Part of UAE-Saudi Forum held at National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival
Qualitative plans with the Saudi delegation will see light soon: Hussain Al Hammadi
Sheikh Shakhbout Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, UAE Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has affirmed the solidity of the UAE-Saudi relations and underlined the importance of strengthening them further.
This responsibility should be shouldered by students who will be the champions of progress and leadership, he said.
The two countries had exceptionally a unique relationship at the regional level, which was the fruit of the mutual efforts, harmony and solid ties governed by history, geographic proximity, religion, language, customs and common goals. Their relations were strengthened by the UAE Founder Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and were further reinforced by the leadership of the two nations, he added.
This came during the launch of the UAE-Saudi Forum, held for the first time at the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival, which is organized by the Ministry of Education under the theme 'Launch towards the Future' banner' at Dubai Festival Arena. The festival saw the participation of academic leaders and specialists from both countries who came to promote visions and enlightened education policy and document common educational environments with more to-the-point views.
Besides Sheikh Shakhbout, the sessions of the forum saw the participation of Hussain Bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education; Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills; Dr. Saud Al-Mat'hami, Secretary-General of the King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), and Khalid Al Yahya, Professor of Physics and Science and Senior Consultant in the Strategic Management Office in Saudi Arabia.
The forum was attended by HE Jameela Bin Salem Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Public Education, HE Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development and education leaders. It was also attended by a number of officials and a crowd of students, educators and those concerned with education affairs. And activities in the Ministry of Education. The sessions of the forum were conducted by HE Dr. Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Assistant Undersecretary of the Activities Sector at the Ministry of Education.
Sheikh Shakhbout began the main session of the forum by thanking Hussain Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, for his keenness on holding this forum, which is aimed at strengthening the frameworks of fruitful and constructive co-operation between the two countries, bringing their viewpoints closer and highlighting the common interests.
"Saudi Arabia is of great importance to the UAE people, as we are connected by the strong bonds of fraternity, which were promoted by the UAE Founder, Sheikh Zayed, may Allah have mercy upon him, who worked with Saudi Arabia's leadership to support and sustain the mutual relations", he said.
In his address to students, Sheikh Shakhbout stressed the importance for them to realize the size of ambitions and priority of their country and to spare no effort to maintain its leading position while upholding the values and heritage of Sheikh Zayed, may Allah have mercy upon him.
Sheikh Shakhbout emphasized that that the UAE-Saudi relations have deep roots and are not limited to mutual concerns but seek the welfare of the region with the two countries striving to consolidate the frameworks of peace and development at the regional and global levels for the ultimate goal of ensuring a sustainable, safe and stable life to all peoples.
The National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival is a leading platform to help stimulate students towards innovation and creativity, as it provides an important educational value based on the orientations of the UAE and its wise leadership towards building skilled youth, he said, stressing that investing in human resources is essential for the future and would help fulfill the country's vision and future plans.
Al Hammadi, meanwhile, emphasised that based on their unmatched brotherly relations, both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have prioritised education with the two countries sharing the same aspirations and visions that focus on building human resources by providing qualitative educations with high-quality output.
Education is behind the development of humanity and the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival is a valuable opportunity for discussing common educational issues with the Saudi delegation, he said, adding that both parties have rich experiences and expertise and will strive to ensure integration by means of a package of accelerators.
Al Hammadi pointed out that the two countries would undertake joint projects in the educational sector and that work teams from both sides were working on coordinating and formulating the frameworks necessary to build and develop an integrated educational system.
At the end of his speech, Al Hammadi announced that Saudi Arabia would be a guest of honour at the next edition of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival in the coming year. Saudi students would be able to showcase their innovative projects at the exhibition, along with their Emirati peers, he added.
For his part, Al Mat'hami stressed in his speech that investing in talent is essential because it is regarded as the real future investment. A talented person is characterized by mental flexibility that contributes to defining facts and how far they are connected to creativity, he said, adding that this would open wide prospects for societies with abundant talents to advance and develop at all levels.
A society characterized by tolerance and self-assurance would be an incubator of creativity and talented people with strong will who take initiatives and strive to serve their community without hesitation, he said.
Al Mat'hami believed that the Emirate School is an inspirational model and currently follows rational policies for developing education, valuing the UAE Ministry of Education's drive to pay due attention to mathematics, which all aspects of development in the future are based on.
Al Falasi, meanwhile, praised the Saudi exchange students who provide all sorts of support to their Emirati colleagues, enabling them to integrate in the surrounding environment as early as possible.
Al Falasi described the process of integrating the public education and higher education as an essential step to bridge the gap between both sectors and build a cohesive and integrated educational system that brings about the required educational outputs.
He affirmed that the file of advanced skills is of high importance since the labor market necessitates skilled generations to be built in view of the change that will take place in the new future jobs. Hence, it is required to prepare the skilled generations to fill these posts and in order to achieve this significant end, the UAE is striving to establish lifelong learning through the Emirate School Model, he said.
At the end of his speech, Al Falasi called on students to harness technology to serve their passion for knowledge and to make maximum use of it to develop their skills and improve their hobbies, noting that the UAE educational system is comprehensive and integrated and paves the way to building skilled generations, irrespective of their different levels and diverse cognitive interests.
During his introductory speech, Dr. Al Yahya reviewed part of knowledge, development and human thinking outputs, citing a number of examples on the importance of thinking and knowledge to keep learning in order to achieve self-satisfaction.
Science is a necessity necessitated by several issues that should not be associated with should not be related only to the pursuit of fame and the attainment of leading positions but to other significant reasons as embodied in seeking reassurance and harmony with the individual's environment and surrounding life and understanding what is going on around him.
At the end of his speech, Dr. Al Yahya called on students to diversify their sources of knowledge and not to be feel satisfied with the information and skills provided by the school curricula and environment.
06/02/2019