Promoting sustainable innovations

Mariam Bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, visited the Netherlands pavilion in the Sustainability District at Expo 2020 Dubai, a smart structure brimming with sustainable solutions revolving around the water-energy-food nexus.

Lody Embrechts, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the UAE, Dr Carel Richter, Consul-General of the Netherlands in Dubai, Douwe Buzeman, Deputy Head of Mission of the Netherlands to the UAE, and Niels Bouwman, Director of the Netherlands Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, welcomed the Minister and accompanied her on the tour.

She learned about the leading experience of the Netherlands in promoting sustainability across the board with an emphasis on energy, water, and food, and about the most important technologies and innovations the country leverages to advance development in various fields.

She congratulated Lody Embrechts and the pavilion officials on winning the Architectural Digest Design Award 2021 in the Innovation & Sustainability category, and receiving the GSES Circular Footprint certificate and the RISE certification from the Expo organisation and GSES System.

The Minister underscored the commitment of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to building synergies with international stakeholders with the aim of stepping up sustainability and environmental protection efforts, enhancing food and water security, and driving the energy transition and climate action to help achieve sustainable development and build a better future for the next generations.

Sultan Al Jaber visits various pavilions: Dr Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, visited the pavilions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kazakhstan and New Zealand at Expo 2020 Dubai to view their development experiences and innovations.

Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Jaber began his tour by visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo pavilion, where he heard about the country’s most prominent investment opportunities in fields such as tourism and industry along with the natural wonders that the country offers.

During his visit to the Kazakhstan pavilion, Al Jaber was briefed on the dynamic development, cultural diversity, and rich human and natural resources that the country offers, as well as its investment opportunities in tourism and technology. He also watched an interactive panoramic presentation outlining the integration between humans and artificial intelligence, as well as a series of strategic projects in transportation, digitization, manufacturing, human capital development and the environment. The minister also visited the New Zealand pavilion and listened to an overview of the country’s culture, which is reflected in the pavilion’s theme “Caring for Man and Place”. The pavilion’s exhibits focused on business, social integration, women empowerment, youth development, food production and agriculture and the value of “Kitiakitanga” to the Maori people, which is the link between humanity and the environment.

Highlighting Climate Change:  In celebration of Antarctica Day, 1 December 2021, the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) brought together people from the UAE on Thursday who have visited the world’s polar regions, Antarctica and the Arctic, at Dubai Expo for the first time, during the UAE’s 50th Golden Jubilee week.

The purpose of the gathering was to share stories on historic UAE Antarctic and Arctic expeditions from the previous 50 years, discuss the importance of the polar regions to the UAE in respect to climate change, and plan future environmental collaborations, in celebration of the UAE’s 50th Anniversary.

Hosted by EAD, the scientific research organisaton and environmental regulator for Abu Dhabi Emirate, in collaboration with Hamour House at Dubai Expo, around 35 individuals from the UAE who have been to Antarctica or the Arctic attended the event. Nineteen males and 16 females have journeyed to the top and bottom of the world. Of these 35 individuals, 28 had been on expeditions with Sir Robert Swan, the polar Explorer, the first person to walk to both the North South Poles, as part of his ‘Climate Change Leadership on the Edge Programme’.

On February 23rd 2018, three EAD employees flew to Ushuaia at the bottom of South America, and boarded a ship, the Ocean Endeavour, to voyage to Antarctica as part of the Climate Force International Antarctic Expedition 2018. The team, coined as Team Zayed, to mark The Year of Zayed, joined teams from over 20 countries for two weeks to learn about climate change and experience the impact of global warming on the continent. Team Zayed also took part in Sir Robert Swan’s renowned Leadership on the Edge Programme.

Team Zayed in Antarctica put on the Zayed Solar Lights Show and lit up the night skies using 100 solar lights, sending a message of unity, hope and action on Climate Change. The team also wrote the names of UAE leadership and inspirational environmental personalities.

To symbolically raise awareness on the importance of climate change action, in replicating the initiative of EAD’s Team Zayed in Antarctica the attendees at the Expo event wrote the following words: “Antarctica, Climate Change, Dubai Expo, UAE 50 Years and COP 28” using 50 individual solar lights, reflecting 50 years of the UAE, which lit up the Terra Auditorium within the Sustainability Pavilion at Dubai Expo.

The attendees at the gathering reiterated key messages from the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report (August 2021), such as: “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, and that widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.

The Arctic is warming at a rate of almost twice the global average and there has been a decrease in summer Arctic sea ice area of around 40 per cent since 1979; Temperatures on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula have risen by nearly 3 degrees in the past 50 years, five times faster than the global average. In 2020 a record-high temperature of 18.3 degrees Celsius was registered in Antarctica.”

Winston Cowie, a member of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi’s Team Zayed in 2018 said: “We were pleased to bring together explorers from the UAE who have been to Antarctica and the Arctic to talk about climate change and collectively work together to raise awareness on climate change. Antarctica’s importance to climate change is recognised given it is the largest mass of ice in the world, which if melted, would see global average sea levels rise by around 58 metres.”

Rashed Al Zaabi, also from Team Zayed, said: “We hope that the lighting up of Dubai Expo in solar lights with environmental messages will inspire UAE youth to study and visit the polar regions.”

Dubai Customs’ workshop: Dubai Customs’ communication department organised a full-day workshop at the DP World’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 with the aim of highlighting the increasing role communication can play in engaging different segments with the corporate vision and mission.

Sultan Bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman & CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation inaugurated the workshop with an opening speech through which he delivered a number of messages that could serve as roadmap for the future of communication work at the Government Department.

“Continuous development and planning stood behind the achievements we see today at PCFC. We deal with massive trade in Dubai and has to handle huge passenger and tourist traffic at busy Dubai airports, and all of this necessitates continuous development and outstanding governance. Our vision is facilitating trade and passenger traffic and protecting our society from the hazards of illegitimate trade following the directives of our wise leadership and the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

“Dubai Customs has invested valuable resources to come up with amazing projects and initiatives to efficiently facilitate trade and secure the borders. Thanks to the in-house smart risk engine we are able to detect different risky shipments and intercept them. Smart technologies have enabled us consolidate the emirate’s growth in trade by reducing the time needed to complete customs transactions.

“The outstanding performance we see today at DP World is the fruit of our incessant efforts to develop using the latest technologies. Trade that pass through our ports and terminals exceed $3.5 trillion, and we expanded our activity to make best use of this huge volume of trade.”  On his part, Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, CEO of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Director General of Dubai Customs said: “Dubai Customs has recently been honored with the DGEP’s Elite Award from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. This urges us to work even harder in order to keep pace with the success achieved through the UAE in all fields.

These days, the UAE is celebrating its Golden Jubilee and moving steadily towards another 50 years of success and prosperity. The successful hosting of the greatest show in the world; Expo 2020 is an indication of global recovery from the pandemic, which is consolidated further by the hosting of another event; Dubai Airshow, which saw striking deals with a value of around Dhs262 billion.

“The role our communication department plays is essential in trumpeting and promoting these achievements. Our plans to organize the UAE Customs Week from 23 to 27 January to coincide with the International Customs Day on 26 January are meant to highlight our outstanding performance in progressing the customs sector worldwide. It is also an opportunity in highlighting the role of communication in raising awareness around our role, vision and mission in facilitating trade and securing the borders.”  Commenting on the event, Khalil Saqer bin Gharib, Director of Corporate Communication Department said;

“We develop our performance at the Communication Department following the latest international standards through implementation of innovative and disruptive initiatives in the field. We will organise some of our UAE Customs Week events at Expo 2020 to share this performance and good practice with the world.”

Daniel Van Otterdijk. Chief Communications Officer, DP World delivered a presentation on DP World’s vision and the Group’s experience in raising to international stardom in a short time to become of the most prominent companies in ports, free zones and logistics services.

Communication Department’s employees brainstormed a number of ideas and discussed plans regarding the organization of the UAE Customs Week.