The Dubai Women Establishment (DWE) today announced the agenda for the fourth edition of the Arab Women Leadership Forum which will be held on the theme Towards Global Competitiveness at Emirates Towers Hotel Dubai.

The flagship conference will be hosted under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and will be led by Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of DWE and wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, UAE.

The announcement was made at a press conference in the presence of key officials from DWE and representatives of DWEs Strategic Partner, Emirates Competitiveness Council, as well as Gold sponsor DEWA, the communications partner du, media partner Dubai Media Inc. (DMI) and the official carrier Emirates.

The event is also supported by Nakheel as a Gold Sponsor and Arabian Radio Network (ARN) as the official broadcast partner for the event.

The press conference began with a welcome address by Shamsa Saleh, CEO of DWE, in which she said:
The UAEs current position with regard to the role of women, due to the efforts of its leadership and people, serves as an excellent motivator to retain this leadership role.

The UAEs leadership has always firmly believed in the importance of the role of women and has offered every means of support. The best evidence of this was a quote by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in which he said We have exceeded the phase of womens empowerment, as we now enable the community through women. The UAE has achieved the highest ranking on several international reports, and occupies a position of leadership with regard to respecting women, womens education and reducing the gender gap across the Middle East and North Africa for the fourth consecutive year. The UAE has also taken the lead in the Arab world and has been ranked 14th globally in the Global Happiness Report released by the UN in 2013 and is improving confidently year after year on many other indicators related to economic welfare and human development.

The UAE has also risen by 7 ranks on the Global Competiveness Report to occupy the 12th position up from the 19th position last year. The country moved up in 78 economical, developmental and social indicators in one year.

Shamsa Saleh added: The Dubai Women Establishment aims to use this forum to continue to shine a light on the importance of the role that women play in the process of innovation and development in the UAE. The UAE taking a leading position in several world reports truly reflects the role of the Emirati woman in different sectors and represents the success of the UAE in enhancing womens participation in the workplace.

In her closing note Shamsa Saleh said: We hope that insights from the forum discussions this year, led by a diverse line-up of elite experts from the region and beyond, will truly enhance and further shape the framework through which women can go on driving the positive economic, political, legislative and private sector success of the country.

Aimed at being an invaluable platform that promotes professional development and career advancement among women in the region, the forum will feature an extensive agenda of thought-provoking sessions. In line with the forums theme, the presenters will deliberate on various issues that fall under the broader Global Competitiveness category, as they bring attention to all the multiple factors that strengthen the case for womens involvement in the economic growth and their participation as key enablers of change and progress.

The first-day panel discussions will focus on: Women In Economy Participating Impact on Nations Competitiveness, Beyond Numbers: Womens Political Contribution in GCC, Gender Perspectives in Legislations. On the second day, panellists will discuss: Competiveness and Inclusion of Womens Participation in the Private Sector, Workplaces That Work: Conducive Policies On Female Retention, and Entrepreneurship: An Impact On Competitive Edge.