To see if there’s any truth to the aphorism “attitude determines altitude”, you could spend just a few hours at the Madinat Jumeirah Conference and Events Centre in Dubai, where the annual World Governments Summit was held this week.
The WGS has over the past 13 years not only underscored the UAE’s standing as “the place” for forward-thinking dialogue, but it has often been a catalyst for positive, practical change. It’s little wonder, then, that despite the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting being held just two weeks ago, this year’s summit drew in over 6,000 leaders, including more than 60 heads of state and government, 500 ministers and 87 Nobel laureates and top scientists.
There were several highlights, including launches that embody the fusion of innovation and governance.
An AI-blockchain platform was unveiled to help scientists catalogue and track their work and fill funding gaps in various fields of research. New sustainable mobility initiatives were launched. And G42, an Abu Dhabi-based technology holding group, announced it was building a computing centre as part of its construction of an “intelligence grid” that, once complete, is expected to integrate AI into every facet of people’s lives.
At its core, the WGS’s objective is to help governments become nimble, agile and successful in addressing modern challenges and anticipating people’s evolving needs – crucial for a world changing at warp speed while trying to address the climate crisis and the coming economic and technological disruptions.
As Mohammed Al Gergawi, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and chairman of the summit, pointed out this week, governments cannot afford to wield yesterday’s tools against tomorrow’s problems.
UAE residents already see this ethos in action through platforms like Tamm, which streamlines public services with digital integration in Abu Dhabi, thereby reducing bureaucracy. Last month, G42 unveiled its “digital embassy” project to build an operating model that will allow states to use sovereign AI securely and at scale. These and other initiatives illustrate how the UAE and other countries in the Gulf are creating governance models with the help of technology, to ensure greater accessibility and efficiency for all.
Such breakthroughs, both visible and measurable, are especially critical for this part of the world, where two contrasting narratives currently dominate.
One is oriented to the future and focused on improving the quality of life by introducing new technologies and adapting governance for future generations. The other is predicated on legacy issues, including communal, sectarian and tribal tensions, that often express themselves violently and continue to undermine regional stability and impede economic and social progress.
As in previous iterations, key invitees to this year’s WGS candidly discussed the Middle East’s geopolitical flashpoints: Iran’s nuclear programme, sectarian violence in Syria, economic collapse in Lebanon, Yemen’s humanitarian crisis and the enduring Palestine-Israel conflict. Through all this turmoil, the summit has not only sought to find solutions to these persistent problems, but it has also continued to offer a vital alternative vision for the region’s aspirational people.
If one thing is evident from events like the WGS, it is that there is no shortage of ideas, drive or even investment to forge an alternative path that could lead the region and the world to peace and prosperity. What is required, then, is leadership and the will to deliver.
