Abu Dhabi’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched its strategy for 2027 to 2029, putting institutional modernisation and diplomatic capacity-building at the centre of the next planning cycle. The formal ceremony took place at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, where Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, witnessed the launch and honoured winners of the sixth edition of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Excellence Award.
The strategy is framed as a roadmap for the Ministry’s next phase. Its stated aims are future readiness, capability development, and anticipating change. According to the Ministry, the goal is to respond to rapid global developments and convert them into opportunities that advance the UAE’s development and contribute to international stability and prosperity.
Sheikh Abdullah said that, guided by the UAE’s leadership and its unwavering support, the country continues to build on its foreign policy achievements, strengthen its strategic partnerships, and promote dialogue in addressing regional and international issues, while harnessing its capabilities and resources to serve national interests and support UAE citizens and residents wherever they may be. He also commended the Ministry’s teams for developing the strategy and for their ability to deliver on the priorities of the coming three years through teamwork, shared responsibility, and an approach that combines operational efficiency with ambition.
The economic dimension was set out by Shaikha Omran Al Shamsi, Director of the Strategy and Future Department, who presented the strategy’s key features. Its vision, she explained, seeks to establish a leading global model of diplomacy and international standing, while its mission focuses on advancing the UAE’s foreign policy priorities and mobilising Emirati diplomacy through bilateral and multilateral cooperation in support of peace, security, prosperity, and development regionally and globally.
Five pillars anchor the plan. The first is the most commercially significant: strengthening the UAE’s active global role by expanding its economic and political partnerships, a signal that trade and commercial diplomacy will sit alongside political engagement in the Ministry’s forward planning. The remaining pillars cover harnessing scientific and technological advances to serve national interests, developing and improving the efficiency of services to meet the expectations of citizens and residents, strengthening public diplomacy tools, and showcasing the UAE’s values and international presence.
Meanwhile, the ceremony doubled as a performance review across the Ministry’s network of missions and departments. Seventeen diplomatic and consular missions accredited to the UAE from brotherly and friendly countries were honoured for outstanding cooperation with the Ministry. They included the embassies of the Republic of Costa Rica, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Senegal, New Zealand, the State of Kuwait, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Commonwealth of Australia, Georgia, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and the French Republic; the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Bahrain; and the embassies of the State of Qatar and the Hellenic Republic.
Eighteen Ministry departments were recognised under the main award category. The Strategic Communication Department won the Outstanding Department in Political and Specialised Affairs award, the Consular Services Department took the Outstanding Department in Service Delivery award, and the Digital Transformation Department won in the Support Services category. In the Outstanding Diplomatic Mission category, the winners were the UAE embassies in Bangkok, Tunis, and Beirut, and the UAE Consulate General in Shanghai, while the Best Mission in Serving Citizens and Residents Abroad awards went to the embassies in Muscat, Riyadh, and Kathmandu and the Consulate General in Mumbai.
Further departmental awards went to the Consular Services Department for Quality of Life Improvement and Future Readiness, the Policy Planning Department for Strategic Direction and Competitiveness and, jointly with Consular Services, for Partnership and Integration, the Security Affairs Department for Resources and Assets, and the UAE Nationals Affairs Department for Data and Knowledge Management.
Individual honours recognised performance across senior and junior grades. Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi won the Outstanding Leader award for his former role as Assistant Minister for Development and International Organisations, and Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Ambassador to the Russian Federation, won the Outstanding Head of Mission award. Mohammed Ahmed Al Mansoori, Deputy Director of the Consular Services Department, won the Outstanding Supervisory Employee award at department director and deputy director level, while Saeed Hamad Al Ghafli won at section head level for his former role as Head of the Economic Affairs Section at the UAE Embassy in Beijing. Khalid Waleed Al Hashmi won the Outstanding Diplomatic Employee award for his former role as Country Desk Specialist in the Asian and Pacific Affairs Department, Engineer Amani Abdullah Al Naqbi won the Outstanding Specialised Employee award for her former role as Contracts Specialist in the Contracts and Procurement Department, Fahad Saeed Al Zarooni won the Outstanding Young Employee award for his former role as Strategic Planning and Performance Measurement Specialist in the Strategy and Future Department, and Maryam Eissa Al Zarooni won the Outstanding Customer Happiness Employee award for her former role as Attestation and Public Services Specialist in the Consular Services Department. Mayed AlMer, a scholarship student at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, won the Outstanding Scholarship Student award.
Sheikh Abdullah congratulated the winners, saying the recognition honours their efforts and contributions and encourages further achievement in support of the Ministry’s ambitions over the next three years. He emphasised the importance of a proactive and innovative approach that delivers significant advances in performance and supports the UAE’s aspirations for leadership across government and diplomatic work, and he expressed appreciation to the judging committee.
The award is benchmarked against the criteria of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Government Excellence Award. Since its launch in 2014, it has promoted a culture of institutional and individual excellence and encouraged the adoption of best practices by identifying areas for improvement to boost efficiency across the Ministry’s sectors. Gulf News carried further details of the launch and ceremony at https://gulfnews.com/uae/abu-dhabi/abdullah-bin-zayed-witnesses-launch-of-mofa-strategy-for-2027-2029-honours-award-winners-1.500721046, noting the Ministry’s framing of the 2027 to 2029 period as one of readiness, capability-building, and expanded international partnership.
How the new strategy’s first pillar, expanded economic and political partnerships, translates into concrete trade and investment diplomacy over the coming three years will be watched closely by investors and market observers across the region.