Abu Dhabi: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said the UAE, under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has moved from the margins to the centre of action, and from waiting, watching and reactions to initiative-taking and pro-activity.
“Our political, economic and cultural presence has imposed itself and is now sought-after and welcomed around the world. The supreme goal in the first decade of our Federation
was to promote education, reduce illiteracy. In the fourth decade, we did not only reduce illiteracy to the minimum, but we are also preparing specialised human resources in the most modern and complex disciplines of science,” Shaikh Mohammad said in a statement to Dira’a Al Watan magazine on the occasion of the 43rd National Day.
“Our sons and daughters have become qualified in nuclear science, smart technology and ultra-advanced technologies. In education, we moved from embracing quantity to embracing quality, our Emiratisation plans are going as scheduled, and we proactively interact with the digital world and its practical manifestations,’’ Shaikh Mohammad said.
“It was, therefore, only natural that we advanced on the international indices of comprehensive development. For years, our ranking remained within the “second half of nations”, but today we are among the top ten nations. For instance, the UAE retained eighth place internationally, and the first in the Middle East, on the 2014 IMD Annual World Competitiveness Ranking. We also retained the top place internationally in terms of competency of government, lack of bureaucracy, quality of government decisions and quality of air transport, among others.
In addition, the Vice President added, the UAE has been ranked the 14th happiest country in the world, and was ranked first among the Arab countries in the second United Nations World Happiness Report which was produced by the University of British Columbia’s Earth Institute and which covers 156 nations.
“With God’s help and through the minds, resolve and ambition of our youth, we will continue to make progress and will write a new history of achievements and excellence that will make our people happier and become a source of good for our nation and the whole world,” Shaikh Mohammad added.
Regionally, Shaikh Mohammad said the UAE has built an Emirati model in a regional and international environment of confusion, scrambling, wars and conflicts.
“In the past four decades, three wars have broken out in our region and some of these wars went on for years posing threats to the security and stability of all the countries of the region. Thanks to our political approach, our commitment to the principles of peaceful coexistence and good-neighbourlines, the preparedness and efficiency of our Armed Forces and security services, the unique love between our people and leaders, we have been able to spend those four decades peacefully,” he remarked.
“During the past four years, the aftermath of the so-called Arab Spring has wreaked havoc on several Arab countries and has adversely affected the Arab region in general where lethal chaos and mayhem prevailed in the countries involved, sectarian and racial divisions disturbed their societies, destructive civil wars are under way in some of these countries to continue to ruin people and land, violence and terrorism are spreading, and terrorist groups that falsely claim that they adhere to Islam have committed crimes that are unprecedented brutal crimes, thus presenting a disfigured image of Islam and Muslims where the bitterest enemies of Islam fail to present a worse image,” he noted.
Following is the full text of Shaikh Mohammad’s statement;
My dear compatriots,
May the peace and mercy of Allah be with you.
I salute and congratulate each and every one of you on the occasion of the 43rd National Day, and thank Allah Almighty for His generosity and for enabling us to achieve success. I do pray to Him to continue to bless us with His graces, to keep us on the Straight Path, strengthen our will and resolve as we seek to build this land and serve His people while we are guided by the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of God, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
On the 2nd of December every year, we celebrate the establishment of our Federation and our State. Year after year, we become more inspired by this occasion which becomes ever more cherished in our hearts and strengthens our allegiance to our country and leaders, our respect for the founding fathers and to the icon of our Federation, the late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Today, we remember Shaikh Zayed and Shaikh Rashid and their brethren the other rulers and founders and we say to them:
We did as you wish. The dreams you had for this country have come true in visible and tangible reality.
Had it not been for your good plants, we would not have been able to reap the fruits and renew what you already had planted in order to achieve glory.
This country that you departed for Eternity is cherished in our hearts and minds, and we work around the clock to achieve development and protect its security and stability so as to keep it ever glorious.
Your Emirati sons and grandchildren continue to keep their allegiance and commitment to the morals and values of allegiance and belonging, with their hearts filled with love for their leader, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
I say to my brother and friend Shaikh Khalifa: We dedicate this National Day to you. You already achieved the glory of the beginning and the early days of giving and building. You are one of the makers of 2nd December as you worked alongside the late Shaikh Zayed, and were his right-hand man when the building of our State started. When you became President ten years ago, you were faithful to Shaikh Zayed’s legacy as you preserved and developed it and even added to it. You made the accumulation of achievements meaningful, enabled fruitful continuity and presented an exemplary model for the connection between generations.
During your current reign, the UAE is making leaps and bounds in civilisational development. Your national action programme is achieving the empowerment of people in all spheres.
Dear Emirati men and women,
I know that you are overwhelmed with the feelings of happiness, pride and glory as Emiratis who are closely tied to their country and who stand by their leaders with whom you were able, over the past 43 years, to achieve a unique model for development that has won the recognition and appreciation of all.
The period of 43 years is no more than one passing moment in the history of peoples and nations, but for us it is a vast sea and a long eventful epoch. For we measure years, not by days, weeks and months, but by the achievements that speak for themselves. Suffice it to say that these achievements can best be reflected by the stature our State has achieved, and the role it is playing in the Gulf region, the Arab region and the whole world.
Where were we? Where are we now?
We have moved from the margins to the centre of action, and from waiting, watching and reactions to initiative-taking and pro-activity.
Our political, economic and cultural presence has imposed itself and is now sought-after and welcomed around the world.
The supreme goal in the first decade of our Federation was to promote education, reduce illiteracy. In the fourth decade, we did not only reduce illiteracy to the minimum, but we are also preparing specialised human resources in the most modern and complex disciplines of science.
Our sons and daughters have become qualified in nuclear science, smart technology and ultra-advanced technologies.
In education, we moved from embracing quantity to embracing quality, our Emiratisation plans are going as scheduled, and we proactively interact with the digital world and its practical manifestations. During the first decade of our Federation, we were dreaming of making up for what we missed out on and catching up with the sisterly nations that were ahead of us in terms of progress and civilisation. Now in the fourth decade of the Federation, the sky is the limit for our achievements and therefore we not only embraced the best international practices, but we are also emiratising them, adding to them and achieving excellence in them.
It was, therefore, only natural that we advanced on the international indices of comprehensive development. For years, our ranking remained within the “second half of nations”, but today we are among the top ten nations. For instance, the UAE retained eighth place internationally, and the first in the Middle East, on the 2014 IMD Annual World Competitiveness Ranking. We also retained the top place internationally in terms of competency of government, lack of bureaucracy, quality of government decisions and quality of air transport, among others.
In addition, the UAE has been ranked the 14th happiest country in the world, and was ranked first among the Arab countries in the second United Nations World Happiness Report which was produced by the University of British Columbia’s Earth Institute and which covers 156 nations.
We are interested in comprehensive developments indices because, first, they are internationally recognised and because they are produced by highly-credible international institutes; second, they help governments in addressing the weaknesses and failures in the performance of some developmental sectors and relating activities; third, we seek the top places but in this quest we never sought fame or record numbers or to just outrun others. Rather, we were racing with ourselves, and we engage in a race in order to achieve the best international practices, to achieve excellence in order to serve our people and to improve the quality of life in our country. We engage in races in order to ensure the sustainability of overall development in our country and to rise to the responsibilities towards our sons and daughters, grandchildren and the coming generations and to enable them to live in dignity and prosperity in our beloved country in which citizens enjoy security, stability and contentment.
The valuable lesson that we have learnt from the debate on the progress and backwardness of nations is that a state that does not seek to attain the top place will not be able to retain the place or ranking that it achieved. Rather, it regresses and then become too fatigued to continue its journey and eventually stops in the middle of the race.
Therefore, we have no choice but to seek the first place and work at double speed if we are to retain our advanced rankings on the international competitiveness indices.
What will we do as we look forward to attaining the first place by 2021 when we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of our State?
Our answer to that is well-known and it has been tested in the Emirati model of political, economic, social, human and cultural development. It is the model to which you Emiratis, the sons of Khalifa and grandchildren of Zayed, contributed, and it is what enables us to attain our current stature. It is rich in self-experiences and the invaluable learned lessons. We only have to look forward confidently and with determination to consolidate the foundations on which we built this model, deepen our social cohesion, improve the quality and perfection of our work, open wider avenues for innovative, proactive and creative people, bolster the foundations of security and stability, be aware of the changes in the region and the rest of the world, and keep up with the rising global trends in economy, science, telecommunications and technology.
Dear Emirati men and women,
We managed to build our Emirati model in a regional and international environment of confusion, scrambling, wars and conflicts.
In the past four decades, three wars have broken out in our region and some of these wars went on for years posing threats to the security and stability of all the countries of the region. Thanks to our political approach, our commitment to the principles of peaceful coexistence and good-neighbourlines, the preparedness and efficiency of our armed forces and security services, the unique love between our people and leaders, we have been able to spend those four decades peacefully.
During the past four years, the aftermath of the so-called Arab Spring has wreaked havoc on several Arab countries and has adversely affected the Arab region in general where lethal chaos and mayhem prevailed in the countries involved, sectarian and racial divisions disturbed their societies, destructive civil wars are under way in some of these countries to continue to ruin people and land, violence and terrorism are spreading, and terrorist groups that falsely claim that they adhere to Islam have committed crimes that are unprecedented brutal crimes, thus presenting a disfigured image of Islam and Muslims where the bitterest enemies of Islam fail to present a worse image.
We have been following the developments in the Arab Spring countries and have countered with determination all the attempts to damage our security and stability. We are lying in wait for all those planning or even thinking of hurting us. At the same time, we are performing our duty of defending our straight religion, helping sisterly countries to overcome difficult circumstances, and look forward to bringing to an end all the abnormal situations in those countries in order to enable them to apply themselves solely to development and improving the quality of life of their citizens.
Dear Emirati men and women,
I am satisfied with the achievements we made last year, and look forward with hope to the next year. Last year, we improved our position in keeping up with the rising global trends that determine the future statures of states, their lifestyles, nature of business, performance in government and private sectors, both in terms of services and production.
The most outstanding of global trends is the digital trend which has consolidated the weight of knowledge at the forefront of economic fundamentals and the authority of human capital that produces knowledge over these fundamentals.
We keep pace with these developments through our educational development plans, the shift from e-government to smart government, introducing necessary amendments to the regulations of relating activities, unleashing the potentials of the creative and innovative youth and providing incubators for these potentials.
Furthermore, we are going ahead to implement our plans for contributing to the electronic infrastructure of space industry, becoming producers and contributors to production, after being consumers. Our human resources, who accounted for 70 per cent of the design and manufacturing of DubaiSat-2 which launched into orbit in 2013, are now working alone on the design and manufacturing of KhalifaSat which will be a 100 per cent Emirati satellite.
In furthering our efforts to keep pace with this rising global trend, we set up the UAE Space Agency and an Emirati-led project to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021, which will represent the Arab and Islamic entry into the era of space exploration. Those who don’t reserve their places in space today will not be able to retain their places on Earth tomorrow.
As for renewable energy production, our country does not only keep pace with this rising global trend but is also taking part in its leadership. The UAE today is a leader in future energy, and its capital, Abu Dhabi, is the renewable energy capital of the world and the prestigious centre for clean energy research and relating activities.
We have exceptional interest in the digital revolution because it is the pivot around which all global rising trends revolve. The interconnection and overlapping of business, production, services, software, innovation, telecommunications have become major realities in our life that are expanding day after day and gaining wider influence in all fields and trends due to the exponential growth of the volume of data available to humans at record speeds, the diversity of means of access to, and ease of use of, these data.
Today, ten billion objects are interconnected through the Internet of Things (Internet of Everything), from simple devices to huge factories, and from spacecraft to submarines in the deeps of the oceans. Three billion people have access to the internet, including two billion users of mobile phones. In our Arab region, 135 million people use the internet and 95 million people, of which more than two thirds are young, use social networking sites. This usage (in the Arab region) is growing at higher than the global average growth rate. It is even the highest such speed of growth in the world.
These figures are not without significant indications as they entail political, economic, cultural and social obligations and maturities that will have governments forced to incorporating them into their strategies and current and future plans.
We have been fully aware at an early stage of the obligations and maturities of the digital age. These have been a major pivot for our plans, work and projects.
Thank God we were at the forefront of countries keeping pace with the ICT revolution since the early signs of its emergence into existence and, at an early stage, we set up its infrastructure and launched the region’s first e-government, spreading its applications in our society and all sectors of production and services. This is what enabled us to powerfully break through into the digital world and to positively and confidently interact with all the other global rising trends.
Dear Emirati men and women,
Despite all the achievements that we have made, the stature that we have attained for our country and society, and despite all the excellence and high competitiveness on the global level, we are still at the beginning of our journey. In order to be able to continue our success, to develop it and to build further success in this digital age on it, using the many opportunities that this world is offering, we will have to put all our senses on the alert, mobilise all our capabilities, develop our institutions and legislation, instil and promote the culture of innovation and creativity in our culture on which we should bring up our children, and adapt our education and teaching methods to turn our schools and universities to incubators of innovators and creative people.
With God’s help and through the minds, resolve and ambition of our youth, we will continue to make progress and will write a new history of achievements and excellence that will make our people happier and become a source of good for our nation and the whole world.
On the 43rd National Day, I again extend my regards to President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates and my brother General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and pray to Allah, The All-Hearing and The Supreme-Answerer to enable us to do what pleases Him, protect our country and spare us from all that is evil. Amen.
May the peace and mercy of Allah be with you.
