Excellence integral part of UAE: Mohammed
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, affirmed on Monday that excellence of the government in the delivery of its services is an integral part of the UAE prominence in all domains.
"Government excellence is a core curriculum in the school of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and serves as a key driver for the federal government action," Sheikh Mohammed said as he attended the award ceremony of the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Programme which was attended by crown princes, deputy rulers of emirates, ministers and a gathering of about 1,500 senior government officials.
Sheikh Mohammed congratulated winners and outstanding performers of the first cycle of the programme, affirming that the homeland is the winner as all outdo and outshine in its service and glory.
He urged the other entities to follow in the steps of the winning bodies and benefit from these results to identify points of strength and opportunities for improvement in their entities in order to better serve customers, improve work environment in the government sector and contribute to realising strategic objectives of the federal government.
He stressed the importance of appreciation of efforts by entities seeking to upgrade their performance as well as of creative initiatives of individuals who are valuable wealth of "our dear country".
The first of its kind at the federal level, the programme was designed to provide federal public institutions a road map to help them improve their performance, to support a healthy economy and to unify their management practice in a balanced holistic model.
The programme includes, among others, Emirates Award for Government Excellence Performance, which is the highest award for institutional excellence at the federal level, as well as other awards which will be bestowed by Sheikh Mohammad on distinguished employees.
Sheikh Mohammed honoured the ministries of Interior and Public Works regarding the number of employees in the category of distinguished ministry. For the category of distinguished federal authority, Emirates Transport Corporation and Securities and Commodities Authority won regarding number of employees. Sheikh Mohammed also honoured Telecommunications Regulatory Authority for scoring distinguished results in customer satisfaction survey and secret shopper.
The work team and individuals were also honoured. The work team of the criminal investigation at the Ministry of Interior won the award of distinguished team category, while the joint team combining the Ministry of Works, Dubai Municipality and UAE University won the award of joint team category. Sheikh Mohammed decorated 9 distinguished federal employees with medals from Prime Minister.
Sheikh Mohammed presented the awards to the winning institutions, and winners from 37 federal institutions were honoured after transparent process in four stages. Over 355 applications were sorted out.
The kind gesture from Sheikh Mohammed was awarding the ribbons of Prime Minister to the two Emirati figures who contributed significantly in promoting the march of the UAE Federation; the late Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, who established police in the UAE and occupied the post of Interior Minister for long, and Ahmed Khalifa Al Suwaidi, who established the UAE Foreign Ministry. He was the Foreign Minister then and adviser to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
The Vice-President paid a glowing tribute to them, stressing that the country does not forget its outstanding sons.
Mohammed welcomes heads of GCC parliaments
Sheikh Mohammed also received at Emirates Palace in the presence of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, speakers and heads of the consultative councils, national assemblies and parliaments of the Arab States Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Sheikh Mohammed welcomed the guests, stressing significance of such gatherings in which the officials concur and exchange views and expertise.
He wished success to the fourth meeting in Abu Dhabi.
Present were Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Federal National Council; Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of the Cabinet Affairs and other senior officials.