The United Arab Emirates has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations which allows sending expert Emirati citizens to work for the latter under the Associate Experts Programme, also referred to it as the JPO. The UAE has become the 29th country to join the programme.

The MOU was signed yesterday dring a reception hosted by the UAE Mission in New York. It was signed by Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, UAE Permanent Representative to the UN.

The MOU signing took place in presence of Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Valerie AmosValerieAmos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Under the MOU, the UAE government is allowed to send its expert citizens to work for the UN in defined terms usually 1-2 years. The JPOs would be offered a job at the UN after completing their term.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of International Cooperation and Development are working together to develop a selection process to choose candidates from the UAE Government entities, and that it will be announced once finalized.

Candidates for such missions are usually young people with masters degree and 1-2 years of experience.