Sultan pays rich tribute to Zayed on death anniversary

Shaikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, on Sunday night paid tribute to the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan on his first death anniversary.

In a message issued at a symposium to mark the anniversary, which falls on November 2, Shaikh Sultan said the country, the Muslim and Arab worlds, as well as the international community suffered a great loss in the death of Shaikh Zayed last year.

The symposium, called Zayed: The Man, and attended by speakers from around the world, was held at the Deputy Prime Minister's Office of Information Affairs. Shaikh Sultan's Information Advisor Mohammad Khalifa Al Murar inaugurated it.

The Deputy Prime Minister said: "A year ago our father His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan (may Allah rest his soul in peace) departed. By his grievous departure we lost the kind heart and tenderness. The nation and citizens grievously lost the judicious, wise man who was worldwide known for his benefaction."

"They make us stand before a man of glory and honour. He has turned the desert into an oasis of abundance and prosperity," he said.

Shaikh Sultan said Shaikh Zayed was the forerunner of benefaction, building, and construction, and was a leader who truly deserves all this appreciation and gratitude. He said: "As we consider the value of these achievements, we conceive that his demise, though an inevitable fate that we have accepted with faith, has been a constant distress.

Shaikh Sultan stated that the late Shaikh Zayed made place in his heart to every poor and needy, to every orphan and handicapped, and to every child and old man and woman.

He presented a paper called Shaikh Zayed Pushed Forward UAE-Japanese Relations. HHe said: "Shaikh Zayed planted the seeds of relationship between the UAE and Japan which matured into the strong ties we have today and on this first anniversary."

'He will live in our memory forever'

Zaki Nusaiba, Advisor to President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said at a symposium held on Sunday to mark the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan's first death anniversary: "We all miss the great personality of His Highness the late Shaikh Zayed, a personality which will live in our memory forever." He stated that great men do not die, rather, they live forever through their immortal deeds.

AAli Hashemi, also an advisor to the president, said Shaikh Zayed was a man of immense character, open-minded, brave, wise and softhearted. To Shaikh Zayed governing was a duty, not an honour or prestige.

Jarno Juhani Peltonen, Professor of Cultural History at the University of Helsinki, said: "Today we are looking at his achievements from the humanistic point of view, while he himself said that the financial resources were a tool to facilitate the development of what he considered to be the real wealth of the country its people and particularly the younger generation."

TThe other speakers included Victor Lebedev, Executive Advisor to GCC countries and CIS, Dr Sami Al Gendy, member of the Egyptian National Assembly, and Irina Pavlovskaya, Professor at Tver State University.