Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is being briefed during his visit to the Japan Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai on Friday.

Staff Reporter, Gulf Today

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, visited the pavilion of Japan at Expo 2020 Dubai, the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. He explored the innovations on display, such as the “cities of the future” experience, and the sustainability aspect of Japanese architecture and smart transportation.

Al Jaber met with Akio Isomata, Ambassador of Japan to the UAE, and was briefed on the latest technological developments in line with Tokyo Vision 2025. Their excellencies praised the bilateral relations between the UAE and Japan, and the opportunities for collaboration across many areas, especially in priority sectors such as future industries, space, advanced technology, and petrochemicals.

The host delegation at the pavilion, which is themed “where ideas meet”, highlighted the key role Japan plays in international partnerships and collaborations, especially as it prepares to host Expo 2025 in Osaka.

Al Jaber also reviewed unique uses of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in the reimagining of smart cities.

Meanwhile, in yet another milestone moment since the opening of Expo 2020 Dubai, Nissan participated in an exclusive opportunity for Expo partners to gather at one of the final openings of Expo’s iconic Sustainability Portal. With the global event drawing to an end on 31st March 2022, the ceremony was a unique coming together to celebrate welcoming Expo visitors to the iconic world fair that has attracted more than 15 million visitors to date.

Commemorating the festive occasion with traditional Emirati performers and the presence of Expo mascots, Rashid and Latifa, the ceremony provided a welcome platform for Expo’s partners – including Nissan - to showcase their commitment to Expo 2020 Dubai and the UAE. As the Official Automotive Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai, Nissan has leveraged this platform to demonstrate its shared vision in creating a more sustainable future for all, in line with its corporate purpose of enriching people’s lives though human-centric technology and innovation.

Speaking about the participation, Abdulilah Wazni, Director of Marketing & Product at Nissan Middle East, said: “The past five months have been truly remarkable and today marks another exciting milestone for us. Being here with all the partners, we find ourselves strongly reminded of how far we have come together to bring the vision of Expo 2020 Dubai to life. At Nissan, we continue to view Expo as a unique global platform that enables us to showcase our global expertise, regional heritage, and forward-looking vision, and engage with stakeholders to accelerate the shift to a safer, smarter, more sustainable and connected world, in perfect alignment with the Expo theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.”

Nissan marked its Expo partnership with a dedicated brand campaign titled “Let’s Move” that invites audiences to join the brand and move towards a future that is cleaner, greener, and more connected. On the grounds of Expo 2020 Dubai, Nissan spotlighted the future of mobility with the regional showcase of the brand’s revolutionary all-electric crossover, Ariya. This bold statement was followed by the global celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the legendary Nissan Patrol and grand reveal of the eagerly anticipated 2022 Patrol 70th Anniversary model, alongside the all-new Pathfinder 2022 at the Al Wasl Plaza, marking the first vehicle launch to take place beneath the dazzling dome.

 Meanwhile, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), organized Agritalks, an agricultural innovation and food security conference, in Dubai focusing on sustainable practices of Brazilian agribusiness and investment opportunities in the sector.

The Agritalks, organized on the sidelines of Expo 2020 Dubai, featured policymakers, top thought leaders and influencers of the agribusiness, and chambers of commerce leaders from Brazil, the UAE and other parts of the world.

Fernando Camargo, Vice Minister of Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply made his keynote speech at the summit, in the presence of  Mauro Mendes, Governor of the State of Mato Grosso;  Júlio Busato, President of ABRAPA (Brazilian Cotton Growers Association);  Celso Moretti, President of EMBRAPA (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation); and key other leaders.

The summit revealed that Brazilian food processing company BRF, which is among the world’s biggest food companies, is investing USD 155 million in Abu Dhabi to produce marinades, pizzas, bread products and burgers for the local market and for export to countries in the Middle East and Asia, reinforcing the good relations between Brazil and the UAE.

A statement issued by the organisers said, “The initiative aimed to enhance the contribution of Brazilian agriculture to the world food sector through qualified debates with stakeholders in the UAE. This also helped us broaden the institutional relationship with this market and strengthening Brazil as a strategic partner.”  

The summit addressed the region’s key food security challenges like depletion of freshwater resources, rising temperature, and land desertification. The summit also proposed strategies for better utilization of cultivated land and to enhance quality of local produce by innovative practices and solutions such as hydroponics, vertical farming, organic farming, and aquaculture combinations that help the region achieve diversity and food security to some extent,” it added.

“At the Agritalks, we focused on the sustainable and innovative practices of Brazilian agriculture and cattle-raising, and technologies produced in national territory focused on agribusiness,” said the statement.

The Agritalks featured five panels that discussed topics about sustainability, profitability, productivity, industry financing, and government policies related to agriculture. The summit also presented success stories that enable exchange of information for mutual cooperation to innovate and overcome the challenges in sustainable ways.

The program also took the Brazilian agriculture technologies to international stakeholders; in addition to sharing the insights with the public, policy makers and government organisations, opinion makers, startups, incubators, research centers, universities, investors, academic community, media, food industry businesses and other stakeholders of interest.

Agritalks is the only global platform that brings together government private organizations, education institutions and students aimed at improving the agriculture eco-system. The previous editions of Agritalks presented Brazilian agribusiness opportunities to the US, Indian, and UK markets.

With the support of science, technology and innovation, Brazil has created a sustainable and competitive model of tropical agriculture in four decades. The agribusiness market is estimated to be contributing approximately 25 per cent of Brazil’s national GDP. In the last five years, Brazil has consolidated a vibrant digital agriculture ecosystem, accounting for more than 20 hubs distributed throughout the national territory, and more than 2,000 startups focused on agritechs, the solutions for agriculture and cattle farming.

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply revealed that the agriculture trade sector exported agricultural commodities valued a total of USD 110.70 billion between January and November in 2021, registering an increase of 18.4 per cent over the same period from the previous year, also surpassing the results of 2019 and 2018.

The top 10 destinations for Brazilian exports in 2021 included China, the US, Argentina, Netherlands, Chile, Singapore, South Korea, Mexico, Japan, and Spain. Soybeans, sugar and molasse; fresh, refrigerated, or frozen beef; soybean meal and other animal feed, meat and other animal meal; poultry meat and its fresh, refrigerated or frozen edible offal are among the most exported products by Brazil.

As part of its effort to secure food supply against market fluctuations, the UAE government has invested in various agricultural projects including foreign partnerships; and inviting investors to innovate the UAE’s agricultural practices, even offering 100 per cent ownership to foreign investments in the UAE in the agriculture sector.

Developing sustainable production methods, Brazil, the world’s fifth largest country, has vegetation across 66.3 per cent of its geographical area with 70 million hectares of cropland and 90 million hectares of degraded pasture.