SHARAJAH: His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, will witness the opening of the International Government Communication Forum (IGCF) in its 8th edition tomorrow (Wednesday) at Expo Centre Sharjah.

The forum is set to assert that the responsibility of overcoming developmental challenges does not solely lie with governments anymore, it is now a shared responsibility with citizens and its strategic partners, particularly the media. Themed ‘Behavioural Change Towards Human Development’, the high-profile two-day global summit will shed light on the main challenges and issues in the field of government communication, while motivating individuals to play a key role in the development process.

The organisers, International Government Communication Centre (IGCC), a subsidiary of Sharjah Government Media Bureau, will be convening 70 speakers, including international media and PR stalwarts, policy experts, social entrepreneurs, and communications and technology experts, who will come together to deliver on IGCF 2019’s extensive discussion agenda featuring 37 discussion panels, inspiring speeches, sessions, workshops and interactive forums.

The Forum’s new features this year include the launch of a new behavioural change e-game platform, titled ‘Sharjah 2071’ in collaboration with Sharjah’s Department of e-Government and ‘Sharjah Children.’ This will happen alongside a special SGMB release themed ‘Government Communication…Practices and Studies.’ The event will also see several interactive platforms, one for the ‘Sheikh Sultan Award for Celebrating the Spirit of Youth’, and the other includes a researcher platform with several features that will shed light on youth challenges in innovation.” 

IGCF 2019 will also be showcasing an Expo 2020 Dubai platform, which will unveil the ’50 Years of Expo’ exhibition to encapsulate the UAE’s engagement with world expos since 1970 until now. They will also be hosting an interactive session to highlight how they are in the process of hiring 30,000 young volunteers to help deliver a successful Expo 2020. The 2nd Sharjah Youth Forum will be hosted in collaboration with Sharjah Youth Council. The Sharjah Press Club with be at the venue with interesting social experiments, along with other interesting things on offer.