Nasser Bin Thani Al Hameli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, told the gathering.
Al Hameli said it is expected that the total national forces working in the government and private sectors will grow to about 610,000 citizens by 2031.
It also aims to support the Government’s efforts to build a knowledge-based economy by empowering labor productivity, increasing the number of R & D personnel, and promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship.
The meetings aim to highlight programmes and efforts undertaken to meet the UAE Vision 2021 and targets set for the next 10 years in addition to developing plans and strategies that lay the foundation for the UAE Centennial 2071.
The event began with an overview of the outcomes and accomplishments achieved in 2017 and to which extent they keep with the 2021 vision.
Unification on the cards
The second UAE Centennial 2071 meetings mark the launch of more than 100 initiatives, projects and seven strategies in vital sectors that will pave the way for the next 10 years, as well as six sessions of knowledge and lectures in leadership, government administration, artificial intelligence and others.
The UAE has a distinct regional and global stature, which poses challenges that call for a different way of thinking in the future of many vital sectors...The world we live in is undergoing rapid changes … Our role is to work as a team to keep up with the changes and to be the fastest growing country to invest opportunities to create new sectors."
The UAE Cabinet has approved the annual meetings to unify all UAE government entities at the federal and local levels, and discuss the challenges and strategies for achieving the ‘UAE Centennial 2071’ goals.
The first round was a remarkable success, culminating in the launch of five long-term strategies: the UAE Soft Power Strategy, the UAE Higher Education Strategy, the UAE’s 4th Industrial Revolution Strategy, the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036, and the launch of more than 100 national initiatives in more than 30 sectors.
“The UAE’s annual government meetings encapsulate the unified, integrated work model adopted by the nation’s leadership to meet the requirements of today’s world to build more open and interactive governments, in terms of information exchange, policy development or resource sharing, Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, said in his keynote speech at the opening session.
Al Gergawi stressed that nowhere in the world does the population of a country show a more acute awareness and understanding of the phrase “unity is strength” than in the UAE.
“The UAE has a distinct regional and global stature, which poses challenges that call for a different way of thinking in the future of many vital sectors such as knowledge-based economy, renewable energy, education, health and future government services.... The world we live in is undergoing rapid changes … Our role is to work as a team to keep up with the changes and to be the fastest growing country to invest opportunities to create new sectors,” Al Gergawi said.
The National Strategy for Food Security was launched. It aims at developing a comprehensive national system based on enabling sustainable food production through the use of modern technologies and technologies, enhancing local production, developing international partnerships to diversify food sources and activating legislation and policies that contribute to improving nutrition and reducing Waste to ensure food security in all conditions and stages.
Mariam Al Muhairi, State minister for Food Security, said we aim to make the UAE the world’s best in the World Food Security Index by 2051, and among the top 10 countries by 2021.
The National Strategy for Food Security includes 38 short and long-term key initiatives within the 2051 Vision and 2021 Agenda, through five strategic directions focusing on facilitating the global food trade, diversifying food import sources, and identifying alternative supply schemes covering three to five sources For each major food category, especially that the value of imports of food products last year amounted to Dh53 billion, exports Dh10 billion, and re-exported Dh8.5 billion.
Highlights of initiatives adopted
Three measures to boost tourism sector
Three initiatives aimed at enhancing the tourism sector, which contributes approximately Dh161 billion to the UAE’s GDP, were adopted on Tuesday. The tourism sector is forecast to grow by 3.9 per cent per annum to Dh234.2 billion by 2028, i.e. 10.6 per cent of UAE GDP.
Sultan Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, said the Tourism Working Group focused on discussing and adopting three major initiatives on developing the tourism capabilities in the UAE. The National Tourism Development Strategy focuses on forecasting the future, enhancing innovation and technology usage, and aims to achieve tourism sustainability. The meeting also announced the launch of the UAE Tourism Identity initiative that aims to develop a new touristic identity to support the UAE vision for tourism, and promoting the country as the top tourism destination worldwide.
Five-point plan for transport sector
The UAE Government has launched five national initiatives that focus on leveraging advanced technologies to boost safety and prepare the infrastructure for autonomous vehicles and high-speed means of transportation, while seeking sustainable and environment-friendly alternatives.
The National Policy for Reducing Transport Sector’s Emissions aims to identify the standards and specifications of electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, which will ensure the sustainability of the transport sector in the UAE.
The National Strategy for Smart Transportation was launched with the aim to establish a global smart transportation system that guarantees integration and compatibility across federal and local levels, enhances traffic safety, reduces the environmental impact and increases economic productivity. The meeting also witnessed the launch of “Our Connected Cities” initiative and a series of national programmes that target enhancing the UAE competitiveness on the road connectivity index.
AI and Big Data in financial audit
The UAE seeks to support and develop the financial audit sector by qualifying and training national skills to achieve the highest international levels. This is especially significant, bearing in mind that the UAE heads the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions.
This direction was highlighted during the meeting of the Financial Audit Government Working Group. The meeting adopted the study ‘The use of Artificial Intelligence in Control and Audit Procedures’, which involves conducting the necessary specialised and technical researches for the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in auditing procedures and operations, as well as preparing templates and surveys to compile data.
Latest technology for housing development
The UAE Government seeks to develop the construction and housing sector by adopting the latest techniques and digital technologies to boost the quality, safety and sustainability of projects and guarantee their prompt completion. Dr Abdullah Bin Mohammad Bel Haif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, asserted that the meetings establish a new phase of future action, building on the designed plans and programmes which go in line with the UAE vision.
The meeting adopted three national initiatives:
- Smart Construction Assessment System initiative aims at enhancing productivity and encouraging the use of modern techniques in construction, thus reducing environmental impacts;
- Smart Construction National Guide initiative targets harnessing modern techniques and smart industries to identify materials, specifications and construction design parameters to keep pace with the best practices and technologies, promote modern industries and enhance their contribution to the national income;
- Unified National Digital Housing Platform Initiative ‘Al Zajil’.
Shaping future of the economy
The UAE Government adopted six initiatives to regulate e-commerce nationwide, promote the national economy, support and regulate public-private partnerships (PPP), achieve growth in the national non-oil commodity exports and reinforce the UAE’s position as a hub for global investments.
Al Mansouri stated that the annual meetings set a clear path for the performance of key sectors in the UAE and develop a road map for achieving the aspirations of “UAE Centennial 2071”.
The team adopted an initiative to implement ‘Export-oriented Mechanisms, Strategies and Projects’, which includes projects and initiatives with direct impact on increasing the value of non-oil commodity exports. The meeting adopts the Federal E-Commerce Platform initiative, which constitutes a tool for communication and interaction between licence holders and consumers.
