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The UAE is participating with a top-level delegation in the Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, to be held on 21-24 January in Davos, Switzerland.

This year, the Forum’s theme will be “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World". The UAE delegation comprises H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, in addition to 4 ministers in the Federal Government and a number of UAE officials.

The World Economic Forum is an international platform that brings together various leaders of public and private sectors around the world, a number of heads of States, prime ministers, and more than 3,000 dignitaries and officials from all over the world.

The UAE will participate at the key sessions of the Forum, which will discuss challenges facing the world at various levels such as economy, business leadership and the fourth industrial revolution …etc.

The UAE will also organize, for the first time, an affiliated session for the first time as part of the meetings’ agenda in collaboration with Davos.

These panels will see the participation of more than 50 international personalities who will contribute to enriching the debate. During this annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, discussions will focus on seven major themes: environment, economy, technology, fourth industrial revolution, society, industry, and government policies.

A top-level UAE Representation

The UAE delegation comprises H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, His Excellency Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, His Excellency Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, His Excellency Dr. Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills and His Excellency Abdullah Bin Touq, Secretary General of the UAE Cabinet.

The UAE delegation also includes His Excellency Khaldoun Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority, His Excellency Mohammed Al Mubarak, Chief Executive of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and Member of the Executive Council, His Excellency Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, Chairman of Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, and Her Excellency Maryam Eid AlMheiri, Director General of Abu Dhabi Government Media Office, HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman & CEO, of Dubai Port World Group and CEO/Chairman of the Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation, and Her Excellency Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Media Council and Director General of the Dubai Government Media Office, and His Excellency Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation.

Joint Announcements and Active Participation in the Meetings’ Agenda

The Davos Forum intends this year to announce its global plan to provide one billion people with new skills that are more suitable for the labor market and to qualify them in order to occupy jobs during the next ten years.

For its part, the UAE unveiled its intent to help the World Economic Forum achieve this goal, thus becoming the first country in the world to contribute to the realization of this strategic goal of the Forum and setting an example to follow.

The World Economic Forum will launch a new crowd-engagement platform called “Uplink” designed to accelerate the resolution of the world's most pressing issues, as set out by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The UAE will join other governments and stakeholders by using the platform to submit reports on the progress made by the UAE in achieving these goals.

The session will also announce the launch of a report named " Stakeholders for a Coherent and Sustainable World", which will list 161 “ Lighthouse Project” projects aimed at making concrete progress in addressing the pressing objectives in societal, economic, environmental, technological challenges of our time.

A Key Session organised by the UAE on Leadership in Future Readiness and Governance

For the first time, the UAE is organizing, as part of Davos Forum, an affiliated session entitled " Leadership in Future Readiness and Governance." This Session will bring together leaders from public and private sectors and academics to discuss potential solutions to the most critical governance issues in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Besides, this session will be an opportunity to shed light on the UAE and WEF joint effort in adopting future portfolio, especially for the UAE setting an example from the Middle East and North African region and will promote the image of the UAE as an emerging role model in the MENA region.

This Session, in which 50 officials from different countries of the world will contribute to enriching the debate, will also see the participation of the UAE delegation represented by His Excellency Dr. Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Falasi, His Excellency His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, His Excellency Mona Al Marri and His Excellency Abdullah Bin Touq and His Excellency Khalfan Belhoul.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group and His Excellency sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy will also speak in two sessions during this annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos: “ Dubai Silkroad Reinventing trade & logistics” and “Future Of Work” .

For his part, His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, will speak at many panels such as " MENA Stewardship Board ", "Stimulating Circular Innovation", and another panel entitled " PACE: From Upscaling to Strategic Impact in the Circular Economy " in addition to his participation in the UAE affiliated session. The participation of His Excellency Dr. Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education, will be under the Society Track entitled “ How to reskill and upskill a billion people in the next decade.

His Excellency Al Falasi, will participate in other sessions to be held in parallel such as “Future of Education: A New Agenda for Action”, “The Middle East in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, “Defining Education 4.0”, “Platform for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society Strategy Meeting” and “Community Strategy Meeting”.

For his part, His Excellency Abdullah Bin Touq, Secretary General of the UAE Cabinet, will participate under the Technology Track in two sessions one titled “The Middle East in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” and another titled “Global Technology Governance Summit”.

The participation of Her Excellency Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Media Council and Director General of the Government of Dubai Media Office, will be under the community theme of the World Economic Forum. Her Excellency will be speaking in a panel entitled “Future of Gender Parity: A New Agenda for Action”.

The session will highlight the achievements of the United Arab Emirates in the gender balance index as mentioned in the report of the United Nations Organization. The participation of His Excellency Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation will be under the Technology Track in two sessions, one entitled “Global Technology Governance Summit” and another titled “Cross Border Data Flows Discussion”.

It is worth noting that the current year session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will see the participation of 677 experts speaking in their fields. Online live coverage technology will be used to broadcast all of the Forum’s 175 sessions. Davos is a global forum that brings together kings and heads of States and prime ministers from all over the world.

It is an ideal opportunity for companies’ board chairpersons, business leaders, economic, financial and environmental experts and representatives of institutions, governmental bodies and universities to exchange ideas, identify challenges, put forward future policies and benefit from the experiences of nations, especially in economy, environment and technology.