NEW YORK, September 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Ceremony took place on the sidelines of the General Assembly's meeting
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has honoured the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) as a "Knowledge Partner" on the sidelines of the General Assembly's meeting in New York City.
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Honouring the Foundation marks 10 years of partnership with the UNDP and the first time any Arab organisation is named "Knowledge Partner". It recognises MBRF's many initiatives, most notably, the first Global Knowledge Index covering 131 countries, whose results were announced at the Knowledge Summit 2017.
MBRF's CEO H.E. Jamal bin Huwaireb attended the ceremony, representing H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Foundation's Chairman, along with UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner; H.E. Saud Al Shamsi, UAE's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN; and H.E. Mourad Wahba, UNDP's Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director for the Regional Bureau for Arab States.
H.E. bin Huwaireb underlined the strong partnership that has brought MBRF together with the UNDP for a decade, asserting that the collaboration was "guided by the vision of the UAE's leadership, who has long advocated both local and international partnerships to build knowledge societies founded on sustainability and investment in human capital."
H.E.'s speech highlighted the major milestones achieved during the decade-long partnership, namely: "Launching three Knowledge Reports since 2009 to study the realities of knowledge in the Arab world and the youth's role in its production, dissemination and localisation."
The MBRF CEO went on to cite the 2015 launch of the Arab Knowledge Index and Knowledge4All electronic platform, as well as the 2016 inauguration of the Arab Reading Index which "succeeded in systematically debunking misconceptions about reading in the Arab world," H.E. said, noting that the partnership began expanding beyond the Arab region in 2017 with the Global Knowledge Index.
For his part, Achim Steiner said that investing in knowledge should be a priority for any country trying to achieve the ambitious Vision 2030, noting that the MBRF-UNDP partnership is rooted in a shared vision centred around knowledge as a tool for sustainable development.
Meanwhile, Saud Al Shamsi noted that knowledge is the main engine for employment and economic growth. "The Global Knowledge Index offers a roadmap for reforms and investment in many sectors - from school enrolment to labour," he concluded.
