His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Media Incorporated, today opened the Global South-South Development Expo 2016, at the Sheikh Rashid Hall of the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed was accompanied by HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed at the inauguration of the expo, which attracted environment ministers from the UAE and other countries from the Global South, senior United Nations delegates, senior government officials and over 500 international delegates.
The annual Expo held under the auspices of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, is designed to enhance innovation and development among the participating countries with a view to achieving the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Expo, which is being hosted by the Zayed International Prize for the Environment on behalf of the UAE Government, will run till November 3 and will highlight successful initiatives and solutions created by developing countries in the Global South to address development challenges. It also a powerful platform for development actors to showcase their development solutions, celebrate successes, share knowledge and lessons learned, while exploring new avenues for collaboration and initiating new partnership efforts.
The GSSD Expo is a direct response to the expressed needs of stakeholders from the Global South to further scale up proven development solutions and best practices that contribute to sustainable development. It amplifies and celebrates the collective effort and impact of showcasing development solutions and best practices that puts together all development actors – policy decision-makers, solution providers, solution seekers, and funders/donors – into one single event.
Speaking at the event, Dr Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister for Climate Change and Environment said: “The world has witnessed a great economic and political shift in the past two decades, and the relations among the countries of the South and between the countries of the South and the countries of the North has risen to new dimensions and have the potential to effectively address major current issues such as the environment and climate change, energy and food security, global poverty, migration etc.
“The United Arab Emirates under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the country, has been keen to participate in all international efforts to establish sustainable solutions to environmental, economic and social problems, and this as illustrated clearly in the UAE Vision 2021, in addition to supporting innovative solutions to protect the environment and ensure sustainability through modern techniques to rationalize natural resources,” Al Zeyoudi said.
“This was confirmed, in particular, by many leading initiatives such as the Emirates Strategy for Green Development that includes renewable energy and green architecture and sustainable transport and rationalizing consumption of water, energy and electricity, and the applying principles of cleaner production all over the country, as well as hosting the international renewable energy Agency “Irena”, and the initiative of Masdar City, which is developing and deploying renewable energy and alternative energy technologies in the world,”Al Zeyoudi added.
Prof. Dr. Mohammed Ahmed bin Fahd, Chairman of the Higher Committee, Zayed International Foundation for the Environment speaking at the inauguration said: “The decision to host the Global South-South Development Expo in the UAE is apt as it underlines the country’s prominent role in undertaking innumerable humanitarian initiatives worldwide. The countries of the South are among the biggest beneficiaries of UAE initiatives and support.
Dr bin Fahd said that the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, was one of the largest humanitarian initiatives internationally, which encompasses various sectors including: the fight against poverty and disease; knowledge dissemination; community empowerment and the use of innovation as a tool to improve the lives of human beings. The foundation brings together all the initiatives that His Highness has launched and patronized by over twenty years, so as to unify the goals and mobilize available resources and maximize their impact in line with the challenges of the world’s current stage.
“The Foundation today serves over one 130 million people in 116 countries around the world, and has 28 foundations and initiatives carrying out more than a 1400 developmental programmes in collaboration with more than 280 strategic partners all of which are available for the countries of the South,” Dr. bin Fahd added.