UAE: Toward the next 50 years under leadership of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed

Dubai: The UAE government will hold a ministerial retreat on Tuesday to discuss the country’s priorities for the next 50 years, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported today.

The retreat will be chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The retreat aims to lay down a strategic framework for the development vision of the UAE over the next 50 years and will discuss the form of our government, how to accelerate our development process and improve the business and economic environment in the country in a bid to achieve new paradigm shifts.

"I will chair, along with my brother, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, a government retreat, which will discuss the priorities of the next fifty years and how to accelerate our development process and improve our business environment and economy, to achieve new competitive leaps," Sheikh Mohammed said.

"The retreat aims to draft a series of plans and initiatives for harnessing our energies and preparing our institutions for what the UAE will be like in the next fifty years. The future requires proactive plans, innovative initiatives and new skills, to maintain our leadership and success and provide better lives for generations to come in the country," he added.

Holding the government retreat coincides with the UAE’s Golden Jubilee and aims to plan the country’s development process for the next fifty years, as well as harness the efforts, resources and capacities of all national authorities and sectors, to design new action models and plans that will make the UAE the best country in the world in terms of quality of life in the next fifty years.

Coinciding with the announcement that 2020 was the year of preparations for the next fifty years, the country began drafting an overall national action plan for the next fifty years and started preparing for the UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2021, with the participation of all segments of the community, whether citizens and residents, as well as the public and private sectors and non-profit organisations.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed ordered the formation of two committees reporting to the UAE Cabinet.

The first committee will be in charge of drafting a development action plan for the next fifty years and will be headed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, with its Vice President being Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs.

The second committee will oversee the UAE Golden Jubilee celebrations and will be headed by H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, while Sheikha Mariam bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be its Vice President.

The first committee is responsible for drafting a comprehensive national development vision, planning the modernisation of government work and making the UAE Government the fastest, most flexible and most adaptable to future developments, in addition to involving members of the community in designing the lives of people in the UAE in the next fifty years.

The year of preparations for the next fifty years also witnessed the announcement of a project, entitled, "Designing the Next 50 Years in the UAE," by Sheikh Mohammed. The project comprises several interactive initiatives involving government authorities, private sector companies and members of the community.