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President Bola Tinubu has moved to resolve the ongoing visa ban, flight and travel restriction imposed on Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) months back; a fallout of inability of UAE’s national carrier, Emirates to repatriate its earnings.
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The action by the UAE authorities elicited reciprocal measures by the Nigerian government resulting to a souring of diplomatic relations and suspension of flights by the Nigerian carrier Air Peace, into Dubai
But President Tinubu said the issues must be resolved with a sense of urgency while receiving the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Salem Saeed Al-Shamsi, at the State House on Thursday.
“We are a family with the UAE, we only live in separate rooms, but we are in the same house. We should look at the issues as a family problem, and resolve it amicably. As you know in every family, there are peculiarities. You can have an erring son, or daughter, but we must work together. We need to agree on core aviation and immigration issues,” the President said as he gave directive for quick resolution of the issues including all outstanding obligations to the Emirates Airline and the issuance of visas to Nigerian citizens.
President Tinubu’s directive is coming as both Nigerian stakeholders led by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and UAE authorities through the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) firm up Nigeria’s preparation for this year’s GITEX GLOBAL, an annual tech event in Dubai holding in October from 16-20 October 2023 and hosted by the UAE government.
GITEX GLOBAL annually attracts 170,000 trade buyers; 6,000+ exhibitors; 1,400+ expert speakers; and 176 attending countries. Nigeria has made its debut appearance in GITEX in 2013.
GITEX GLOBAL is now regarded as the biggest tech event in the world following a record-breaking edition in 2022. The 43rd edition will be a “gathering of the world’s most advanced companies and best minds to elevate business, economy, society and culture through the power of innovation. “Converging and unifying the world’s leading tech protagonists, inventors, academia, researchers and developers, GITEX GLOBAL 2023 will also supercharge the epic global race for AI supremacy, manifesting and translating gen-now tech into business solutions that are shaping societies and fast-tracking future urbanism.”
The DWTC has announced the launch of two new co-located shows – GITEX IMPACT & Future Urbanism for GITEX GLOBAL 2023 which already have 10 co-located events covering from AI to Cybersecurity, Telecoms, Mobility, and Sustainability tech.
Also, this year, the globe’s largest gathering of startups, Expand North Star will be hosted by Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy at the Dubai Harbour from 15-18 October 2023 with a new creative format to extend its engagements with the global startup community.
