Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, yesterday challenged the region’s publishing houses to translate 1,000 books per year.

In his message to the Knowledge Conference in Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed expressed his unstinted commitment to intellectuals in the Arab World and said: “Bring forward all your suggestions and your innovative ideas. We will welcome any initiative and extend all our support.”

Sheikh Mohammed also assured the participants of the two-day conference that the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation is “capable of accomplishing all the initiatives” that were announced on the opening day. He said most of the programmes will be under way immediately.

He outlined a framework to follow up on all the initiatives, and said the foundation would establish special committees to ensure effective implementation of the initiatives. Towards this, the foundation will enter into partnerships with universities, translation institutions, publishing houses, think tanks and research institutions, nationally, regionally and globally.

The conference is the Foundation’s first initiative since its launch in May this year, and is part of its mission to contribute to capacity-building in the Arab world and to drive the region into a new era of human development. – TradeArabia News Service