Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda inaugurated the Smart City Expo Doha, yesterday. The inauguration was attended by a number of Their Excellencies Sheikhs, Ministers, VIPs, experts and officials in the field of communication and information technology.
In its first edition in Qatar, Smart City Expo Doha aims to introduce innovative technology that will contribute to improving the lives of citizens, residents and visitors through achieving social inclusion, sustainability and empowerment.
President Paul Kagame expressed his happiness over his country’s partnership with the State of Qatar in the field of smart cities, pointing out that both countries are among the top ten globally in the future vision and quick response to change and its requirements.
In a speech at the opening of the two-day Smart City Expo Doha, the President said that his mission now is to accelerate the implementation of such vision for development so that his country can quickly achieve the good results accomplished by Qatar which he described as positive examples for countries around the world to follow, stressing the importance of establishing smart cities and the role that people play in the development of city technology.
He praised the efforts of Qatar and the vision of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and His Highness farsightedness when he dedicated an award for innovation, stressing that this award encourages competition and efforts to build a society free of corruption around the world.
The President of the Republic of Rwanda expressed his country’s pride in hosting the award ceremony on December 9 in partnership with the State of Qatar and the United Nations.
Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, in his speech during the opening of the Expo, said that Qatar and Rwanda share two key factors in the process of development, the first of which is the insightful vision of the leadership of both countries.
H E the Minister added that the second factor is the accelerated pace of development, thanks to smart investment in infrastructure, enhancing the investment climate, and the continuous support by the State for companies and institutions from the public and private sectors, to achieve the goals of sustainable development.
The Republic of Rwanda has, in a short period of time, become a source of inspiration for many countries and peoples in Africa and the world, the Minister said, stressing that Kigali has gained a prominent status as a leading city in Africa, and a true global example of what smart cities can achieve.
Ricard Zapatero, the International Director of Fira de Barcelona, which contributed to organising the Smart City Expo Doha, said that the city of Barcelona has established this company, which specialises in organising the world’s largest events related to smart cities, adding that these events are characterised by the participation of a group of countries and smart cities around the world, such as the cities of Montreal and Atlanta. Today, he said, Doha is joining us in this network and has shown interest in the shift towards smart cities.
He pointed out that smart cities around the world are following Doha and its organisation of this conference, which is the most prominent for smart cities, noting that smart cities are those in which their leadership used technology in order to improve the lives of their residents.
He added that Doha shows the world its keenness to improve the lives of its citizens through the use of modern technology. He pointed out that many people are closely observing the progress achieved in this area since all the smart city communities are trying to benefit from each other, adding that the company will continue to work with the Ministry of Transport and Communications to expand this event in its next edition in Doha.
