The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) hosted a regional expert meeting on healthy diet policies in Dubai. The event, which was hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, aimed to discuss recent developments in the field of healthy diet policies at the regional level, with a special emphasis on the UAE and GCC countries, in light of the Strategy on Nutrition for the Eastern Mediterranean Region 2020–2030.

Senior officials and experts from the UAE's health and related sectors, as well as experts and representatives from the GCC states, attended the meeting. Additionally, many other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region participated remotely. The meeting explored ways to advance food system actions that support healthy diets, evaluated the latest guidelines and trends, and facilitated discussions on opportunities for collaboration. It aimed to gain insights from international experiences in implementing the four key areas of work: food reformulation and processing, public food procurement, fiscal policies, and food labelling.

The event assessed member states' support needs and opportunities for cooperation and examined the experiences of countries in implementing policies in these four areas. It informed member states of the latest guidelines issued by the WHO and its related initiatives.