Minister Sajjan concludes visit to UAE, Kuwait

The Honorable Harjit S. Sajjan, Canada’s Minister of International Development and Minister in charge of the Pacific Economic Development Agency, concluded a visit to the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait today. During his visit, he met with ministers and prominent government and private sector officials to discuss opportunities for greater collaboration on shared priorities such as food security, climate change, gender equality and women, peace and security in his region and developing countries.

Minister Sajjan’s visit to the United Arab Emirates was to strengthen international development cooperation. He met Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, to discuss increased cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and Canada in addressing the impacts of climate change, including on food security and biodiversity. The work is a priority for both countries as Canada hosts the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal this month, while the United Arab Emirates prepares to host the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity for 2023. climate change.

The two ministers also laid out next steps for implementing the Canada-United Arab Emirates 2014 Memorandum of Understanding to expand and strengthen their development partnership. They reaffirmed their countries’ commitment to diversity and development work that respects human dignity. Their goal is to create opportunity by focusing on food safety, education and health. Minister Sajjan also participated in a roundtable with representatives of humanitarian and charitable organizations to exchange knowledge on best practices in international development assistance efforts in the region.

Minister Sajjan also visited Dubai International Humanitarian City, the largest distribution center for humanitarian aid in the world, including donations from Canadian organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross. He also visited the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) to learn about its innovative work to improve food security and nutrition and discuss opportunities for collaboration, including information sharing between Canada and ICBA.

While in Kuwait, Minister Sajjan praised the country’s leadership in regional and international humanitarian assistance. During his visit, he and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah furthered the already strong Canada-Kuwait partnership by engaging in candid discussions on shared global concerns and priorities and signing a development memorandum of understanding and plan the next steps for their national partnership.

Minister Sajjan also met with youth from public and private schools across Kuwait, who are participating in a Youth Ambassadors initiative, which pairs young people aged 14 to 18 with embassies and UN organizations for mentoring and leadership development opportunities . At the event, he asked them what they hoped to learn from the program and talked with them about gender equality and inclusion.