US President Obama to address government summit in Dubai

United States President Barack Obama will deliver the opening address at the World Government Summit in Dubai via a televised speech on Monday.

Now in its fourth edition, the annual summit themed ‘Shaping Future Governments’ will also see President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, president of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim and secretary-general of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development Jose Angel Gurria addressing key summit sessions.

The summit runs from February 8-10.

In total, more than 3,000 dignitaries from 125 countries including representatives of world governments, ministers, chief executives and officials from the public and private sector are expected to participate.

The summit will explore the future of eight major sectors: education; healthcare, government action, science, innovation and technology, economy, labour market and human capital management, development and sustainability, and the cities of the future.

This year, United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid will also conduct a conversation with his 10 million followers on social media platforms.

The interaction will see him answer questions on his vision for the future of government, education, health, cities and other vital sectors.

A series of meetings and sessions will also be held on the sidelines of the summit to discuss ways to implement the global sustainable development goals.

These meetings are being held in cooperation with the international organisations participating in the summit – in particular the United Nations and the World Bank. The sessions will focus on three main areas – implementation, funding and measuring.

A number of specialised future-oriented reports will also be released at the summit this year.

Awards will also be handed out to the ‘best minister in the world’, the ‘best mobile government service’ and ‘the most innovative teacher’.

The Museum of the Future exhibition – located within the summit – will also be open for the first time to the public and will display real examples of the most advanced technologies, methods and futuristic tools.

Minister of Cabinet Affairs and chairman of the World Government Summit 2016 Mohammed Al Gergawi stressed that the summit has now become an international organisation with global goals.