WGS2022-PRL: Governments Lead Society to the Future

 

Dubai 31, March 2022: His Excellency Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, officially inaugurated the Arab Government Administration Forum, during the World Government Summit (WGS2022) and declared that government administration remains the driver of development in most countries.

 

The forum organized as a strategic platform to establish a new model for government work at the regional level and create stronger cooperation between the governments of the Arab world. It examines the prospects of developing stronger government administration in the Arab world that has the capability to meet and manage emerging global challenges.

 

His Excellency Ahmed Aboul Gheit said: “It is my pleasure at the establishment of the Arab Government Administration Forum to discuss the future of government work and development. In the UAE, observing the performance of its government work and young ministers is a major policy to raise the level of education, discipline, and commitment to best governmental work and administrative practices.”

 

His Excellency added: "Government leaders is the driver of development in most countries. Looking at global experiences during past challenges, everyone turns to the administration, this was apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic when people went to ask their governments to find solutions to the impacts on health, education and food supply chains immediately. This indicates that only governments are truly able to lead societies and economies out of emergency challenges”.

 

“During the pandemic, the Arab world has been successful in combating this challenge and reducing the level of impacts. On the side of the radical transformations resulting from the pandemic, that has seen a fundamental change in human behavior as a result of technology adoption and virtual processes in commerce, education and work, governments are now moving towards focusing on health care, epidemics and enhanced challenges responses.”

His Excellency urged delegates to build government capabilities and rearrange priorities based on the pillars of foresight, innovation and flexibility to enhance the performance and efficiency of government administration around the world.

 

The forum opening was the start of a series of engaging debates and wide-ranging discussions.

A later panel discussion entitled ‘Development in the Region: Betting on the Arab Government Administration,’ included H.E. Dr. Nasser Al-Hatlan Al-Qahtani, Director-General of the Arab Organization for Administrative Development, H.E. Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future and Vice Chair of the World Government Summit Organization.

Her Excellency said a priority should be on building government capacities that focusing on people. She stressed that the UAE government is looking to the future and proceeding with a mindset of awareness that staying in the competitive world today is for the fastest and most proactive, not for the strongest and greatest.

 

She pointed out that achieving the priorities of the UAE government in serving people passes through three pillars: "The Digital Future," "The Future of Skills and the Work Environment," and "Acceleration and New Innovation.”

Her Excellency emphasized that working within the "Digital Future" pillar goes beyond the production of smart applications, based on achieving a complete transformation in the mentality of government work and linking services to meet the interests of the user, and the use of data and artificial intelligence to enhance the proactive process. In addition, the existence of this mindset is able to keep developing a smart future.

 

For his part, His Excellency Dr. Nasser Al-Hatlan Al-Qahtani said: “We are convinced that management is the basis for the success of any society, and with effective administrative development the sustainable development goals will be achieved in creative ways”

 

Al-Qahtani said he believed that Arab countries such as the UAE today present successful management models at the global level, which encourage the governments to invent their own model for government work based on their experiences and local culture as well as inspiring experiences from other leading models. He concluded by saying: "The UAE experience has made a significant leap in the region, and this reality allows benefiting from them regionally.