UAE Government Annual Meeting to discuss the future of UAE till 2071

In one of the biggest UAE government participation sessions, the UAE Cabinet has announced that in September 2017 it will hold a nation-wide meeting for representatives of all UAE government entities at the federal and local levels to discuss challenges and strategies related to the country’s five-decade national development plan, known as annual ‘UAE Centennial 2071.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, will chair the meeting, which will be held annually.

Brainstorming sessions

The meetings, which will be held over a two-day period, will include a variety of specialised workshops and brainstorming sessions aimed at defining and pursuing the agenda to be implemented in the UAE over the next five decades. 

“The announcement of ‘UAE Centennial 2071’ is an affirmation of the vision of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for the development of the nation and work as one team to achieve the development on all levels,” said Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future.

“We will start communicating with all federal and local government entities in the country in the coming period in order to prepare for the meeting in September,” he added.

Two days 

On its first day this year, national development subjects will include youth, housing, Emiratisation, media, technology, national identity, education, health, law system and environment.

The second day will witness the discussion around UAE’s position for the coming five decades, in areas such as economy, infrastructure, geopolitical position and soft power.

Unique foresight

“Taskforces will be assigned to follow up on initiatives and projects in various fields including social, economic, environmental, developmental, knowledge-based, infrastructure and more sectors.”

Al Gergawi said that the UAE’s long-term foresight has become a unique feature of the country both regionally and globally, but that now there was a need to develop an integrated 50-year plan.

Share your views for the future of UAE 

The ultimate goal of the UAE government is to achieve the happiness of its people. The government is with you until we, together, achieve this goal and establish the UAE as one of the best countries in the world. So, be with us. Share your ideas and suggestions in one of the national development subjects; youth, housing, Emiratisation, media, technology, national identity, education, health, law system and environment.

You can share your views by choosing one of the two options: 

1. Participating in the discussion forum, as we have created a discussion corner under the theme “Future of the UAE”

2. Participating through “Ideas Corner” in this portal. Send your idea and the team will discuss it. If we see that we need to discuss it with you, one of our team will contact you within 7 days.

What is the expected outcome of this meeting? 

The Government September meeting this year will develop the vision behind the UAE Centennial 2071 and prepare a long-term work plan to achieve this vision. 

Shaikh Mohammed launched ‘UAE Centennial 2071’ based on the important lecture given by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The plan will focus on several main objectives. The first is to develop a flexible government with mindful leadership and a clear vision, which prioritises the needs of the public and builds a positive environment.

The second is to invest in education, focusing on advanced IT, and establishing professionalism and ethics in educational institutions.

The third is to establish a diversified, globally competitive economy, and the fourth is to consolidate the values of tolerance, social cohesion and respect.

Key objectives of UAE Centennial 2071 plan

The UAE Centennial is a five-decade vision for future generations that provides the government a clear roadmap for long-term development.

Objectives of the long-term government plan

• To develop a flexible government with a clear vision that spreads positive messages 

• To invest in education, establishing professionalism and ethics in educational institutions

• To establish a diversified, globally competitive economy

• To consolidate the values of tolerance, social cohesion and respect to make the UAE the best country in the world.

Four pillars of the five-decade plan

• Future-focused government: The objectives of the government, under UAE Centennial 2071, include establishing the government of the UAE as the best government in the world, with a long-term vision and inspirational leadership that anticipates, and prepares for, the future. Other objectives include achieving happiness in society and spreading positive messages internally and to the world, developing mechanisms for monitoring long-term variables in various sectors and measuring their impact on future generations, and establishing Youth Advisory Councils to consider young citizens' perspectives when establishing development policies.

• Excellent education: Regarding education, UAE Centennial 2071 highlights the importance of excellent quality of education in ensuring future generations are ready to serve their communities and excel. Certain areas of focus in education include advanced science and technology, space science, engineering, innovation and health sciences. Also included is the importance of teaching students to look ahead and instilling a culture of openness by teaching history, culture, the civilisations of other countries and teaching new languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Other educational measures include teaching students mechanisms for discovering their individual talents early. On the institutional level, educational institutions are encouraged to innovate.

• A diversified economy: In terms of the economy, UAE Centennial 2071 seeks to establish a diversified economy by, among other things, increasing the productivity of the national economy, supporting national companies so they may become competitive on the global stage and investing in research and development in promising sectors. The objective is to establish an economy based on innovation, leadership and advanced industries, developing a national economic and industrial strategy that envisions future sectors and places the UAE among the world's major economies. In this regard, another objective is to nurture a generation of Emirati inventors and scientists, supporting their contributions.

• A happy and cohesive society: Community development is an integral part of UAE Centennial 2071. Some objectives in this regard include establishing a secure, tolerant, cohesive and ethical society that embraces happiness and a positive lifestyle, and provides a high quality of life (including in health and sports). Investing in people is also important, including consolidating the values of humility and serving the nation through the development of training programmes for students. The pillar also focuses on developing programmes to prepare future generations to serve as UAE ambassadors and role models, as well as promoting women's participation in all sectors, making the UAE one of the best places in the world to live.

Outcome

Results of the UAE government annual meetings

After you shared your ideas and suggestions about national development topics discussed in the UAE government meetings held in 26 September 2016, we would like to share the results of these meetings with you. Many of such results came in agreement with your ideas and based on your suggestions. The UAE Government Portal team have collected your ideas and suggestions and delivered them to the concerned entities. Specialized teams from such entities worked on studying your ideas to convert them into initiatives, policies and programs. Over 120 initiatives for 30 national pillars were launched at the UAE government annual meetings, in the presence of over 450 government officials. Below is the list of pillars, including examples of the key initiatives launched at the meetings:

·     Mars Science City: Building a complex of buildings called Mars Science City. The AED 500 million city will cover 1.9 million square feet making it the largest space-simulation city ever built. It will provide a viable and realistic model to simulate living on Mars.

·     Social services: Three initiatives, including one dedicated to providing family counselling services that seek to provide families with the tools to achieve happiness;

·     Laws and legislation: Five initiatives, including the launch of an annual agenda for legislations in the UAE, in order to coordinate all efforts to achieve the national agenda goals;

·     The environment: Three initiatives, including the development of an integrated national programme to address challenges in the face of climate change and ensure the flexibility of the economic and social development processes in response to climate change;

·     Health and prevention services: Two initiatives, including developing an integrated national birth and death registry, linked to a smart data system;

·     Youth services: Four initiatives including the one titled Youth Echoes, is an annual report that seeks to collect the thoughts and feedback of young people on various national matters and to share them with the relevant decision-makers and officials in order to make the voices of the youth heard;

·     Energy: Seven initiatives, including one dedicated to studying how various countries around the world source and utilise natural gas in order to recommend and implement the most appropriate regulatory regime for the UAE’s natural gas market;

·     Local education — Emirati School: Four initiatives, including one dedicated to standardising public and private schools’ educational models in order to set a new and consistent academic standard for all schools in the UAE;

·     Higher education and scientific research: Three initiatives, one of which, titled National Standards For Quality Assurance of Higher Education Institutions, includes standardising academic requirements to develop a higher-quality education system;

·     Science, Technology and Innovation: Three initiatives, including the Emirates Smart Data Centre, a large-scale Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform dedicated to the strategic analysis of data;

·     Governmental human resources: Six initiatives, one of which is the Future Skills Study, which seeks to analyse and forecast future trends, then align with academic institutions to offer the necessary requirements in order to prepare young generations for the future;

·     Government leadership and capacity: Three initiatives, one of which is developing a framework for Emirati leaders, and introducing a database of national leaders and their competencies, mapped to the objectives of the UAE government;

·     Media: Three initiatives. One example is that leading media institutions will collaborate with academic institutions in order to provide competitive educational programmes focused on the needs and best practices of the media industry;