Joint international efforts are an urgent necessity for space exploration

Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Sports, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Space Agency, participated in a multilateral meeting under the title “Space for All: Empowering Countries to Achieve Common Progress,” during the participation of the country’s delegation, in the 55th session of the World Economic Forum 2025, In Davos, Switzerland, which continues until January 24 under the slogan “Cooperation for a Smart Age.”

Belhoul stressed during the meeting that the space sector today constitutes a major engine for global progress and sustainable development. He said that based on our responsibility as an international community and in light of the principle of comprehensiveness and integration, we will work together to ensure the participation of all countries in this vital sector.

Belhoul added that today we are facing an exceptional opportunity to strengthen international partnerships in space exploration and build a sustainable and stable future for all countries of the world through concerted efforts and everyone coming together to reach a better tomorrow for humanity.

Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi said: “In the UAE, we believe that cooperation and the exchange of knowledge and experiences constitute the path to achieving our goals and vision for achieving a comprehensive development renaissance, and we are committed to sharing our experiences and expertise with emerging countries in the space sector to enable them to develop their capabilities and harness space capabilities to support their development plans.”

Prominent international figures participated in the meeting, whose content was in line with the slogan of this year’s forum, including space sector officials, including Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Agency, Dr. Mohammed bin Saud Al Tamimi, CEO of the Saudi Space Agency, and William Marshall, co-founder and CEO. By Planet Labs, Hiroshi Yamakawa, President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Martina Hirayama, Minister of State for Education and Scientific Research of Switzerland, and Jeremy Jürgens, Executive Director of the Forum, along with many prominent names from senior officials in the field of space and technology.

The meeting was also attended by Motoyuki Arai, founder and CEO of Senspective from Japan, Hani Ashkar, managing partner for the Middle East at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and John Gidmark, CEO of Astranis from The United States, in addition to Kam Ghaffarian, founder and executive chairman of X-Energy, Max Haut, CEO of FAST, and Dava Newman, director of the MIT Laboratory, and Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of South Africa.

The meeting aims to enhance cooperation between national space entities, exchange visions on developing effective space strategies, nurturing national environmental systems, and determining priorities for space activities within national agendas based on challenges and lessons learned.

The meeting focused on providing guidance and support to emerging space entities through the National Space Program Toolkit initiative, in addition to discussing ways to maximize the economic and technological benefits from space activities through developing effective and less expensive applications.

Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi’s participation comes as part of a high-level delegation from the UAE that includes more than 100 heads of companies, the private sector, and government officials in the UAE.

The agenda of the country’s participation in the forum is full of a variety of sessions in various fields, led by the sectors of economy, foreign trade, investment, entrepreneurship, technology and artificial intelligence, legislative affairs, government development, education, environment, diplomacy, and others.

For the third year in a row, the UAE participates in a special pavilion in the forum under the slogan “Nothing is Impossible”, which reflects the importance that the UAE attaches to this important international forum, where a distinguished agenda of important events has been allocated within the national pavilion, keeping pace with the great momentum of the UAE’s participation in the events. The forum is attended by an elite group of officials, heads of major national companies, officials in the government and private sectors, and a number of experts, specialists and those with successful and inspiring international experiences.