ABU DHABI // The World Future Energy Summit closed yesterday with a ringing endorsement for a week during which Abu Dhabi, one of the world's biggest oil producers, established itself as a force at the forefront of the race to develop badly needed renewable energies.
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the president of Iceland, speaking at the summit's closing ceremony yesterday afternoon, said: "As this remarkable summit comes at a close, we are indeed inspired by its success.
"Climate change can indeed be avoided by the lessons of the World Future Energy Summit as a guiding beacon."
The summit, he said, "has shown that we can all bring to the table valuable experience, technology, demonstrations of what can be done ... We will go forth away from this place inspired and full of determination to succeed because, as we all know, there is so much at stake".
More than 23,000 delegates from 130 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Middle East attended the event - a 25 per cent increase over last year's figures - and twice as many countries as last year hosted national pavilions.
Among them were China, France, Spain, the UK, the US, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Mr Grimsson, who was addressing delegates at the plenary closing ceremony of the summit, said that renewable energy could be of particular importance to developing countries, helping them catch up with rich nations: "An abundance of clean energy gives a country a strategic advantage in the 21st century global economy."
Mr Grimsson went on to say that developing nations enjoy greater potential to tap solar, wind and geothermal power, compared with most industrialised countries.
The closing session was also addressed by Prince Albert of Monaco, who spoke about the inequalities between rich and poor nations. A situation where "20 per cent of the world's population consumes 80 per cent of the world's resources" could not be allowed to continue, he said.
He called for "a new relationship with the world" and a "complete re-examination of how we produce and distribute power".
"We have to do far more than merely tweak a few details of our lifestyles," he said.
"We must be more reasonable, learn to consume less and be more efficient ... We must act swiftly despite the disappointing outcome of the negotiations in Copenhagen."
Although the four-day summit ended yesterday, Future Energy Week concludes only today, with a meeting of the United Nations' Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change. The body, an initiative of the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, includes 24 high-ranking representatives of international agencies, think-tanks and businesses. It is responsible for analysing information on the energy dimensions of international climate negotiations.
The group also has 24 members representing a variety of energy business interests, including Masdar, the Abu Dhabi clean-energy company.
Ara Fernezian, the group exhibition director at Reed, the show organiser, said that the event "exceeded our original expectations by more than 15 per cent", and that "such record numbers of people involved is testament to Abu Dhabi's growing status as a hub for renewable energy".
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ATP WORLD No 1
2004 Roger Federer
2005 Roger Federer
2006 Roger Federer
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2012 Novak Djokovic
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2014 Novak Djokovic
2015 Novak Djokovic
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2018 Novak Djokovic
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
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