World leaders and experts gather in Dubai to tackle big issues at this year’s World Government Summit
The End of Globalisation; How Technology is Breaking Borders; Treating Extremism and Source of Nuclear Energy to be Among Key Summit Topics
Al Gergawi: We aim to extract a global scenario to deal with the challenges of the future

Dubai-UAE: 9 February, 2017:  Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the fifth World Government Summit (WGS) 2017 will take place from February 12-14, 2017.

The World Government Summit will bring together leaders from around the world to ask important and perhaps unconventional questions about the economic and social imperative of building happy societies.

His Excellency Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit, said: “The Summit gathers together the largest international organisations with the most prominent technology firms, on a stage in front of 138 governments from all over the world. They will shape the future of the world and boost the readiness of governments across all sectors.”

He added: “We believe that the tools to build the future are within our reach and we believe that making the best use of these tools will create a future that is suitable for our nations and the nations of the world.

“The path is clear for a better, more stable and prosperous future and the greatest doorway to this path is cooperation between governments of the world and their organizations and entities, based on knowledge, innovation and science which will lead to developing solutions for imminent challenges such as environmental sustainability, food security, social development and developing countries.”  

A day-long series of pre-sessions happening Saturday, February 11th will centre on the business of happiness and the role of Government in putting the well-being of its citizens at the heart of its growth agenda. 

On Sunday, the Summit gets underway proper with an opening address on the Challenges of Globalism by World Economic Forum chairman, Professor Klaus Schwab.

Main addresses will then be delivered by a high-profile line up including António Gutierres, Secretary General of the United Nations, Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, and Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO.

From there, day one builds on the opening day’s theme of citizen well-being with a core set of three tracks which focus on Governments and Disruptive Technologies, The Psychology of Extremism, and Reinventing Education.

Track 1 kicks off with a talk on data privacy and prosperity - and how governments strike a balance between prosperity and privacy - by renowned security technologist Bruce Schneier. This is followed by a session with Steven Kotler on Agile Governments.

After a brief networking break, esteemed CNN anchor and journalist Richard Quest discusses the situation in African governments with the president of the African Development Bank, Ashish Thakkar.

Track 2, on extremism, offers sessions by distinguished psychology professor Arie W. Kruglanski and anthropologist Scott Atran before world famous leadership expert Robin Sharma offers his thoughts on the anatomy of a future leader.

Track 3, on education, features sessions with Hanan Al-Hroub, the Global Teacher of the year in 2106, before Dr Scott Barry Kauffman’s thought provoking session on problems with our current system. Joseph Aoun then looks at a look at a future model before Tomoko Kitagawa puts the spotlight on the Japanese model.

Bringing the three distinct tracks together, Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, will address the audience as part of the official opening.

In addition, the opening day will feature an address from Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde on navigating the shifting global landscape.

Quest then returns for a plenary session with Sultan Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, on Smart Trade – the Force Behind Prosperity and Citizen Happiness.

Day two will focus on the core tracks in terms of future global opportunities and outlook, as well as climate change and food security. Things get underway at 9am with a main address by Mari Kiviniemi, deputy secretary general of OECD before Du chairman Ahmad Bin Byatt discusses the concept of ‘building the future’. John Defterios will then moderate a discussion by HE Thani Al Zeyoudi, Jose Graziano da Silva and Patricia Espinosa on the issue of food security in the face of climate change.

Track 1 on Future Global Opportunities, is a talk on The Global revolution of Innovators by MIT Enterprise Forum president Kathleen Kennedy, mod by Sky News.

That talk is followed by Paul Bennet’s Radical Curiosity before HE Sheikha Lubna Al Qassimi and Omar Ghubash discuss ‘Co-Existing: Transcending Borders of Culture, Race and Religion with CNN’s Becky Anderson. 

The second track, Future Global Outlook, first focuses on how technology is reshaping our world in Liquid Borders with International Relations Expert and Author Parag Khanna.

Geopolitical forecaster George Friedman then explores Government scenarios for the Next 100 Years before Alan Krueger, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Princeton University then asks ‘Is it the End of Globalization’?

Professor Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University will then host a session on the Rise & Fall of Global Economic Governance. 

Climate Change and Global Food Supply, The Evolution of Food and Bio-Engineering Eggs Without Hens are up for discussion in track 3.

Global business leaders Travis Kalanick, Founder and CEO of Uber Technologies Inc., and Founder of Tesla Elon Musk will also conduct special sessions in the afternoon. The day will close with remarks from HRH Princess Haya bin Al Hussein on the future of humanitarian aid. 

The three core tracks of the final day explore interesting juxtapositions of today. Dr Andrew Weil, Founder & Program Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, discusses ancient healing for modern diseases, while Popular Science Magazine explores the legacy of the 21st century. The third track explores the role of universities to shape the future, while the rise of solar cities and the future of nuclear energy are also up for discussion. 

The day will begin with an address from Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Prime Minister of Slovenia, H.E. Miro Cerar, will showcase how her country is putting smart and sustainable development at the heart of their economic agenda. 

Executive Chairman of Cisco Systems, John Chambers, will help round out the discussion on digital disruption with a talk on global digitization trends of today and the future. And the final plenary of the World Government Summit will feature Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman.

For live updates and public feed from the event, follow the WGS social media platforms and website.

The World Government Summit 2017 is anticipated to draw the participation of more than 4,000 personalities from 139 countries around the world, reflecting the leading stature of the summit on regional and international levels and the high interest from governments, global organizations, private and public sector entities, decision makers, entrepreneurs, academics and university students as well as scientists and innovators. The summit will feature 150 speakers across 114 sessions that highlight the world’s most pressing challenges and showcase best practices and cutting-edge solutions to deal with them.