DUBAI, 10th May, 2020 (WAM) — María Juliana Ruiz, First Lady of Colombia was briefed about the UAE’s experience to enhance the quality of life, at a virtual meeting with Ohoud bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing and Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, which was attended by Salem Rashid Al Owais, UAE Ambassador to Colombia, both sides discussed the friendship ties between the UAE and Colombia, and ways of enhancing their cooperation at various domains.

Al Roumi praised Ruiz’s role in improving the quality of life for the people of her country through her management of multi-faceted programmes for various segments of society, stressing that quality of life is a key priority for the UAE’s leadership.

Al Roumi reviewed the objectives of the UAE’s “National Strategy for Wellbeing” and its related initiatives, and highlighted the national campaign, titled, “Don’t Worry,” which aims to support the mental health of community members.

The campaign, which aims to create a positive spirit throughout society, in light of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, has generated over 860,000 interactions since its launch, and has been well received throughout society.

The First Lady of Colombia spoke about her country’s efforts to improve quality of life, and reviewed a number of initiatives aimed at achieving this goal. She cited programmes and initiatives that she is leading in this field, stressing the importance of strengthening the role of youth in supporting the transition to a model of innovation to develop efficient solutions to address future challenges. She also underlined the importance of enhancing the culture of volunteering and thanked the UAE for the humanitarian and medical assistance sent to the Republic of Colombia.

The UAE and Colombia have been enjoying excellent cooperation relations since the 1970s. Since the opening of the UAE embassy in Bogota in 2013, and the Colombian embassy in the UAE in 2015, the bilateral relations have been further growing. The volume of non-oil trade exchange hit about US$127 million in 2018 , amounting to US$176 million in the first half of 2019. Cooperation at the governmental level witnessed a quantum leap when the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange expertise at the World Government Summit in 2017 in Dubai.