- The summit was attended by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
- Omar Sultan Al Olama: Hosting the Summit in the UAE is testament to our leadership’s commitment to empowering youth, equipping them, adopting their ideas, and investing in their future
Dubai-UAE: The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Young Global Leaders (YGL) Annual Summit concluded today following three days of sessions, speeches and ideating.
The summit was attended by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Deputy Ruler of Dubai, and member of the Young Global Leaders Council.
Senior government officials and leading academic experts joined the summit, along with more than 500 members of the YGL. The gathering touched on the role of youth in imagining, designing, and building the future. It also looked at mechanisms for enabling young leaders to contribute to future building, with the support of governments and institutions.
His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, said: “Hosting the annual Young Global Leaders (YGL) Annual Summit in the UAE is testament to our leadership’s commitment to empowering youth, equipping them, adopting their ideas, and investing in their future. This commitment embodies the shared philosophy between the UAE government and the World Economic Forum on the role of young leaders in charting the future and turning visions into reality.”
HE Al Olama added: “The summit represents a platform for dialogue between young minds from around the world. This edition has provided opportunities for young leaders to exchange their ideas, visions and aspirations for a sustainable future, and to work together to establish innovative solutions to mitigate global challenges.”
Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, President and CEO of the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators, member of the Young Global Leaders Council, spoke at the summit’s opening session. She stressed the importance of giving young people the spaces they need to turn their creative ideas into reality. She also highlighted how youth must be empowered to take the initiative on projects that transform challenges into opportunities, especially in areas such as climate change and sustainable development.
His Excellency Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications,-Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, and member of the Global Young Leaders Council in 2022, also participated. He spoke about leadership qualities, the role of youth in shaping the future and the UAE’s leadership in AI.
This year’s summit, the first time it has been held in the UAE, received broad international participation. Some of the global participants included: Tiffany Wang, Chief Trust and Marketing Officer, OpenWeb in the US, Abdigani Diriye, Head of Machine Learning, Atacana Group Inc in Kenya, Sophia Hamblin Wang, Chief Operating Officer, Mineral Carbonation International (MCi) in Australia, Elisha London, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Prospira Global in the UK, Nerissa Naidu, Chair of the Board, CreditXpert in the US, Maya Roy, Chief Executive Officer, Coalition of Innovators in Canada, and Vukosi Marivate, Chair of Data Science, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Pretoria in South Africa. Olivier M. Schwab, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum, also attended.
The summit included workshops focusing on areas such as the digital economy, education, creative industries, sustainability solutions, comprehensive economic and social development, health and life sciences, entrepreneurship, investment, and green technologies.
Cross-sector workshops
Other workshops discussed how to increase dialogue between different cultures. One focused on enhancing cooperation, building relationships and boosting communication.
Others looked at enhancing international cooperation in a constantly changing world, skills for developing self-leadership, mechanisms for building strong partnerships, and ways to build positive narratives.
The summit also featured discussions on enhancing financing for innovation in developing countries. It also explored how AI can reduce the development gap.
There were also discussions on sustainable manufacturing opportunities in urban areas, the biotechnology revolution, empowering decision-making through AI, ensuring food security for the future, and establishing innovative supply chains.
The summit’s sessions explored the role of strategic partnerships between governments in bringing about positive global transformations. It also stressed the importance of joint climate action while touching on the role of technology in sustainable development.
Other topics during the session included inclusive societies, the future of healthcare and quality of life. It also covered success stories of countries empowering their young leadership.
The WEF Forum of Young Global Leaders was established in 2004 to enable young leaders from around the world to help create practical solutions to local, regional and international current and future challenges.
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