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Dubai: The Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA) and the Fatima Bint Mohamed Bin Zayed Initiative (FBMI), today launched the UAE’s first ‘Diplomacy Lab,’ a unique community-powered space for open dialogue and innovations in diplomacy.
The Diplomacy Lab is a new project that aims to create a shared space, where different entities can come together and explore innovative ideas and solutions for diplomacy in the 21st century. The Diplomacy Lab will be based at the Emirates Towers in Dubai -- a unique innovation ecosystem of business incubators and government accelerators. The initiative aims to develop an environment that will encourage AGDA and FBMI to look for synergies with the private and public sectors, in a quest to prepare the country’s diplomats for future challenges.
The Lab will be a community-driven space focused on innovation, culture and youth. The space will thus be used to debate the foreign policy challenges of the future, explore how diplomacy can interact with technology, or promote cultural programmes and exhibitions that reach young Emiratis interested in pursuing a career in the foreign service of their country.
The inauguration was attended by His Excellency Saeed Al Nazari, Director-General of the Federal Youth Authority; His Excellency Nickolay Mladenov, Acting Director General of AGDA, and Farshied Jabarkhyl, Managing Director of FBMI and the wider diplomatic community.
His Excellency Nickolay Mladenov said: “AGDA is excited to partner with FBMI in starting the Diplomacy Lab. Our goal is to create a space that brings together diplomats, students and researchers to debate the foreign policy challenges of the future, explore how diplomacy can interact with technology, or promote cultural programmes. We are thrilled that this initiative will benefit from Dubai’s vibrant start-up culture of innovation and hope to reach young Emiratis interested in pursuing a career in the foreign service of their country.”
Farshied Jabarkhyl, Managing Director of FBMI said: “We are honoured to partner with the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy to create the Diplomacy Lab, a space that reflects the strong role of the Fatima Bint Mohamed Bin Zayed Initiative in cultural diplomacy and acts as a diplomacy tool for the UAE and for the world to see. FBMI has been a long-standing advocate for humanitarian and sustainable aid process and aims to create an ecosystem to teach diplomacy through the space. The Diplomacy Lab aims to build discussions around diplomacy and lends itself as an educational hub and a platform for future diplomats, this is in addition to engaging the foreign diplomatic community and bringing in new talents.”
The Diplomacy Lab aims to provide unique programmes and sessions that encourage open dialogue between participants and audience members, all while shedding light on innovations in diplomacy, particularly those that are relevant to the 21st century, such as cultural diplomacy and space diplomacy, as well rising issues around sustainability, economy and global crises.
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About Fatima bint Mohamed bin Zayed (FBMI)
Fatima bint Mohamed bin Zayed Initiative was founded in 2010. The initiative was originally established to initiate a change in the stark realities of Afghanistan’s women and children. FBMI invests locally in healthcare, education, numerous social and economic reforms, and dignified employment opportunities. About 70% of FBMI employees are women and widows. Each employee receives free vocational training, medical care, and schooling for their children.
Zuleya is the retail brand of the initiative that sells the carpets and the handicrafts made by the initiative in Afghanistan. FBMI’s other retail brand, Mira, has united independent farmers from all over Afghanistan under a shared vision of sustainability, and created a market to sell their naturally grown produce in the UAE.
All the profits made by both retail arms are invested back into the initiative, to preserve Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, and to provide underprivileged communities with critical social services.
