Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, the activities of the 6^th edition of the GCC HR & Labor Market Conference will kick off Tomorrow “Monday” under the theme “Gulf Labor Market in Light of the Growth of the Digital Economy”.

The conference is organized by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) in collaboration with the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Federation of GCC Chambers and Arab Labor Organization, with the participation of an elite of decision-makers and entrepreneurs from the UAE and GCC, a number of private sector representatives of the Gulf labor market and a considerable youth representation from all GCC countries.

The two-day conference is held at the Expo Centre Sharjah in the presence of 21 speakers and 6 working papers to be discussed in the two mains sessions of the conference.

The working papers are focusing a number of essential topics including; the future of entrepreneurial projects in light of the digital economy, future careers, challenges facing the establishment and development of Gulf entrepreneurial projects, means of supporting gulf employment in the knowledge economy markets, future of Gulf employment in the entrepreneurial environment when transitioning to the digital economy, means of innovation and creativity to work together in the knowledge labor markets, and the Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratization’s initiative “Emiratization 360”.

While the keynote speakers of the opening session are; HE Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, Vice Chairman of Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Chairman of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry, HE Mohammad Thani Murshid Al Rumaithi, President of Federation of GCC Chambers, HE Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Meanwhile, HE Nasser bin Thani AL Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation will be the guest of honor of the opening session of the conference.

The first day of the conference is including a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities of gulf employment localization in the digital economy environment. While the second day will feature another session on how to make use of the graduation projects of the academic institutions’ graduates.

The closing statement will be released by the Federation of GCC Chambers, under the title “Recommendations and Documentation of Experiences.

Also, an accompanying exhibition and “Youth District” initiative will be launched on the sidelines of the conference.

The innovative initiative “Youth District” will include various lectures, workshops, panel discussions and youth rings, through which a number of youth and entrepreneurs will review several topics, most notably the gulf human resources, localization and challenges of gulf citizens’ employment, and establishment of their investment projects in the gulf labor market, in addition to showcasing the best practices that have been applied in this regard.

The conference, which is organized by the SCCI for the six-consecutive year, is considered as the largest forum of its kind for the private sector across the region.

This comes as part of the SCCI’s efforts to consider and find solutions to all the challenges facing the gulf youth in order to raise their capabilities to be in line with the latest technological developments, as well as the need to develop Gulf business communities, enhance their economic role and scale up their competitiveness.

This stems from the belief of all participating parties that investment in human capital is the key to achieving sustainable growth.