DUBAI // Senior leaders’ embrace of the internet grew even stronger on Monday with the launch of a dedicated channel on the popular YouTube video website.
Viewers on youtube.com/uaegov, the first of its kind, will find information on federal ministries and the activities of the Cabinet.
“We want to take our services to people before they come to us,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, told a Cabinet meeting on Monday. “We want to shorten distances and save time in regards to the needs of nationals and expatriates on the one hand and what we offer them on the other.
“We harness social networks to make people happier, develop government work and utilise all that modern technology and means of communication in order to benefit and serve the interests of the country and all those living in it.”
The channel, initially in Arabic, will be the Government’s official source for news, press briefings, conferences and footage of preparations for government initiatives.
It will also offer glimpses into the lives of officials.
Other features include footage of awareness campaigns launched by ministries and federal departments, Emirati success stories and lectures and panel discussions.
There will be different sections to the channel, each of which will make use of infographics and show illustrations of government activities.
Several other developments were announced at the Cabinet meeting, including the establishment of embassies in Cuba, Angola and Mozambique and a general consulate in Toronto.
A draft law to combat animal communicable diseases was also approved. Part of the Government’s efforts to protect public health and safety, and food security, the law “regulates the procedures of monitoring, epidemic investigation, reporting diseases and preventive measures against communicable and epidemics”, the state news agency Wam said.
Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, were among those present.
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