United States: Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, has received the inaugural Global Leadership Award for Space Diplomacy from the Meridian Space Diplomacy Forum, which took place in Washington, DC, the US capital, in honor of the UAE’s efforts and successes in the space industry.
Alia Al Suwaidi, Deputy Chief of Mission, accepting the award on behalf of Al Otaiba, said that, “This award recognizes the hard work and dedication of everyone at the UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center. From launching the first-ever, made-in-the-UAE satellite, to sending two astronauts to the International Space Station, and becoming the fifth country to reach Mars, we couldn’t have achieved any of this without the US and our other international partners.”
The US-UAE relationship in space has grown dramatically during the last ten years. NASA and the UAE now work together on astronaut training and missions. The UAE most recently declared that it would build the airlock for NASA’s “Gateway,” the first lunar space station ever built by humans.
Numerous accomplishments of the UAE space program, such as the forthcoming expedition to the asteroid belt and the Emirates Mars expedition “Hope Probe,” have been made possible by the nation’s collaborations with US scientific institutions.
During the presentation of the award to Al Suwaidi, Ambassador Stuart Holliday, Meridian International Center’s Chief Executive Officer, commended the UAE’s achievements in the space sector noting that they are “nothing short of remarkable” given the relative newness of the UAE’s space program.
The Meridian Space Diplomacy Forum, which was held in conjunction with the State Department’s Space Diplomacy Week, brought together key players in the global space industry – including diplomats, space agency officials, and private-sector executives – to explore collaborative strategies and innovative diplomatic approaches in space exploration in an effort to shape responsible behavior in space.