Dubai-UAE: The UAE Ministry of Economy has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the US Department of Commerce to promote mutual cooperation in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by His Excellency Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary for International Trade on behalf of the UAE, and by Stefan Selig, US Undersecretary for Foreign Trade & Industry on behalf of the United States. The UAE Minister of Economy, His Excellency Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri was present at the signing.

The newly signed agreement seeks to encourage and facilitate the exchange of innovation and entrepreneurship expertise, with a particular focus on strengthening innovation policy development. In addition, it mandates the UAE's National Innovation Committee to oversee the execution of initiatives related to achieving this partnership.

As per the agreement, the UAE and the United States will identify mutually agreed upon priority sectors and deepening cooperative ties through building networks and successfully developing synergies among stakeholders of innovation and entrepreneurship, such as government institutions, business incubators, academic institutions and the wider business community. The agreement also stressed the need to exchange information in the interest of protecting intellectual property rights as a core component of the partnership.

The agreement was signed on day one of the fourth World Government Summit underway in Dubai from February 8-10, following US President Barack Obama’s televised keynote address to the gathering. The summit, under the title ‘Shaping Future Governments’, has convened 3,700 government officials, policy makers, academics and experts to focus on shaping the future of governments by encouraging innovative practices in government operations and services in the information age.

In follow up comments to the keynote, Stefan Selig recognized previous cooperation in the field of space research technology through the joint effort of leading US academic institutions and the UAE Mars Mission.