Omar Al Rawi, Member of the Vienna Provincial Parliament and City Council, affirmed the importance of promoting international cooperation and aligning global efforts to overcome the major challenges facing humanity, most notably climate change, environmental protection, and enhancing climate resilience, which have become global concerns.

He also lauded the unprecedented achievements of COP28, which recently took place in the UAE.

In his statement to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Al Rawi explained that the current era is witnessing comprehensive changes and transformations that require addressing key issues that transcend national borders, necessitating collective action to overcome significant challenges that impact people’s lives and societies, which no single country can face alone and find solutions for.

Al Rawi, who will attend the World Governments Summit 2024 in Dubai on behalf of the governor and mayor of Vienna, affirmed the importance of participating in the summit due to its role in promoting international cooperation, discussing major future transformations, addressing global challenges, envisioning innovative solutions that improve the quality of life of societies, and spreading harmony and social security around the world.

Al Rawi, who is responsible for urban and architectural planning in the Austrian capital, Vienna, explained that the upcoming summit’s agenda will focus on urban expansion, the future of education, accelerating growth, future prospects, sustainability, new global transformations, and artificial intelligence (AI), stressing that countries currently investing in modern technological developments and innovative solutions will gain an edge in the future.

The development of AI will help ease Europe’s labour shortages issues without affecting human-dependant job sectors, he added, lauding the WGS' interest in inviting city and municipal officials alongside elite industry leaders, experts, heads of organisations and entities, and heads of state and government.

He also noted the importance of urban development, especially as some 50 percent of the world's population currently live in cities, with statistics forecasting this figure to rise to some 70 percent over the next twenty years.

Cities will cause major challenges in the future due to rising pollution levels and the likelihood of social tensions emerging in larger ones, which have greater significance as they cradle cultural centres, leading universities, research institutes, scientific centres and other academic centres, which enable them to play a significant role in finding solutions and innovations that will help solve environmental issues and reduce harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, he added.

Al Rawi stated that cities can help solve the issue of climate change by reducing GHG emissions by promoting public transportation, developing environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems, increasing green spaces, and expanding the use of renewable energy, transforming future urban challenges into advantages in the drive to combat climate change. He then highlighted the efforts of the Austrian capital to reduce carbon emissions and its plan to achieve climate neutrality by 2040.

Al Rawi called on everyone to benefit from the related experiences and urban renaissance of the UAE, where around 90 percent of the population live in major cities, stressing the importance of studying the conditions of cities and municipalities and utilising relevant studies to find solutions to and practical ways of solving current problems, especially as the challenges facing cities are similar around the world.