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The Ambassadors’ Retreat, organised by the World Government Summit Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, brought together more than 100 ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions in the UAE to share their visions and ideas on best practices to enhance positive international cooperation aimed at establishing future governments. This is part of the summit’s initiatives to provide a platform that allows heads of diplomatic missions and leaders of the World Government Summit opportunities to strengthen relations and communication, and launch an open dialogue that discusses the most prominent global developments in the fields of government work, anticipates future challenges, and explores innovative solutions to address them.
The Ambassadors’ Retreat was attended by His Excellency Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit; Her Excellency Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future and Vice Chair of the World Government Summit; His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications and Vice Chair of the World Government Summit; and a wide participation of leaders and officials in the UAE government, as well as a prominent presence of ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions in the country.
In his speech during the retreat, His Excellency Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi stressed that the summit represents the largest global platform that transcends political differences and conflicts of interest, bringing together governments, entrepreneurs, experts and specialists in an open dialogue centered on cooperation in designing and shaping a better future for societies, and ensuring a better tomorrow for future generations.
His Excellency said that the World Government Summit works to embody the visions and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, “may God protect him”, to build bridges of communication between countries to achieve common goals, and the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, “may God protect him”, to enhance constructive international cooperation and partnerships and expand channels of dialogue and communication between the governments of the world, in the areas of anticipating, designing and creating the future of government work for the good of societies.
The Chairman of the World Government Summit pointed out that the dialogue of ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions in the UAE establishes an ideal environment for positive international partnership, which the summit seeks to enable, enhance and expand its scope with countries, governments, organizations and institutions that share the vision of the importance of joint work to strengthen the global movement towards the future, and enable societies to find solutions capable of facing today’s challenges and anticipating tomorrow’s challenges.
His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Vice Chairman of the World Government Summit, reviewed the most important milestones in the summit’s success journey, since His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, laid out a vision in 2012 to establish a global platform to foresee and empower future governments, when His Highness issued a call for governments to meet, plan, think and chart future paths that would enable them to find proactive solutions to the most important challenges facing humanity.
He stressed the success of the World Government Summit in establishing itself as a global hub for knowledge exchange between governments, with a focus on harnessing innovation and technology to address global challenges facing humanity. Since its inception, the summit has hosted more than 42,000 participants from more than 140 countries, including more than 70 heads of state and government, and more than 2,400 speakers. Participants have contributed to more than 1,800 interactive sessions and workshops, reflecting the global impact of the summit as a meeting place for government and world leaders.
He pointed out that the previous session of the summit focused on deepening strategic partnerships and cooperation between governments, international organizations, and private sector innovators, with the participation of more than 790 speakers in sessions that highlighted several topics, including the future of artificial intelligence, emerging economies, and the future of global finance. In addition, 15 forums, 21 high-level roundtables, and 14 accompanying events were organized, and 39 strategic reports were launched in cooperation with knowledge partners from think tanks, academic and research institutions with the aim of studying global trends in various sectors and providing effective strategies to create innovative government models.
The Vice President of the World Government Summit touched on the main themes of the next session of the summit, which will be held from February 11 to 13, 2025, which include effective government, finance and economy, crisis management, designing a future to serve humanity, readiness for upcoming health transformations, and new horizons for the future, noting that it will witness the organization of more than 110 sessions, the launch of 30 strategic reports, the participation of more than 200 speakers, and 80 representatives of international, regional and governmental organizations, and will host more than 6,000 participants.
The Ambassadors’ Retreat witnessed an interactive roundtable, during which ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions to the country shared their visions and ideas to enhance areas of purposeful international cooperation to build the future and empower the new generation of government work.
The roundtable, which included three focused discussion panels, aimed to enhance international cooperation, explore innovative solutions to future challenges, and exchange ideas for future diplomatic and governmental strategies. The roundtable covered a number of topics, most notably: the role of technology in redesigning future cities, common factors in shaping the emerging global future, and accelerating the impact of the private sector in cooperation with the government.
The World Government Summit Foundation team reviewed the most important features of the next session of the World Government Summit, scheduled to be held in February 2025, and touched on its themes and directions. It also discussed with the participating ambassadors and diplomats their visions and ideas to enrich the World Government Summit agenda, enhance its role in developing solutions to global challenges, and determine future paths and directions for government work.
It is worth noting that the Ambassadors’ Retreat is one of the annual periodic initiatives organized by the World Government Summit Foundation, within the framework of its global role and mission based on providing a stimulating platform for partnerships that support the making of the future, and within its initiatives that focus on major global trends, and the involvement of stakeholders in various sectors, in shaping the future paths of the fields most closely related to human life and the future of societies.
