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His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council delivered the keynote address at a virtual high-level event held to launch the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation chaired by the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed praised the UN’s efforts to unite the international community with the aim of creating a better future for the world, and emphasised the UAE’s commitment to all international initiatives that seek to build bridges between countries and communities, as well as harness digital technology to serve people.

The virtual event to launch the new initiative was attended by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga, President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada, and a number of prominent international officials.

Sheikh Hamdan said the UAE is committed to boosting collaboration and knowledge sharing to achieve sustained and accelerated development, as well as enhance constructive international dialogue to benefit from opportunities in various sectors, with a focus on vulnerable communities and those that face obstacles due to the lack of technology and technology infrastructure.

He also stressed on the importance of preparing for future changes, adding that the UAE Government, under the leadership of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is ready to share its expertise in developing the region’s most advanced digital government operations with the international community.

Sheikh Hamdan delivered the keynote address as part of the virtual high-level event on "The State of The Digital World and Implementation of the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation".

"The Roadmap initiative will boost digital collaboration between governments and encourage the support of the private sector and international organisations, as well as individuals around the world," His Highness said. "The UAE is committed to any initiative that promotes international dialogue, as it is a key supporter of the UN," he added.

"In the last three months, the world has witnessed a phase in history that will be discussed in history books. We have witnessed tremendous challenges and vast progress at the same time and we have all seen the problems of not making our government systems and policies agile and ready for any upcoming disruption whether it is good or bad," His Highness said. He stressed the importance of investing in the future, saying, we need to "invest in what is to come, not what is already here."

The UAE Government under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has continuously invested in digital transformation over the last 20 years, which enabled us to continue operations 100% in the public sector through virtual means, His Highness said. "This pandemic has proven that we cannot work separately or individually, and there is no country that will be better off working alone. There is no better time to build bigger and more flexible bridges than today," said His Highness.