Day: September 17, 2021

ABU DHABI, The Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC), hosted a virtual session to mark the first anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords, as part of an educational cooperation that aims to explore the multidimensional components of emerging Emirati-Israeli relations.

The cooperation between AGDA and AJC includes five webinars, where the two organisations will engage the next generation of American, Israeli, and Emirati leaders in political, economic, scientific, and diplomatic discussions, about the future of Israeli-Arab engagement in the Middle East.

The sessions will include conversations about innovation, young leadership, conflict resolution, and food security.

Monday’s inaugural programme titled, ‘The Abraham Accords and the Future of Emirati-Israeli-American Relations,’ highlighted the challenges and opportunities to expanding trilateral ties.

The need to work on further measures to promote robust UAE-Israel-U.S. engagement in the Middle East, while maximising the Accords’ benefits for the entire region, was a centrepiece of the speakers’ presentations and discussion.

Bernardino León, Director General of AGDA, moderated the discussion among Khalifa Shaheen Almarar, UAE Minister of State; Alon Ushpiz, Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer.

The session was also attended by Shaima Gargash, Deputy Chief of the UAE Embassy in Washington, D.C, who said in her remarks: “The UAE joined the Abraham Accords as part of its renewed focus on de-escalation, dialogue, and diplomacy to advance peace, prosperity, and coexistence in the world’s most turbulent neighbourhood.”

Nickolay Mladenov, Research and Analysis Director at AGDA and former UN Coordinator of the Middle East Peace Process, also addressed the session. “As both countries, the UAE and Israel, together with the United States of America, are making the first baby steps of what is going to be a wonderful relationship that will have historic significance for the whole region and the world,” he said Bernardino León said: “This virtual session is hosted as part of ADGA’s sustained efforts to equip our current and future diplomats with insight on contemporary regional and international issues that impact the UAE’s policy agenda.”

He added: “The Abraham Accords have brought together two of the world’s most dynamic and advanced countries, to collaborate on opportunities that help enhance growth across numerous fields in the region. Such a partnership allows them to push for deeper regional integration and extend the impact to other Accord partners, especially now that the UAE and Israeli officials can use open and direct channels to address issues quickly.”

Khalifa Shaheen Almarar, UAE Minister of State, said: “The Abraham Accords with Israel were signed with the objective that diplomacy and improved communication would promote greater stability and prosperity and cooperation in our region. Today, one year later those shared goals have been realised and we are building a brighter future together and expanding opportunities for our people.”

“At the first anniversary of the Accords, we have achieved more than $675 million in bilateral trade between the UAE and Israel, hundreds of thousands of tourists, and more than 58 agreements and MoUs in economic cooperation, health, water and food security, climate change, science and technology, and energy,” he added.

“The peace Accords are the product of the bravery of Emirati, Bahraini, US, and Israeli leaders who chose to bring a brighter future and prosperity to the citizens of the region. The peace agreements embody the paradigm shift in the entire Middle East. The cooperation between our countries will pave the way towards tangible achievements to the peoples and the region in economy, health, tourism, but also in stability and tranquillity,” stressed Alon Ushpiz, Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer, declared that “The Abraham Accords placed the Middle East on a new trajectory. While challenges to security and prosperity remain, the region has forged a powerful new tool to confront them – the tool of cooperation.”

During the one-hour session, the panellists emphasised that promoting people-to-people engagement and business cooperation are key to establishing comprehensive and enduring peace in the region. By building long-term relationships, based on mutual benefits and shared values, the Abraham Accords can create a brighter future for all peoples of the Middle East.

The panellists pointed out that the one-year milestone is a celebration of diplomacy and highlighted that building understanding and common interests from the ground up, through people-to-people connection, mutual economic benefits, and direct channels to address regional conflict and challenges effectively, are crucial.

AJC, the leading global Jewish advocacy organisation, has been visiting the region since 1994, and opened earlier this year AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Centre for Arab-Jewish Understanding. Ambassador Marc Sievers is the office’s inaugural Director.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The UAE has strongly condemned and denounced the Houthi terrorist militias’ systematic attempts to attack civilians and civil objects in Jazan, Saudi Arabia today with explosive drones, which were intercepted by the Coalition Forces.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC), the UAE reiterated that these systematic terror attacks by the Houthis reflect their blatant disregard for the international community and all international laws and norms.

The Ministry urged the international community to take an immediate and decisive stance to stop these recurrent acts, which target critical infrastructure and threaten the security of the Kingdom and stability of the international economy, as well as global energy supplies.

It also emphasised that the continued threat of these attacks in recent days is a grave escalation that represents new evidence of these militias’ attempts to undermine security and stability in the region.

The UAE renewed its full solidarity with Saudi Arabia over these subversive terrorist attacks and reiterated its stance against all threats to the Kingdom’s security and stability. The UAE also reiterated its support for all measures taken by Saudi authorities to maintain the safety and security of its citizens and residents.

The statement stressed that the security of the UAE and that of Saudi Arabia are indivisible and that any threat facing the Kingdom is considered a threat to the security and stability of the UAE.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The UAE has created a paradigm shift in closing the gap related to pay disparities between men and women in the same workplace or businesses of the same value over the last three years.

Equal pay for men and women constitutes one of the critical components of respect for human rights and its commitment to strike a gender balance. The country was ranked 18th globally and 1st regionally in the Gender Inequality Index (GII) of the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2020.

Tomorrow, 18th September, the UAE will join countries worldwide in celebrating International Equal Pay Day. It was approved by the United Nations (UN), as an annual occasion to intensify efforts to empower women and girls and remove all obstacles to achieving equality between them and men in the labour market.

According to the World Bank’s 2021 “Women, Business and the Law” (WBL) report, the UAE has topped the MENA region rankings due to several legislative reforms related to women’s economic participation enacted over the last three years. The annual report comprises eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they begin, progress through, and end their careers. The indicators are, Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension.

This year, the UAE achieved 82.5 points out of 100, compared to 56 scored in the report’s 2020 edition and 29 points in the 2019 edition. The UAE also achieved a complete score (100 points) in five indicators in the latest report: Movement, Workplace, Wages, Entrepreneurship, and Pension.

The UAE was ranked first across the Arab world in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report for 2021. The UAE also ranked first globally in four of the report’s indicators: women in parliament, gender ratio at birth, literacy rate, and enrolment in primary education.

The UAE Labour Law states, ”Female employees shall receive wages equal to that of males if they perform the same work or another of equal value.” The Decree of Federal Law No. 06 for 2020, stipulating equal wages for women and men in the private sector came into force in September 2020.

The UAE Labour Law provides for the abolition of all restrictions imposed on women working at night and working in complex jobs such as mining, construction, manufacturing, energy, agriculture and transportation, to give women the right to work in these industries. The law does not allow the employer to terminate a working woman’s services or warn her because of her pregnancy.

The law prohibits discrimination between employees regarding access to jobs and promotion and gender discrimination in jobs with the same job functions.

Emirati women maintained a remarkable presence in various business sectors; for example, females make up 64 percent of workers in the education sector, the same percentage of the total doctors, nurses and technicians in the health sector, and 31 percent of the total workers in the finance, banking and insurance activities.

The number of licenced companies owned by women is 80,025, while women constituted 21.5 percent of management positions and 32.5 percent of workers in specialised professions.

According to the UN, the General Assembly urged action to reach the goal of equal pay for work of equal value for all. It encouraged all stakeholders to continue to support the goal of equal pay for work of equal value.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The UAE participated in a virtual meeting that was attended by the foreign ministers and representatives of the United States, Kingdom of Morocco, Kingdom of Bahrain and Israel, to mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords.

The UAE was represented in the meeting by Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to the President.

The meeting aimed at discussing means to deepen relations and build a more prosperous and stable region through fruitful cooperation and peace dialogue in a way that will serve the interests of the peoples of the region.

In his speech, Dr. Anwar Gargash said the one-year anniversary is an occasion to celebrate the opportunities created since last year that send a message of hope and positivity to the region that is facing various challenges, including instability.

He added that the key message to youth in the region is that there are lots of opportunities for peace and cooperation and that disagreements can be addressed and resolved.

“The Abraham Accords will allow us to help in a bigger way in the peace process and will lead to the ultimate goal of the the two-state solution. This matter directly concerns the Palestinians and the Israelis and our role is to provide a network of trust that would leave aside past issues and replace them with hope for the future,” he added.

Gargash re-affirmed the UAE’s commitment to continue with the strategic peace track and to further deepen and diversify this track. He praised the efforts of the United States to expand and strengthen peace in the region.

The participants expressed their commitment to sustaining the momentum of peace in the Middle East and to build on the peace agreements for a better future for the region.

Attending together with Dr. Gargash were the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Nasser Bourita, Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Source: Emirates News Agency