Reunion of UAE Alumni of KAIST & UAE-ROK Nuclear Community Friendship Night
- Welcome Remarks
March 25, 2018
كيف الحال؟
(Keif al-Hal? How are you doing?)
Good evening excellencies, distinguished guests, and KAIST alumni!
It is indeed my great pleasure and privilege to welcome you all this evening.
On behalf of KAIST, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the distinguished guests joining this gathering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology.
In particular, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to His Excellency Minister of Education Hussain Al Hammadi, Her Excellency Minister of State for Advanced Sciences Sarah Al Amiri, President of Khalifa University Tod Laursen, Director General of FANR Mr. Christopher Viktorsson, Chairman of the National Research Council of Science and Technology Kwangyun Wohn, President of KAERI Jaejoo Ha, Acting Director General of Ministry of Science and ICT Moongi Choi, and senior administrators of KU for making this gathering so special.
We are here today to celebrate the KAIST Alumni Reunion in the UAE as well as UAE-ROK Nuclear Friendship Night.
As all of you already know, this event is taking place in parallel with the state visit of South Korea’s President Moon Jae In to the UAE.
It is truly my honor to host this event as the president of KAIST and welcome KAIST alumni in the UAE and our friends from the nuclear sector as well as other science and technology sectors. I also would like to extend my thanks to KU and KAERI for co-hosting this event.
This event includes signing an MOU between KU and KAIST with a special focus on the fourth industrial technology development. This aims to expand the mutual collaboration that has been going on since 2010 after the signing of the MOU in December 2009.
This collaboration has been a very important part of UAE and ROK cooperation since the signing of a contract to build four nuclear power plants in Barakah in 2009.
We have worked together diligently through various educational and research activities in a number of common interest areas including nuclear engineering, bio-medical engineering, robotics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, and materials science.
I also would like to recognize that KU has become the best university in the UAE and the second best university in the Arab region according to the Times Higher Education rankings. I strongly believe that KU can be the best university in the Arab region in the near future.
They made such remarkable achievements during the very short period of time since their establishment. Congratulations to President Laursen and all of our friends in the UAE. Let’s give a big round of applause to them.
I am also very pleased and honored to mention that KAIST has contributed to this remarkable achievement with strong support of the faculty and administrators of KU and the Korean government. The MOU to be signed tonight will signal the dawn of the second phase of our long partnership with KU.
Before I arrived here, I just completed KAIST Vision Week to launch our new vision called Vision 2031 toward our 60th anniversary.
It is a plan and strategy for KAIST to become one of the top universities in the world by 2031 with our vision to create the academic, technological, economic and social values at the global level. Within our new vision, one of our focus areas is the globalization of KAIST.
I believe this collaboration with KU and the UAE is very important in helping us blaze that path.
As the first alumnus president of KAIST, I also want to recognize all of our alumni in the UAE. All of you are very valuable asset for this remarkable nation.
I am very proud to say that His Highness Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed is also a proud alumnus of KAIST.
I have no doubt that as KAIST family you all will be top leaders who will shape the future of the UAE and the world.
I wish you continued success in your career and happiness in your life. Your passion and hard work will make our partnership be the guiding light for both countries’ future growth and development.
Let me close my speech by welcoming all of you once again and wishing you a wonderful and joyful evening.
شكرا جزيلا
(Shukran jazeelan)
Thank you very much.
Sung-Chul Shin President, KAIST