Al Gergawi: Youth’s loyalty, love are motives for bright future

The virtual third edition of the Majlis took place on March 14, 2021, under the theme ''Thriving in the Next Normal'', where discussions shed light on future opportunities, outlining the role the youth can play in the UAE’s plans to drive sustainable development, which, in turn, would require working to expand young people’s skills and empowering them to be the architects and leaders of the future.

Delivering a keynote speech titled ''Opportunities and Values in the Next 50 Years'' as part of the Majlis’ second chapter on ''New Opportunities'', Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, said: "The UAE began 50 years ago as a nation of dreamers who trusted the vision of our leadership and our Founding Fathers. We believed that our country deserves the best, and we worked day and night to get the UAE to where it is today on the international stage."

"We live in a time when we must all work to create our own opportunities. We must master the ability to forecast the future and its transformations, and then imagine and create opportunities that we can benefit from in the present," Al Gergawi explained. "The progress we will see in the next 50 years will dwarf the progress humanity has made over hundreds of thousands of years. The knowledge we accumulated in the past two years alone is equivalent to knowledge produced by all of humankind since the dawn of human civilisation."

"The reality we live in today is different and offers tremendous opportunities, but the most important factor remains the youth’s ability to imagine these opportunities, anticipate their effectiveness, and implement them on the ground," he asserted. "There will be new sectors with jobs that don’t exist yet, therefore it is imperative that young people develop a flexible mindset and knowledge-based skills such as programming or entrepreneurship."

"In the future, everyone will be an entrepreneur – be they doctors, accountants, or anything else – because entrepreneurship is a key component of the future," Al Gergawi continued. "Our role as governments is to provide a suitable work environment in which laws and legislations are in place, guaranteeing equal opportunities. The most important role for the youth is to seize these opportunities."

"The UAE youth’s dedication, their loyalty and love for our country, and their devotion to be the best motivation to strive for a bright future," he reaffirmed.