The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) held a Global Announcement Ceremony on September 1st for the biennial Global Manufacturing & Industrialisation Summit (GMIS).
The GMIS aims at being a long-standing platform of debate, interaction and learning to reach a global outcome.
It is aimed at fostering the development of global standards for manufacturing and industrial innovation by bringing together representatives from governments; industries; civil society; students, and academia to agree on a cross-national and cross-sector global manufacturing framework.
Global issues to be examined currently include:
- the relationship between low and high value added manufacturing activities
- social and employment issues surrounding manufacturing
- the skills gap
- the impact of incentives on manufacturing investment
- leveraging technology for innovation
- how to integrate better SMEs into global value chains
- how manufacturing and environmental concerns can be aligned
During the event – which was held at the Strata Manufacturing facility owned by Abu Dhabi investment and development company, Mubadala – His Excellency Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, in partnership with the Director General of UNIDO, LI Yong, gave a detailed update on the objectives and progress of GMIS to Professor Alpha Condé, President of Guinea and more than 200 public and private sector delegates. including regional CEOs
UAE Minister of Economy, Al Mansoori explained “GMIS is designed to be more than just a summit.
“This is about creating a global movement to help drive 21st century manufacturing and industrial transformation to create sustainable economies and inclusive societies worldwide. This is a long term process for which the inaugural Summit is the beginning, not the end.”
During the Global Announcement Ceremony of GMIS, UNIDO entered into an agreement with the Republic of Guinea to assist the development of the country’s industrial and manufacturing economy.
Under the agreement, UNIDO will provide policy advice to the African nation and support it with research and studies to develop its manufacturing and industrial sector in a way that creates substantial job opportunities whilst preserving the local environment.
Yong commented: “Signing this agreement with a sovereign state can help promote knowledge and best practices whilst taking an inclusive and sustainable approach in line with the UN goals for sustainable development.
“We look forward to working with all our partners, both public and private, to help Guinea develop a viable roadmap for a more diverse economy, with inclusive and sustainable industrialization at the heart of positive change.”
President Condé said the Guinea agreement builds upon the UAE’s success in establishing policies for industrial innovation and diversification.
He said: “We must diversify into new industrial options, so that our GDP can grow not just because of increased commodity prices or enhanced production, but because it has developed new value propositions that are adjacent or separate to existing economic drivers.”
The announcement launches a year-long global campaign in the run up to the first Summit, which will take place in Abu Dhabi in September 2016, starting with an international roadshow to build public, social, corporate and government support for GMIS. Upcoming destinations include the US; the UK; Germany. and China.
