Dubai: The World Government Summit (WGS) 2024 in Dubai will hear from Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI - the Silicon Valley company behind the artificial intelligence-powered chatbots ChatGPT and GPT-4 - and other global disruptors.

Heads of 27 global organisations including the World Economic Forum, International Monetary Fund and various agencies of the United Nations will also join world leaders representing countries across all the continents at the event, scheduled from February 12 to 14.

These details were revealed by Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of WGS, during the WGS Dialogue held at the Museum of the Future on Tuesday.

Announcing the highlights of the newest edition of the Summit, Al Gergawi said the event will host more than 300 prime ministers in over 23 ministerial meetings and executive sessions, 120 delegations, eight Nobel laureates and top thought and business leaders. The names of the presidents and prime ministers attending the summit would be announced in the coming weeks.

Attracting over 4,000 participants, this year’s event aims to address future trends and shifts on the global level through six main themes, 15 international forums and over 110 panel discussions and interactive sessions, hosting 200 speakers including heads of states, prime ministers, government officials, experts and future makers.

Under the theme of ‘Shaping Future Governments’, the event is held under the patronage of the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

80 International, regional organisations

Al Gergawi said: “This year’s World Government Summit will be attended by 27 heads of international organisations including Professor Klaus Schwab; Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Ahmed Aboul Gheit; Secretary-General of the Arab League, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi; Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Haitham Al Ghais; Secretary-General of OPEC, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Kristalina Georgieva; Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Amina Mohammed; Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ajay Banga; President of the World Bank Group, Rafael Grossi; Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mokhtar Diop; Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, Doreen Bogdan-Martin; Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, Fahad Alturki; Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, Dilma Rousseff; President of the New Development bank, Mathias Cormann; Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and Gerd Müller; Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, alongside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Renewable Energy Agency and other organisations.”

Al Gergawi said the event will also host private sector leaders, including Guillaume Faury; CEO of Airbus, Jensen Huang; Founder and CEO of NVIDIA, Eric Schmidt; Co-Founder of Schmidt Futures and former CEO of Google, Dr. Darío Gil; Senior Vice President and Director of Research at IBM, Yann LeCun; Vice President and Chief AI Scientist at Meta and a group of top global businessmen.

In collaboration with knowledge partners, the World Government Summit will release a series of over 25 strategic reports, with special focus on key sector practices and trends, Al Gergawi said.

Forums, ministerial meetings

Strategising and future planning for vital sectors will be the focus of 15 global forums hosted during the World Government Summit in collaboration with a host of international organisations and global tech institutions. Those forums include the Global Health Forum, the Government Services Forum, the Arab Government Leadership Forum, the Experience Sharing Forum, the Future of Transport Forum, the Arab Fiscal Forum, the Future of Education Forum, the Future of Space Forum and the Industry and Advanced Technology Forum.

The Summit will also host the AI Forum, Future of Work Forum, Emerging Economies Forum, the Geotechnology Governance Forum, the Sustainable Development Goals Forum, the Arab Meeting for Young Leaders and the Time 100 event.

Other events held during the Summit include panel discussions and roundtable meetings that look into shaping future governments, high-level ministerial meetings addressing sustainable development, a meeting for Arab finance ministers, another bringing together GCC labour ministers and a meeting for energy ministers to discuss the future of hydrogen energy.

6 main themes

The World Government Summit 2024 will focus on six main themes: Government Acceleration and Transformation, Artificial Intelligence and The Next Frontiers, Reimagining Development and Future Economies, Future Societies and Education, Sustainability and The New Global Shifts, and Urbanisation and Global Health Priorities.

Global awards

The upcoming edition of World Government Summit will introduce a number of global awards that recognise heads of governments, private sector players and innovators for their exceptional contributions towards a better future. These include Best Minister Award, the Dubai International Best Practices Award for Sustainable Development, the Edge of Government Award, the Best Government Application Award and the Global Government Excellence Award.