UAE marches ahead

Throughout its brief history the UAE has been noted for its ‘can do' attitude. In the late 1960s, when the founding fathers of the future nation gathered to plan ahead, they were not put off by the huge challenges involved in creating a nation from disparate emirates.

The initial talks included Qatar and Bahrain, which in the end decided to go their own way and become their own states. By 1971 six of the seven emirates had agreed on how they wanted to form a new nation, and their leaders signed the founding charter of the UAE on December 2. Ras Al Khaimah followed a few months later and the course was set for the UAE to become a nation.

Building a new country was not easy, as the population of the different emirates had yet to work together and develop the vital bonds created by common citizenship.

Confident nation

So looking back after 38 years, it is the UAE's greatest achievement that the federation has succeeded, and the UAE is now a confident nation taking its rightful place in the global world of the 21st century, ready to deal with free flow of information and views, happy to be part of the new knowledge economy that the whole world is struggling to get used to, and secure in the knowledge that its population has been educated to meet these challenges.

The globally open world is a tough environment for any state, particularly a small one like the UAE. So it is an important part of the UAE's continuing success that the ‘can do' attitude keeps the country ready for change. The government knows that its educational offering has to improve yet again, to match the endlessly improving standards set by global competition.

It is also aware that it has to continue to build the infrastructure vital for any nation willing to compete and lead in the 21st century. The fast-growing population in all emirates of the UAE has made normally standard government services into a major challenge to keep up with exploding demand: water, electricity, efficient local transport, and access to international air and sea transport, all require continual rethinking in order to match what is happening on the ground.

That is why the year that has just passed is such a major landmark for the UAE's ‘can do' attitude and its commitment to continual achievement.

Focus on infrastructure

In the middle of the biggest global recession for decades, the UAE was able to mark up many important achievements. Dubai launched the first line of the new Metro work for the city, matched by a federal commitment to build a UAE-wide rail work for the whole country. Such focus on spending on infrastructure and helping to build for the future is exactly where the governments of the UAE should be directing their efforts, so as to allow the next generation to be able to operate as they will need to.

The challenge for the government is that delivering quality infrastructure is only the start. The next step is to have people with the right education and attitude to take advantage of what is available, and to look ahead to see where the world will be going in the next 30 years so as to be ready to lead.

The work of the Ministry of Education in the Al Ghad projects is part of the UAE's strategy to reform its own education to move away from learning by rote and develop the independent thinkers who are vital for the next generation.

Renewable energy

The UAE's commitment to the future is also obvious in the way that it has worked hard to develop new ways of implementing renewable energy. The extraordinary project in the green city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi will develop practical implementations of new technologies the rest of the world will be able to use. In addition, the UN member states' decision to base the International Renewable Energy Authority (Irena), in Abu Dhabi, shows how one of the world biggest producers of hydrocarbons is dedicated to finding out how the world can exist without hydrocarbons.

These projects, and many others outlined in this supplement, are all part of the UAE's commitment to continuing achievement. It recognises that it can never stay still, and the country's ‘can do' spirit, which it has enjoyed right from the start, is the vital ingredient for the UAE's confidence as it faces the future. n