Summit is way to build a better future, says President

President Sheikh Mohamed called on the international community to seize the opportunity to build a better future on the eve of the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

Sheikh Mohamed said yesterday the annual global gathering serves as a leading platform for promoting dialogue and harnessing new ideas to tackle pressing issues facing the world.

More than 25 leaders, 140 governments and 85 international organisations will be among 4,000 attendents at the three-day event, which has the theme Shaping Future Governments and begins work in Madinat Jumeirah today.

“The World Governments Summit is the UAE’s invitation to the whole world, to join the dialogue, share knowledge and invest in new ideas and energies that are capable of creating innovative solutions to development challenges, and meet peoples’ expectations of a good life and a better future,” said Sheikh Mohamed.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, spoke of the responsibility of governments to bring in change.

“The UAE believes that real governments are capable of translating people’s ambitions into a sustainable reality,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

“When government work is afflicted with stalling and procrastination, when it is dependent on happenstance, these are signs of the end of development, and the end of human civilisation itself. When governments fail to deliver their mission of leading and enacting change, they waive their entitlement to the present and the future; they retire from life.”

The summit will host 110 sessions featuring more than 200 speakers, from presidents to Nobel laureates.

A number of ministerial meetings will be held throughout the event, putting finance, energy and sustainable development at the very top of the summit’s agenda.

It will also include 15 conferences aimed at defining the future of AI, government services, urbanisation, education and smart mobility.

There will be six additional conferences to cover health, sustainable development, future economies and advanced technology.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will lead their delegations and have been chosen as summit guests of honour.