The 5th Annual Arab Future Cities Summit commenced today

Held under the patronage of the recently consolidated Ministries – Ministry of Transport & Communications and Ministry of Municipality and Environment, the fifth edition of the Arab Future Cities Summit, with Ooredoo as the Title Sponsor gets underway in the city today. Over two days, the summit that puts the spotlight on smart city adoption, laying emphasis on developing innovative approaches to deliver more efficient and sustainable services to its citizens will attract over 450 delegates from across industries.

H.E. Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport & Communications and H. E. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi, Minister of Municipality and Environment jointly inaugurated the summit in the presence ofother Ministers. Present at the inauguration ceremony were also honorable Ambassadors from 22 Embassies in Qatar. H.E. Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister, Ministry of Transport & Communications opened the summit with a welcome address, following which Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary for Digital Society Sector Development, Ministry of Transport & Communications delivered a 20-minute session on the initiatives that is driving digital transformation and shaping the future society in Qatar.

Qatar Post’s Chairman and Managing Director, Faleh Al Naemi speaking on the needs of the citizens changing in the digital age and how Qatar Post is evolving its services to provide advanced and reliable services to customers was followed by Waleed Al Sayed, Deputy CEO – Ooredoo Group, CEO – Ooredoo Qatar’s welcome address to all delegates.

Topics on the first day of the summit also include telecommunications for smart cities; innovative ICT solutions, smarter city in future; smart cities infrastructure; smart mobility – the future of transportation and a case study presentation on the smart city initiatives undertaken in Townsville delivered by Wael Doukmak, Director of ICTE and Mega Projects Business Development, Ooredoo Qatar; Joe So, Chief Technology Officer - Industry Solutions, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei; Konrad Goleman, Distinguished Engineer, IoT Solution Manager, Allied Telesis; BazGharibi, Head of Transport Planning - Middle East, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff and Graeme Bolton, Director Planning and Development, Townsville City Council respectively.

Other sessions included Andy Taylor, Chief of Service Delivery, Qatar Rail speaking on how modern infrastructure transforms cities and creates new communities with a special focus on Qatar Rail transforming Doha and Frans-Anton Vermast, Senior Strategy Advisor for Low Carbon and Connected Urban Planning, Amsterdam Smart City presenting on Best & Next practices and Lessons learned from a Global Village, among many more.

“Arab Future Cities Summit offers a unique platform in the Middle East to be able to hear from thought leaders delivering smart city solutions right here in Qatar. The summit will also allow us to showcase our smart city solutions as well as meet with our stakeholders from within the State of Qatar.” said, Farid Al-Sabbagh, VP & MD at Fujitsu Middle East. Wipro’sAshishKhare moderating the panel discussion on the role of master services integrator in making the city smarter. Accompanying him on the panel were Innovate UK’s Jonny Voon, BassemRustom of Ooredoo Qatar and Communications Regulatory Authority’s Rainer Schnepfleitner.

The Future Cities lounge showcased some of the leading government-led projects in the State of Qatar featuring the Qatar Railways Company (Qatari Rail), Qatar Ports Management Co. (Mwani), Public Works Authority (Ashghal) and Geographic Information Systems GIS Qatar. The lounge also featured the latest range of smart city technological solutions from industry giants such as Ooredoo, Huawei, Aqualia, Meeza, Hikvision, OpenText, Fujitsu, Finmeccanica, ENGIE, Wipro, Allied Telesis and Naseer bin Khaleed Automobiles, and many others.

Brad Hariharan, Regional Director, Expotrade Middle East, organizers of the conference, said, “We indeed feel privileged to hold the fifth edition of the summit under the patronage of the Ministry of Transport& Communications and Ministry of Municipality & Environment. As the only smart cities summit in Qatar, this two-day summit outlines the essential components that cities need to acquire in order to become smart.”

Day 2 of the summit will feature an eclectic mix of sessions, panel discussions and case study presentations. The day 2 agenda will feature sessions by Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, Executive Director (CEO), QMIC; Dr. Hossam Ibrahim, Deputy Group Leader - Municipality Master Planning Group, Ministry of Municipality & Environment and Nuha Eltinay, Director of Urban Planning and Sustainable Development, Arab Urban Development Institute, to name a few.

More information on the Arab Future Cities Summit Qatar is available at http://www.arabfuturecities.com/. Follow the Summit on social media with the hashtag #AFCS2016.