Objective

In one of the biggest participation sessions of the UAE Government held in September 2017, the UAE Cabinet announced that it would hold a nation-wide meeting for representatives of all UAE government entities every year at the federal and local levels to discuss challenges and strategies related to the country’s five-decade national development plan, known as annual ‘UAE Centennial 2071’.

 

The annual meetings aim at unifying government work at the federal and local level and discussing developmental issues at all levels and in attendance of the decision makers. The meetings also aim at participation of the various sectors in shaping the development vision of the UAE until the UAE Centennial 2071. A large number of federal authorities and local departments of all emirates will attend the annual meetings, which will include workshops and discussions about the national KPIs for Vision 2021.

The UAE Government’s third Annual Meetings - 2019

The UAE Government's third annual meetings will take place in Abu Dhabi on Monday 25 November 2019. The annual meetings will review the various phases of development to reach the UAE Centennial 2071, as well as government action programs to be implemented in the next 10 years, which constitute the first phase of the plan, which spans five 10-year phases.

Stay tuned for more details.

The UAE Government’s second Annual Meetings - 2018

The UAE Government's second Annual Meetings took place in Abu Dhabi on 27 and 28 November 2018. The meetings were attended by 500 dignitaries which included heads of UAE executive boards, ministers, heads of federal government bodies, heads of local government agencies, federal, local, and regional directors, along with assistant agents and executives.

 

The meetings witnessed discussions on national issues, a review of achievements of 2017 and updates on targets of Vision 2021. In addition, seven long-term strategies and over 100 national initiatives were launched to promote the development model of the UAE to reach the UAE Centennial 2071. The strategies and initiatives covered areas of education, health, investment, security, housing and government services on the local and federal levels.

 

Strategies and initiatives

The following strategies and initiatives were launched and presented during the second annual meeting to tackle specific goals and challenges.

Strategies

1. UAE Advanced Skills Strategy
2. UAE Advanced Sciences Strategy
3. AI Strategy Developments
4. The National Employment Strategy 2031
5. National Food Security Strategy 2051
6. UAE Cultural Agenda 2031
7. National Programme for Happiness and Wellbeing.

 

Initiatives

Two initiatives for efficiency and sustainability of the data to achieve SDGs were launched. They are:

• 10X10 Challenge
• UAE Digital Competitiveness Platform.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Four initiatives to develop work mechanisms in environment and municipalities’ sectors were launched. They are:

• Federal law for climate change
• Smart early warning system for biological security
• A national plan for enhancing local agricultural and livestock production
• Finding a unified framework for controlling stray and predatory animals.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Four initiatives to engage youth in shaping the future were launched. They are:

• Done by Youth X Culture
• Global Youth Opportunities 
• 100 Inspiring Emirati Youth
• National Service 101.

Read more about these initiatives

 

A strategy and a smart platform to promote knowledge-based manufacturing was launched. They are:

• Industrial Development Strategy 2030
• UAE Industry Platform.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives to promote wellbeing were launched. They are:

• UAE Wellbeing Model for Residential Communities
• Community Wellbeing Nutrition Program
• Community Program for Active Lifestyle.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Two initiatives in AI and Blockchain were launched. They are:

• AI and Blockchain Guide initiative
• The National Program for AI and Blockchain Capacity Building.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives for developing water and energy resources management to promote economic sustainability were launched. They are:

• UAE Hydrological Map 
• UAE Aqua Storage and Recovery
• UAE Energy Outlook.

Read more about these initiatives

 

A law was launched to establish Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) with the objective of unifying water production and power generation efforts in Abu Dhabi and the other emirates that are currently served by Etihad Water and Electricity.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Four initiatives to promote spending efficiency were launched. They are:

• Enhancing Allocation of Financial Resources
• Streamlining the Common Fees System 
• Financial and Monetary Policy Coordination
• National Project for Financial Risks Management.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives to promote the tourism sector were launched. They are:

• National Tourism Development Strategy
• UAE Tourism Identity
• Tourism Sector Development.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives to leverage AI and big data in promoting financial audit were launched. They are:

• The use of Artificial Intelligence in Control and Audit Procedures
• Smart Control and Audit Program
• National Program to Qualify and Train Auditors.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Five initiatives to develop the transport sector were launched. They are:

• The National Policy for Reducing Transport Sector’s Emissions 
• The National Strategy for Smart Transportation
• Our Connected Cities
• The National Strategy for Regulating Maritime Sector
• National Maritime Navigation System.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Five initiatives to promote trade and shape the future of economy were launched. They are:

• Export-oriented Mechanisms, Strategies and Projects
• Federal eCommerce Platform
• Regulatory Framework for eCommerce Licensing
• Regulatory Framework for Transnational eCommerce Companies
• UAE’s Annual Economic Outlook Report

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three service initiatives to shape the future government were launched. They are:

• The Digital Trust Platform
• The Digital Customer Regulations
• The Customer Inbox.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives for human resources and a future system for talent management and capacity building were launched. They are:

• Digital Transformation Strategy for Government Human Capital
• Lifelong Learning Strategy for Government Employees
• Human Capital Framework for the Government of the Future.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives to self-employment and redistribution of employees to promote Emiratisation were launched. They are:

• Citizen Redistribution Policy between Public and Private Sectors
• Unified ePortal for Self-employment of Skilled Personnel
• Continuous Skills Development System.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives for a unified model for judicial adjudication and an attorney fees were launched. They are:

• National Unified Model of Judicial Adjudication in the UAE
• UAE Guideline for Attorney Fees
• eSystem for Judgements Enforcement.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Three initiatives for housing development were launched. They are:

• The Smart Construction Assessment System 
• The Smart Construction National Guide 
• Unified National Digital Housing Platform‘Al Zajil’.

Read more about these initiatives

 

Four initiatives to boost food security were launched. They are:

• The Food Valley Platform
• The Aquaculture Pulse: A Guide to Grow the Aquaculture Sector
• The Aquaculture Basket aiming at fostering collaboration between food institutions in the UAE
• National Governance Structure for Food Security, which includes setting up an advisory board of different groups of the society.

Read more about these initiatives

Outcomes of the annual meetings of 2017

Over 120 initiatives for 30 national pillars were launched at the UAE government’s annual meetings, in the presence of over 450 government officials. Below is the list of pillars including the key initiatives launched at the meetings.

• Mars Science City: Building a complex of buildings called Mars Science City. The AED 500 million city will cover 1.9 million square feet making it the largest space-simulation city ever built. It will provide a viable and realistic model to simulate living on Mars.

• Social services: Three initiatives including one dedicated to providing family counselling services that seek to provide families with the tools to achieve happiness were launched.

• Laws and legislation: Five initiatives including an annual agenda for legislations in the UAE, in order to coordinate all efforts to achieve the national agenda goals were launched.

• The environment: Three initiatives including the development of an integrated national programme to address challenges in the face of climate change and ensure the flexibility of the economic and social development processes in response to climate change were launched.

• Health and prevention services: Two initiatives including developing an integrated national birth and death registry, linked to a smart data system were launched.

• Youth services: Four initiatives including one titled Youth Echoes were launched. Youth Echoes is an annual report that seeks to collect the thoughts and feedback of young people on various national matters and to share them with the relevant decision-makers and officials in order to make the voices of the youth heard.

• Energy: Seven initiatives including one dedicated to studying how various countries around the world source and utilise natural gas were launched. This initiative aims to study and implement the most appropriate regulatory regime for the UAE’s natural gas market.

• Local education — Emirati School: Four initiatives including one dedicated to standardising public and private schools’ educational models were launched. This initiative aims to set a new and consistent academic standard for all schools in the UAE.

• Higher education and scientific research: Three initiatives including National Standards For Quality Assurance of Higher Education Institutions were launched. This initiative includes standardising academic requirements to develop a higher-quality education system.

• Science, technology and innovation: Three initiatives including the Emirates Smart Data Centre were launched. Emirates Smart Data Centre is a large-scale Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform dedicated to the strategic analysis of data.

• Governmental human resources: Six initiatives were launched. One of them is the Future Skills Study, which seeks to analyse and forecast future trends, then align them with academic institutions in order to prepare young generations for the future.

• Government leadership and capacity: Three initiatives were launched under this pillar. One of them was developing a framework for Emirati leaders and introducing a database of national leaders and their competencies, mapped to the objectives of the UAE government.

• Media: Three initiatives were launched under this pillar. Leading media institutions will collaborate with academic institutions in order to provide competitive educational programmes focused on the needs and best practices of the media industry.

Related links

• UAE Centennial 2071
• UAE Cabinet approves annual ‘UAE Centennial 2071’ meetings to track national development plan - The UAE Cabinet