Sheikh Mohammed: A timeline of achievements

November 01, 1968

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum appointed Head of Dubai Police and Public Security.

December 02, 1971

Takes charge as Minister of Defence in first UAE Cabinet after establishment of UAE.

1976

Orders UAE troops to Lebanon to join Arab Deterrent Force for a peacekeeping mission

August 25, 1977

Oversees Dubai International Airport, developing Dubai as international aviation hub and tourist attraction.

1985

Takes charge of Jebel Ali Free Zone, a port-based industrial area centred around Jebel Ali port.

January 04, 1995

Appointed Crown Prince of Dubai.

February 16, 1996

Launches Dubai Shopping Festival.

March 27, 1996

Announces inaugural Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race.

October 28, 2000

Declares opening of Dubai Internet City

January 20, 2001

Opens Dubai Media City.

October 29, 2001

Launches Dubai’s e-government initiative

February 16, 2002

Announces establishment of Dubai International Financial Centre.

January 04, 2006

Appointed Ruler of Dubai following death of his brother Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

January 05, 2006

Becomes Vice-President as elected by the UAE Supreme Council. The council also approved proposal of the President to appoint Sheikh Mohammed as Prime Minister.

February 09, 2006

Forms new UAE Cabinet.

February 19, 2006

Launches Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), a global aerospace manufacturing and services corporation with Dh55 billion investments.

March 14, 2006

Issues Law No. 7 that legalises freehold ownership of land and property for UAE and GCC citizens, while allowing the same rights to non-GCC expatriates to pre-designated areas that will be approved by the Ruler of Dubai.

April 23, 2006

Presents first copy of his book, My Vision-Challenges in the Race of Excellence.

September 09, 2006

Appoints Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as head of Dubai Executive Council.

December 18, 2006

Lauds first-ever Federal National Council (FNC) elections and praises the participation of women.

July 08, 2007

Inaugurates three major projects - the new floating bridge linking the two banks of Dubai Creek, the new waterbus transport and the new articulated buses. These projects improve Dubai’s traffic and transport services.

September 19, 2007

Launches “Dubai Cares,” a campaign which aims to fund education of poor children worldwide. He donates Dh1.7 billion to Dubai Cares doubling it to Dh 3.48 billion

November 05, 2007

Sets up Dubai City Aviation, comprising Dubai Airports, Dubai World Central, and Dubai Air Traffic Navigation.

February 01, 2008

Appoints Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum as Crown Prince of Dubai and Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum as Deputy Ruler of Dubai.

September 03, 2008

Launches Noor Dubai.

June 28, 2009

Launches Dubai 2020, to engage Emirati society in shaping their nation’s future in bid to host the World Expo and Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020.

September 09, 2009

Launches Dubai Metro.

January 03, 2010

Inaugurates Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

February 06, 2010

Launches UAE vision 2021 with aim of making UAE ‘one of the best countries in the world’ by 2021.

July 01, 2010

Inaugurates Dubai World Central - Al Maktoum airport.

09/11/2010

Inaugurates the one million tree planting campaign.

January 09, 2012

Launches Dh12 billion solar project, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

March 11, 2012

Launches Minister’s e-briefcase and e-knowledge Centre for Cabinet members

March 21, 2012

Launches Modern Art Museum and Opera House District

September 22, 2012

Launches the Mohammad Bin Rashid Initiative for Smart Learning for higher education

October 27, 2013

Inaugurates Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World central.

July 15, 2014

Announces launch of a $1 million global award and the establishment of the UAE Water Research Agency to find sustainable solutions to water scarcity across the world.

November 16, 2014

Announces plan to send space probe to Mars in 2021, marking the first entry into space exploration by an Islamic country and making the UAE the first Arab country and one of only nine countries with space programmes to explore Mars.

July 11, 2015

Issues law for establishing Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre, which will work to support country’s efforts in the field of space exploration.

September 16, 2015

Launches Arab Reading Challenge, a competition with $3 million in prizes to get 1 million Arab children to read 50 million books.

November 24, 2015

Launches Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Fund to Finance Innovation, worth Dh2 billion.

February 07, 2016

Inaugurates Museum of the Future, one of the key highlights of the World Government Summit.

April 27, 2016

Launches world’s first integrated and comprehensive strategy to explore 3D printing - a technique first used to create architecture models.

November 08, 2016

Inaugurates Dubai Water Canal.

February 14, 2017

Dubai 10X initiative launches. Dubai government entities were told to submit plans to place the city as the world’s future capital in the next 10 years under the new initiative.

June 23, 2017

Launches the Humanitarian Accelerators, a first of its kind initiative in the Arab world, which aims to attract skilled professionals to the humanitarian sector.

September 18, 2017

Unveils a new e-Learning project to provide free online educational material for more than 50 million students in the Arab world.

September 26, 2017

Launches Mars Scientific City. The city that will be built on an area of 1.9 million square feet is expected to strengthen UAE’s space research.

March 01, 2018

Launches One million books initiative to support school libraries as part of Month of Reading.

October 16, 2018

Launches the Madrasa a new UAE e-learning platform offering 5,000 educational videos.

October 29, 2018

KhalifaSat launches into orbit, the first Arab satellite that is 100% Emirati-made.

Compiled by Gulf News Archives