Saeed Al Tayer boosts cooperation with major energy, ICT groups

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer and Abdullah Balalaa

During the World Governments Summit (WGS) 2024, held from 12-14 February 2024 under the theme “Shaping Future Governments”, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), met senior officials from local and international organisations to discuss the future of the energy sector.

Al Tayer also delivered a keynote speech titled “Future Global Transformations in the Energy Sector” where he examined the importance of turning challenges in the energy sector into opportunities to support the energy transition as well as sustainable development. Al Tayer highlighted factors impacting energy markets, solutions for decarbonisation, and the importance of research and development in the energy transition.

During WGS, Al Tayer met with Abdullah Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability Affairs, to enhance cooperation and accelerate the transition to clean energy while preserving precious natural resources.

Al Tayer also met Omar Abdullah Al Futtaim, Vice Chairman and CEO of Al-Futtaim Group. The pair discussed collaboration between DEWA and Al-Futtaim Group, especially in renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

Al Tayer and Eugene Kaspersky, Founder and CEO of Kaspersky, the global company specialising in information technology (IT) security, met to discuss collaboration in building safe and reliable digital infrastructure. They also discussed the importance of cybersecurity in smart cities in light of recent major technological developments including the use of Internet of Things (IoT).

Al Tayer also met with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia Corporation, a leading global company in digital technologies and AI. They discussed cooperation to leverage the capabilities of AI in green data centres.

Furthermore, Al Tayer met with Aparna Bawa, Chief Operating Officer of Zoom, a global company specialised in video conferencing. The two parties discussed innovation, the importance of remote work technologies in business continuity, as well as challenges and opportunities in work environments.

DEWA participated in the WGS as the Sustainable Energy Partner. DEWA highlighted many of its clean and renewable energy projects during the summit. These include the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model, with a planned production capacity of more than 5,000MW by 2030; the pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant in Hatta, the first of its kind in the GCC, with a planned production capacity of 250MW; and many other leading projects and innovative initiatives in clean and renewable energy.

More than 4,000 participants from the public and private sectors participated in 110 interactive sessions at WGS 2024, including 200 speakers from 80 international, regional, and intergovernmental organisations including the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Arab League. It also welcomed eight Nobel prize winners and provided a platform for 23 ministerial meetings in the presence of more than 300 ministers. In partnership with a select group of knowledge partners, the Summit launched more than 25 strategic reports, focusing on the most important practices and trends in vital sectors.