14 individual and group initiatives receive UAE Pioneers Award
Abu Dhabi: Fourteen individual and group initiatives, including two Christian expatriates in the UAE, were honoured on Tuesday as ‘UAE Pioneers’.
The prestigious award, was conferred by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
In its sixth edition, the UAE Pioneers Award coincides with the Year of Tolerance this year. The awardees were felicitated in Abu Dhabi at the end of the government meetings.
“We want to see tolerance in all areas of life. We want to educate the tolerant student, train the teacher to educate tolerant generations, and consolidate the values of tolerance that embody the true image of the UAE society,” Shaikh Mohammed said.
The Emirati pioneering individuals and entities made significant contributions to the Year of Tolerance.
Shaikh Mohammed dedicated this year to celebrate the leading figures and initiatives in tolerance that have played a role in highlighting the tolerance of the people of the UAE and their openness to the world and their cultures.
This embodies the goals of the Year of Tolerance announced by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Shaikh Mohammed said that tolerance represents the greatest value Almighty Allah has given to man, praising the exceptional models of UAE nationals and those living on its homeland, in tolerance and upholding human values.
“Today we honour outstanding models that embody the values of tolerance and the values of Zayed and its approach, and work to promote them in the UAE society, so that they become a way of life for all who live on the land of the UAE...Tolerance is the noblest human traits, without which the world will suffer, conflicts increase and nations and civilisations decline,” Shaikh Mohammed said.
“We are collectively responsible for spreading and promoting the values of tolerance, and participating in the consolidation of models and experiences that embody these values.”
On December 1, 2014, on the eve of the 43rd UAE National Day celebrations, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, recognised 43 Emiratis with the UAE Pioneers Award.
The awards were the culmination of a social media initiative that was launched with a tweet from Shaikh Mohammed’s Twitter account in November 2014.
The hashtag campaign prompted Emiratis to nominate fellow countrymen and women who they believed were pioneers in their respective fields. Within two weeks there were more than 137,000 entries, all nominated with the hashtag #UAE_Pioneers.
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