UAE to live-stream first e-seminar to discuss ways to tackle Covid-19 crisis

 Independent research centre TRENDS Research & Advisory is organizing its first-ever E-Symposium to discuss the global impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and offer insights on the steps needed to mitigate its negative effects worldwide. This will be the first online symposium of its kind to be organized since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the Gulf and Middle East region.

To be held on March 31, 2020, at 7 pm UAE time, the E-Symposium - Confronting the Challenges of Covid-19: A New Global Outlook - will provide a unique and innovative online platform for international experts covering medical, geostrategic and economic perspectives.

Panelists will offer insights on the factors behind the emergence of the crisis and will also include a special perspective on how China coped with the initial outbreak of the pandemic and adopted measures and solutions that could offer valuable lessons for other countries.

Dr. Mohamed Al Ali, the Director General of TRENDS Research & Advisory lauded the center and its staff for their contributions under these exceptional circumstances. "Harnessing modern technology to hold this e-symposium will feed into the center's ambitious goals of strengthening scientific research and providing policy and decision-makers in the region and around the world," he said.

Al Ali said that ideas and recommendations are needed to deal with the challenge of Covid-19, which has become an existential threat to humanity. He expressed his confidence that this international E-Symposium, the first of its kind in the Middle East, will come up with recommendations that enhance the current regional and international efforts to curb the rapid spread of this pandemic.

"The pandemic has so far claimed the lives of more than 12,000 people and infected more than 300,000, in addition to having a calamitous economic and strategic impact on the entire world. Nearly 600 million people in around 22 countries are under forced social quarantine and 400 million under curfew," he said.

Dr. Mohamed Al-Ali said that think-tanks and research institutes should play their role in supporting governments and countries in today's circumstances so that we collectively stop this human tragedy by providing workable ideas, recommendations, and solutions.

With the Covid-19 crisis representing a historical milestone for the global community, this symposium performs a critical function in helping its participants identify the continuities and changes expected in the months and years to come.

The E-Symposium will be live-streamed via TRENDS YouTube channel.

• Dubai