His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, have attended the graduation ceremony of the maiden batch of the “National Expert Programme,” aimed to develop a diverse base of national cadres and consultants who can help advance the UAE development progress.

Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Undersecretary of the Court of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, who is the programme’s General Supervisor, conducted a detailed overview of the project’s objectives and  key deliverables spanning a number of primary sectors.

The ceremony featured presentations about the graduation projects across the programme’s areas of focus, notably social and economic development, infrastructure, environment, security and foreign affairs.

Commenting on the occasion, Sheikh Mohammed said, “We have national qualified cadres and talent upon whom we rely to maintain our remarkable national achievements and gains  over the coming period. The UAE is powerful today thanks to its people by virtue of whom we’re optimistic of delivering the future for generations to come.”

“It’s our human wealth that established the solid foundation of the country in the past and today we have a proactive, creative generation capable of setting a model to be copied for their peers across various fronts,” the Vice President added.

He spoke highly of the programme’s participants for the innovative and quality projects they’ve delivered.

For his part, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed expressed satisfaction with the graduation of the programme’s first batch. “I feel elated to see these ambitious Emiratis who will be capable of driving the country’s  comprehensive development drive across various domains over the years to come.

“While fortifying the development pillars of our nation, we’re relying on qualified Emirati hands to realise our developmental ambitions, as this is exactly the approach pursued by advanced countries all over the world to ensure progress and utilise their resources. In the UAE, our people are our most cherished assets, and therefore we are bent on maintaining our long-running investment in building qualified human cadres capable of steering the helm of our country and addressing future challenges.”

He thanked the graduates for their “relentless and creative efforts to establish an integrated and evolving base of entrepreneurs capable of feeding various sectors with qualified national expertise.”

He also expressed appreciation of the efforts made by their mentors and urged them to continue to transfer knowledge and engage others in a way that leverages national projects and initiatives and ultimately contributes to building a knowledge-based, innovative-driven economy for the country.

Attending the ceremony were Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Lt. General Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance, along with a number of other Sheikhs, ministers and senior officials.

On Saturday Sheikh Mohammed has spoken highly of 13.5 million young students who partook of the 2019 Arab Reading Challenge.

“We celebrate more than 13 million students in the Arab Reading Challenge, the largest Arab knowledge initiative. We are stronger with Arab youth who believe in the power of words,” Sheikh Mohammed has tweeted.

The winner of the Arab Reading Challenge 2019 will be named on Wednesday (Nov.13), at the Dubai Opera House.

A total of 13.5 million readers from 49 countries signed up for the challenge this year. More than 3,000 family members, friends, school officials and delegates will converge on the lavish culture spot as five contestants in line for the much-coveted prize.

WAM