HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) consulted with HE Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President of the Republic of Mauritius. Al Tayer stressed that sustainability is among essential concerns of Dubai and the UAE, and was made evident by the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, released by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to change Dubai into an international center for clean energy and green economy.

The meeting was held during Dr. Gurib-Fakim's participation in the Global Women's Forum Dubai 2016, which is held for the very first time in the area. The forum is co-organised by the Dubai Women Establishment and the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society on 23-24 February 2016 in Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. The Forum is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and led by HH Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, President of Dubai Women Establishment, and spouse of HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs.

The meeting was attended by Jacqueline Franjou, CEO of Women's Forum for the Economy and Society, Shamsa Saleh, CEO of Dubai Women Establishment.

The conference was also gone to by Abdullah Obaidullah, Executive Vice President of Water & Civil at DEWA, Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources, Abdullah Al Hajri, Executive Vice President of Customer Services, Khawla Al Mehairi, Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Communications at DEWA, Moza Al Akraf, CIO of DEWA, Maryam Al Mutaiwei, Vice President of Human Resources, Branly Nassour, Vice President of Water P&E New Connections, Mohammed Al Shamsi Vice President of Civil Projects Engineering & Water Maintenance Engineering Projects, and Ahmed Abdullah, Senior Manager of External Communications at DEWA, along with other DEWA personnel.

Al Tayer welcomed Dr. Gurib-Fakim at DEWA's Sustainable Building, the first sustainable government structure in the UAE, and commended her efforts to deal with sustainability through her works and clinical research study in biodiversity conservation and sustainable advancement.

Al Tayer noted the value of establishing collaborations in between the UAE and the Republic of Mauritius, in addition to the international neighborhood, to deal with the impacts of environment change, adopt finest practices in sustainability, develop brand-new renewable energy tasks, support research and development, and add to shared collaborations in all areas to establish relations in between the UAE and Mauritius to the highest possible level.

Throughout the UAE Innovation Week held last November, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, revealed the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to make Dubai an international centre for clean energy and green economy. Our strategy includes moving from a carbon-intensive economy to a greener one, through the Dubai Green Fund, which is worth AED 100 billion (USD 27 billion), and motivates green financial investment and green development," said Al Tayer.

"In line with the instructions of the smart management, as well as the objectives of the UAE Vision 2021 and the Dubai Plan 2021, which focuses on sustainable development and securing the environment, DEWA's strategy contributes to Dubai's sustainability by carrying out clean and renewable resource tasks, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of energy and water networks, launching awareness initiatives and programmes to provide public awareness on the value of the reasonable usage of natural deposits, and instilling a culture of rationalisation in society. DEWA invests in 9 programmes as part of the demand-side management strategy. These consist of green building policies, retrofitting existing structures, district cooling, wastewater reuse, laws and standards to raise efficiency, energy-efficient street-lighting, and the Shams Dubai initiative, which encourages structure owners to install photovoltaic panels to generate electrical power. We are working to retrofit 30,000 existing buildings and we have a technique to reduce carbon emissions by 16 % by 2021," added Al Tayer.

Al Tayer kept in mind that over the past few years, DEWA made substantial development in addressing energy security and efficiency, and providing renewable energy sources. DEWA has actually established strategies and programs for need side management, energy efficiency and functional improvement. Under the smart grid method, DEWA will focus on different matters such as advanced metering facilities, asset management, need side management, distribution automation, information technology infrastructure, substation automation, system combination, telecommunications, and effectiveness, and the dependability and accessibility of its energy supply. Dubai is building a smart grid that is the very first network worldwide to cover all operations from generation, to transmission and distribution systems. This will significantly enhance living requirements in the Emirate.

"I 'd like to take a minute to talk to you more about the structure we are in today, which is the very first sustainable federal government building in the UAE, and the largest government building in the world, to receive a Platinum Rating for green structures from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). We will work together in pursuit of a brighter and much better future for us all, and for generations to come," concluded Al Tayer.

The check out included a tour in DEWA's Sustainable Building. It included the Customer Service Centre, the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, the call centre, nursery, Knowledge Centre (library), the green roofing systems, and the photovoltaic panels used to supply the structure with solar power.