At Dubai Expo Intelligence Minister Stern Calls for Regional Horizon Scanning Network

Minister of Intelligence Elazar Stern on Wednesday called for increased cooperation, including the creation of a Horizon Scanning network across the region, as Israel's Ministry of Intelligence opened its exhibition at the Dubai Expo.

A delegation from the Ministry of Intelligence explained how Israel can assist the UAE and potentially other nations in the region to better prepare for unexpected future events.

“We would like to suggest the building of national Horizon Scanning mechanisms, like the ones which already exist in several countries in the world, and then connect them to form a regional Horizon Scanning network,” Minister Stern told his UAE listeners over Zoom, introducing the new intelligence exhibition at the Israeli pavilion in the Expo. “Building a regional Horizon Scanning network will make Horizon Scanning more effective, widen cooperation, and improve relations between participating countries. This is our aim,” he said.

Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence says it is at the forefront of a mechanism aimed at identifying emerging global trends – from technologies, value, and supply chains to pandemics, medicine, climate change, and water and food security, to provide strategic early warnings and buy time for decision-making and preparation.

“I would like to discuss with my colleagues and counterparts how together we can safeguard the future of our world in general and our region in particular,” Minister Stern told his listeners, 1,635 miles away. “Many of these threats know no boundaries and don’t care about a person or a community’s nationality, religion, ethnicity, or gender. The Coronavirus pandemic has shown us that such threats can be sometimes more dangerous and costly to lives in socioeconomic terms than conventional military threats.”

“The climate crisis is already demonstrating that action on one side of the planet can have a devastating reaction on the other. These crises, which are devastating to our way of life, are demanding a regional and global approach,” Minister Stern said.