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The detailed schedule of events of the upcoming forum was revealed by the International Government Communication Centre (IGCC).
This year’s International Government Communication Forum (IGCF) in Sharjah will be attended by 64 leading global thinkers, government officials and intellectuals from the Arab region and around the world, the organisers have said.
Ninth edition of the forum, organised under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, will be held from March 4-5 at the Expo Centre Sharjah.
The IGCF boasts of a robust agenda with 15 main sessions, 10 keynote speeches, nine workshops, three brainstorming sessions and 20 interactive platforms. The global forum will be attended by participants from 16 countries – UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine, Bulgaria, the USA, Canada, the UK, Colombia and India.
The detailed schedule of events of the upcoming forum was revealed by the International Government Communication Centre (IGCC), a subsidiary of Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), during a Press conference on Wednesday in the presence of Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Media Council (SMC); Tariq Saeed Allay, director of the SGMB; Jawaher Al Naqbi, manager of the IGCC; and a host of senior officials and media representatives.
Forum aims to improve quality of life
Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi stressed the role of government communication in achieving good governance outcomes, saying that it has become a mirror of development that reflects the inherent values held by countries, societies and institutions, and paves the way for accomplishments in various sectors.
He added that the rapidly changing global communications landscape reinforces the need to create an enabling environment to develop and maintain effective government communication as it influences the reputation of governments and organisations in the international arena.
“Since the debut of the IGCF, we have been focused on raising awareness about the role of government communication in building support for informed policy decisions and enhanced citizen engagement while also fostering accountability. Delving into the challenges to build up success, we deliberated and launched several initiatives and development programmes over the past eight years to achieve our goals,” he noted.
“We are conscious of the role of technology in advancing government services and performance, and we also understand that cinema, literature and arts serve as a more potent medium of communication than conventional forms of media; these reach deep into the hearts of people. The IGCF’s primary aim is to enhance the quality of life of individuals and societies and every innovative activity we undertake to lead government communication to the next level must be driven towards achieving this goal,” he emphasised.
Tariq Saeed Allay announced that the forum’s programme agenda will be based on four pillars of effective communication: ‘Embedding a culture of engagement in government’, ‘Technology as a community enabler’, ‘Communication through culture’ and ‘Holistic wellbeing’.
Allay added that the ICGF 2020 agenda includes trainings, discussions and live interactive sessions, including ‘Job Shadowing’ programme, ‘Cinema Influencers’, Youth Forum, ‘Free Your Mind’ and Live ‘On Air’ studios, Innovation Platform, Leap of Success Platform, The Big Heart Foundation Platform and a Sharjah World Book Capital Platform.
Ahead of the two-day forum, on March 3, the IGCF will host a ‘Communications Chat’ session, which will be centred around strategies for developing effective government communication. Participating in this session will be Major-General Saif Al Shamsi, Commander-in-Chief of Sharjah Police; Marwan Jassim Al Sarkal, Executive Chairman of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq); Dr Khalid Al Midfa, Chairman of the Sharjah Media City (Shams); and Nada Askar Al Naqbi, Director-General of the Sharjah Women’s Sports (SWS).
