Business & Money | Tuesday 17 September, 2019 3:26 am |

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MoID) and the Director General of General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA Dubai) inaugurated the sixth edition of the Arab Future Cities Summit 2019. 

H. E. Eng. Hassan Mohammed Juma Al Mansouri, Undersecretary of MoID, and H.E .Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of GDRFA Dubai, launched the activities of the Sixth Annual “Arab Future Cities 2019” summit, held at the Emirates Towers in Dubai for two days, under the patronage of the Minister of Infrastructure Development and is fully supported by the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme.

H.E. the Undersecretary stated that the construction of future cities, with state-of-the-art technology in facilities and buildings along with renewable energy generation solutions and environmental conservation, would cause the future of communities to be more developed and civilized and would achieve the sustainable development. H.E. pointed out that UAE has come a long way in strengthening cities system in line with the future directions of the UAE and its wise leadership, aiming to be among the world’s leading countries in various fields by 2021 to achieve the UAE Centennial Plan 2071.

He noted that the 6thAnnual Arab Future Cities Summit, held under the esteemed patronage of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development is a global platform around which the major companies and institutions concerned with the development of advanced infrastructure from all countries of the world meet, which can benefit from creative and innovative ideas and build on them in line with the country’s policies.

H.E. Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of GDRFA Dubai, in turn, welcomed, in his keynote address, the guests of the UAE attending the Arab Future Cities Summit, considering the summit a platform promoting all aspects of the international and regional industry of smart cities and the most advanced smart technology applications.

He highlighted that UAE has come a long way in transforming its cities into smart and sustainable cities to become more intelligent and powerful, pointing the UAE government realized early the importance of smart transformation and harnessing technology for the benefit of people to achieve their requirements and aspirations, placing the emirates as one of the most leading cities on the map of the world.  It has also become a global destination for modern lifestyle seekers.

He noted that the strategy of the Dubai Plan 2021 aims to make Dubai a smart and sustainable city through the transfer of services and government to electronic services focused on six sectors "transport, infrastructure, telecommunications, financial services, city planning, electricity", as well as focusing on all Governmental entities to become one enterprise providing comprehensive services to customers in an easy and efficient way, which is what it works for.

He said: “We, at GDRFA Dubai, continue to develop and modernize services., and Dubai airports are designed to become smart terminals that provide travellers with smart and enjoyable experience in line with the developments in the UAE in the field of modern technology and artificial intelligence. Such technologies work towards stimulating the behaviour of travellers through smart gates and smart corridor which is the first ever in the world of its kind.

Dr. Chen Yu-Lee, Director for Taipei Smart City Project Management Office (TPMO) in Taiwan, gave a keynote presentation on how to make the city smart by increasing technology applications in new and existing cities. Also, Dr. Mohammad Abdulla Al Awadhi - Senior Director Business Development - Smart City ICT - Smart Dubai, Du leading the Dubai Pulse platform, provided an overview of the various smart city strategies implemented by their team. 

The summit presented a unique platform that enabled city leaders, city planners, innovators and developers to gain new perspectives and explore new opportunities, presentations and pressing challenges in the smart city space. With this huge platform, attendees were given the opportunity to participate in first-class networks, to share project knowledge and view the latest innovations and presentations by more than 45 visionary international and regional speakers.

The event marks an important turning point for Dubai, which has been working hard to reach its ambitious vision of becoming the smartest city on earth by 2021 and aims to achieve the goals before the arrival of Expo 2020.

The first day's event was attended by more than 300 decision-makers across the GCC region. The event is supported by more than 15 leading organizations with Kone as Platinum Sponsor, Schneider Electric, thyssenkrupp & Digazu as Gold Sponsors, along with many other smart companies focused on smart city technology that will showcase their latest technology solutions designed for the smart city industry.