“The past 15 years were beautiful, fast and full of efforts and accomplishments.” That is how His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai described the 15 years he has been at the helm of the federal government, in a letter to the people of the UAE, published on Sunday.
Building on the solid foundations of the founding fathers, and with the support of His Highness President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, one of the great leaders of modern history, has since January, 2006, engineered one of the most successful and substantial national development processes in the world, transforming the UAE into a global leader in almost every development sphere.
Today, the UAE is ranked on top in most of the 437 global indexes- from business to health and education, from trust in government to efficiency of the internet, from rule of the law to easiness in doing business. In those beautiful, fast, and busy 15 years, Mohammed Bin Rashid instilled in the federal government a culture of competitiveness and excellence. A second place is not good enough for him.
But the most important benchmark for this exceptional leader is how a government treats its people with respect- “whoever they are and no matter where they come from.” The values of tolerance, respect, justice, co-existence and dignified life for all are the ones that sustain this fantastic development in the UAE for the next 50 years.
That is what Mohammed Bin Rashid taught us all in those wonderful 15 years. Nothing can be accomplished in a state that doesn’t espouse those noble values, he says. That is what is the UAE is all about.
