The sixth edition of the World Government Summit 2018 will welcome India and its prime minister Narendra Modi as guests of honour, it was announced yesterday.
Modi has made headlines recently after he claimed the reports of a huge data breach, affecting 1.2 billion Indians, were “fake news.”
However, Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and The Future and Chairman of WGS, spoke highly of India’s national progress in a press conference yesterday, and announced that Modi would be a keynote speaker during the event.
“India has been selected as this year’s guest of honour for its economic and development experience that deserves to be presented as a model for developing countries and emerging economies worldwide,” he said. “The country has the world’s best executive heads in various fields, in addition to its scientific contributions and programmes in the areas of space and technology. India has had a big role in space, digital revolution and human resources, and we want to benefit from these experiences to be able to develop people’s quality of life.”
The upcoming summit, which is due to be held from 11th to 13th February 2018, is set to bring pivotal changes to the event’s structure in comparison to previous years, with a series of sessions exploring vital future topics including artificial intelligence, space, youth and happiness, climate change and the Global Policy Platform.
It is expected to convene 4,000 attendees from 140 countries, including the representatives of 16 international organisations, heads of state, prime ministers and dignitaries from the public and private sectors, in 120 interactive sessions with more than 130 speakers.
Al Gergawi added, “In line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the summit has become an incubator for the future and a catalyst to shape global trends. The event has evolved into a leader of change that supports the transformation of the results of scientific foresight into practical applications, solutions and tools that governments can use to improve the quality of life.”
He explained that the agenda will spotlight new concepts, such as justice in the age of technology, government branding, and hope and future prospects, emphasising that the summit seeks to keep pace with the latest trends and develop proactive solutions.
The list of WGS 2018 participants includes presidents of international organisations, such as Jim Kim, President of the World Bank, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), among others.
