UAE welcomes 2023 with optimism

The New Year dawns full of enthusiasm, enterprise, opportunities and the hope that the coming 12 months will be brimming with hope and good fortune for all.

New Years are a time for optimism, an opportunity to embrace change, to embark on a journey through the calendar, setting new benchmarks, attaining new goals, achieving success. And certainly, 2023 is full of hope and opportunity for the UAE.

We live in a homeland that embraces the future and what it has to offer. Indeed, such is the case now, building on the tremendous momentum and optimism generated by all of the celebrations of this nation in its 50th year. Now, striding into 2023, we step forward confident and proud of our history and heritage.

Just 11 months from now, world leaders, environmentalists, researchers and decision makers will be gathering here for COP28 — perhaps the most critical event for shaping the future of our planet and ensuring action against climate change.

The stakes could not be higher, and the 10-day event offers the best chance yet to ensure that the causes and effects of global warming are thwarted.

This nation has long committed itself to building a future based on renewable resources. Masdar is squarely built and focused solely on bringing earth-changing technologies to life.

A resounding success

The success of Expo 2020 showed that this nation is at the vanguard of environmental and technological change — and will offer leadership and counsel in making sure COP28 is a resounding success.

This is a nation too that leads the way in the Arab world. Throughout 2023, the nuclear power station at Al Barakah — the only such plant in the Middle East — will continue to come fully on-stream, powering the UAE with clean and renewable energy.

Across our seven emirates, the Etihad Rail network continues to bind our cities and communities with a modern train system that is reshaping our economy through civil engineering that is, on the scale and undertaking, truly pioneering.

This coming year too will be a time when this nation continues to lead the global recovery from the buffeting economic winds that strengthened during the coronavirus pandemic. While events in Ukraine might lead to uncertainty, here, the UAE is perfectly positioned to grow and foster peace, security and progress.

Ideally situated between east and west, we will continue to be a global hub for trade and commerce, an economic tour de force in strengthening the global economy.

Over the past three years, our government, public health and medical personnel and facilities have shown that we are capable of managing and overcoming the deep and unprecedented challenges posed by Covid-19.

We can never truly let our guard down and we must remain vigilant of such crises in the future — but the recent chapters have underscored our ability to come together and work with unity as never before.

Over the course of the coming year, we will harness that can-do attitude to grow and build a future where all benefit and prosper from a common sense of purpose.