Ohood Bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future, and María Del Pilar Garrido, Costa Rican Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy, recently participated in a ministerial online session between the governments of the UAE and Costa Rica. The session was aimed at boosting strategic partnership between the two countries on government development. During the session, Al Roumi stated that the UAE government is committed to enhancing cooperation with world governments to share each other's experiences in the fight against COVID-19, achieving sustainable economic recovery in the post-pandemic process, and developing an advanced public healthcare system to stay prepared against future risks of health crises.

She further asserted that this agenda manifests the vision of the UAE leadership to facilitate knowledge sharing and exchange of successful government experiences and proactive methodologies such that global communities could benefit from them.

"The UAE government believes that addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on various vital sectors requires effective international cooperation, sharing successful government experiences, and providing proactive plans to define priorities, referring to UAE’s advanced government model, proactive strategies and agile planning in redefining future national priorities," Al Roumi said.

She further highlighted the significance of the meeting to strengthen the strategic cooperation between the UAE and the Republic of Costa Rica to develop government systems in line with the necessary requirements. She also praised the efforts taken by the joint working groups in facilitating innovative solutions and ideas to serve the communities of the two countries.

On her part, María Del Pilar Garrido emphasized on Costa Rica’s interests in boosting cooperation with the UAE and benefit from its successful model of handling the crisis. She further spoke about the Costa Rican government's efforts towards building its capabilities and strengthening its administrative system by utilizing the cutting-edge model of the UAE.

The session was attended by key government officials and experts from the UAE and Costa Rica including Mohammed Ahmed Al Shehhi, Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Economy; Dr. Hussein Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Under-Secretary for Health Centres and Clinics Sector at the Ministry of Health and Prevention; Dr.SaifJumaa Al Dhaheri, Director of Safety and Prevention at the National Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA).

Al Shehhi monitored and reviewed the response plan of the UAE to revive the economy and facilitate rapid growth in the short and long term in the post-pandemic recovery process. While the short-term plan included the launching of incentive packages to support the most affected economic sectors, long-term plans aimed to promote flexibility and sustainability of the UAE's economic model through increased investments in key sectors with special focus on the SMEs.

During the session, the ministers also discussed the UAE’s significant achievements and health initiatives launched with the aim to contain the health risk and to adopt various preventive measures to curb the spread of the virus for the protection of the community. These measures included the launch of the national sterilisation programme, carrying out more than six million COVID-19 tests to amplify the detection of the infection, and establishing Drive-through National Screening Centres for COVID-19.

The session also reviewed the travel protocols launched by the UAE National Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) that aimed at controlling the travel procedures for residents and citizens willing to travel to select destinations while keeping their safety in check. The UAE's preventive measures also included registering in the "Twajudi" service for passengers which aimed to facilitate effective communication between the authorities and travellers. Travellers were also encouraged to take COVID-19 tests and use the "Al-Hosn" application to monitor their health in a bid to control the virus transmission across the countries.

During the 7th edition of the World Government Summit, the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding with the Republic of Costa Rica to boost regional development, exchange of experiences with advanced technologies, build capacities, and improve government services and performance at various levels. 

WAM