Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, and Commissioner-General of Expo 2020 Dubai

Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, and Commissioner-General of Expo 2020 Dubai, and Dr. Nayef Falah Mubarak Al Hajraf, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), attended the launch of the GCC Youth Forum hosted by the Youth Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Held under the theme “United Youth, Shared Vision”, and co-organised by the Arab Youth Centre and UAE Federal Youth Authority, in collaboration with the GCC Secretariat-General and ministries of youth and sports in the GCC countries, the three-day forum will discuss the GCC youth’s vision for accelerating the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons learnt, and joint cooperation in projects and initiatives to empower and build capacities of the young generation to better serve the homelands.

The agenda of the forum will centre on four focus areas: common GCC identity; the role of youth during recovery from COVID-19 pandemic; youth empowerment, and opportunities and entrepreneurship.

Sheikh Nahyan said, “The convening of this forum in the UAE is under the wise directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who always confirms the UAE’s great determination to mobilise the energies of the individual and prepare him to play his role in shaping the future of the country, the region and the world.”

“In the UAE and the GCC states, we are keen to see young people have a strong connection to the movement of their societies, and that they become more generous and compassionate, show a high degree of tolerance, and love, with more desire for cooperation and sympathy, stronger pride in our immortal heritage, and in giving and serving society. We want them to demonstrate a greater commitment to developing good relations with everyone without discrimination or distinction.”

Addressing the event, the GCC chief said, “We have seen our youth during the COVID-19 pandemic inventing solutions to do business and support the economy. We have seen them in the front lines implementing the directives of our leaders without tirelessness or boredom, with determination to provide effective solutions to accelerate the process of recovery from the effects of the pandemic that struck the world.”

In a message to the youth, he urged them to continue achieving the best for the future of their homeland and the peoples of the region. “Go ahead, this decade is yours and the future is yours,” he told them.

Philippines Food Festival: The Philippines invites the UAE’s diverse community of 200 nationalities to prepare their palates for a delightful new generation of Filipino cuisine in the country’s grandest food fiesta to date – the Philippines Food Festival.

Coinciding with the Expo 2020 Dubai, the Philippines Food Festival marks the biggest engagement of the country in presenting its food in a new light, with the opportunity to travel the Philippines’ kitchens and explore the country’s cuisine in one table.

UAE residents who are piqued with curiosity about contemporary Filipino food will taste generations of recipes handed down to families, where authenticity remains at the heart of every dish served.

PDTI Assistant Secretary and Philippines Expo 2020 Dubai Alternate Commissioner General Rosvi C. Gaetos highlighted that the Philippine Food Festival will shine the spotlight on the distinctiveness of Filipino food concepts, which sets it apart from the rest of Southeast Asia.

“Traditional Filipino kitchen has interwoven different culinary experiences from our interactions with different countries within our history that spans 4,000 years back. Fast forward to today, the Philippine Food Festival brings to light this amalgamation of cooking techniques applied on these specially-curated menu items, each given a modern-day twist by some of our finest Filipino chefs based here in the UAE,” said Gaetos.

Running from December 2021 to March 2022, the Philippines Food Festival will collaborate with dozens of restaurants, hotels, leading supermarkets and grocery stores, as well as the Bangkóta Philippines Pavilion’s very own ‘Mangrove Café. This event aims to entice global citizens to savor the culinary flavors of the Philippines through delicious Filipino dishes, and iconic food products shipped all the way from the Philippines.

Maria Anthonette C. Velasco-Allones, Chief Operating Officer of the Philippines’ Tourism Promotions Board of the, aspires that this holistic approach of the Philippines Food Festival will serve as the country’s platform to exhibit some of its most popular dishes that the global community will feast on.

“We are bringing authentic Filipino food from the kitchens of the Philippines directly to your tables here in Dubai and the rest of the UAE, in our efforts to establish the Philippines as the culinary centre of Southeast Asia. Our dedicated chefs from the Philippines who have mastered the art of giving traditional dishes a spark of innovative food craftsmanship without losing the same comforting taste will signal the beginning of an exciting new phase for Filipino cuisine,” said Velasco-Allones.

The Philippines Food Festival has partnered with three hotels in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi, which are expected to host peak numbers of guests from all over the world during the holiday and winter season in the UAE. By including Philippine dishes either as part of their buffet offering or in a set menu, these hotels will link the palates of foreign tourists to the plates of Philippine kitchens.

Partner hotels will serve specially curated menus by internationally-renowned and award-winning Filipino chef John Buenaventura, together with a group of Filipino culinary artists or siñeros, all working in the UAE’s hospitality industry.

In addition, Filipino-owned restaurants across the UAE will be concocting their special ‘Bangkóta’ menu out of their regular offerings. This will highlight their best Filipino dishes cooked with creativity and innovation to recreate traditional recipes passed down across several generations of Filipino ancestry.

The Philippines Food Festival, alongside the country’s annual participation in the UAE’s Gulfood exhibition, has also tapped leading supermarkets and grocery stores to feature ingredients and products shipped all the way from the Philippines. This initiative aims to encourage the public to create delicious, homemade Filipino food.

Lastly, the Mangrove Café located at the Philippines Pavilion will engage Expo 2020 Dubai visitors through a series of activities that will explore the distinct flavors of the country.

Participants and visitors of the Philippines Food Festival will get a chance to win exciting prizes, among them, a trip to some of the best destinations in the Philippines.

Bangkóta is the name and inspiration for the pavilion of Philippines at the World Expo 2020, which will be held from October 1, 2021— March 31, 2022 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The pavilion, organically shaped like the Bangkóta—the ancient term for “coral reef” in the language Tagalog—updates knowledge about the Philippines, an archipelagic nation that nourished a collective, sea-oriented culture for millennia.

By calling attention to the coral reef-like qualities of Filipinos—such as an inclination for hyper-connectivity—the pavilion offers clues into a people who can build vibrant communities anywhere and everywhere in the world.