2024 will be a good year for UAE, says VP, appoints new ministers
At the start of the new year — which the UAE VP promises will be a “good year”, the country saw a group of ministerial amendments in its government. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-president and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced three new ministers and new portfolios.
Apart from appointing astronaut Sultan Alneyadi as the Minister of Youth, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid also appointed Dr Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak Al Shamsi as the Minister of Environment and Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei as the Minister of State for Defence Affairs.
The announcement came a day after Sheikh Mohammed announced the first meeting of Council of Ministers for the new year. According to him, the ministers reviewed what happened in 2023 and approved the plan for 2024, which he predicted will be a “good year” for the country.
“It will be the most beautiful and greatest in the history of the Emirates, God willing,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Mohamed Al Mazrouei, who was appointed as the Minister of State for Defence Affairs and member of UAE Cabinet, has served as an adviser at the Presidential Court, since 2022.
From 2009 until 2022, he served as the undersecretary of the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi. Between 2006 and 2008 he was the deputy chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority.
He holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration specialising in Finance from Suffolk University of Boston, US.
Dr Amna Al Shamsi was appointed the Minister of Environment. Previously, the assistant undersecretary for care and capacity building sector at the Ministry of Education, Dr Amna has led several strategic programmes and initiatives in her capacity, focusing on identifying gifted students as well as ensuring student empowerment through capacity building programmes.
She was also named the UAE Government spokesperson in April 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic where she carried out national press briefings and moderated ministerial sessions in addition to speaking at international conferences.
Holding a PH.D. in Computer Engineering from Khalifa University, and Bachelor's and Master's degree in computer science from University of Sharjah, Dr Amna heads several national committees, including the Child Protection Council in the educational environment, the National Committee for Green Education and the National Committee for Creative Arts in Education.
At the end of her term as the Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Mariam Almeheiri will be appointed as the Head of the Office of International Affairs in the Presidential Office. A prolific politician, Almeheiri was instrumental in securing UAE'S bid to host Cop28.
She played a role in setting up the food tech valley, which was projected to triple Dubai's food production. She also established the Ne'ma Food Loss and Waste Reduction Roadmap — an action plan to reduce food loss and wastage in the country by 50 per cent by 2030.
In December, at the UAE Council for Climate Action meeting, she had said that UAE'S aim was to create a leading global model for sustainability across various national sectors and achieve the goals of the UAE Net Zero 2050.
A keen proponent of the net zero plan, she had been instrumental in putting in place several key strategies including a roadmap to create more than 200,000 jobs and increase the country's GDP by three per cent in the quest for zero carbon emissions.
Prior to this, Almeheiri was the Minister of State for Food Security — a post she was conferred with in 2017 — where her tasks included overseeing the development of the necessary infrastructure that would ensure the country's food security objectives, in line with UAE Centennial 2071 Plan.