Founder of the UAE and Late President,
H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

From the President’s Desk

Today’s UAE: The Legacy of
Sheikh Zayed Lives On

His Highness Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of today’s UAE, was a visionary. More than any other leader in the Arab world, perhaps, he recognized the essential role that human capital plays in the development of a nation.

When others might have squandered their resources on lavish palaces, Sheikh Zayed built schools. When others might have led ostentatious lifestyles, Sheikh Zayed lived modestly, focusing instead on a high quality of life for all Emiratis. And when others might have selfishly hoarded their wealth, Sheikh Zayed invested generously in his people.

By the grace of God, the UAE has been blessed with enormous energy resources. Revenues from oil and gas enabled Sheikh Zayed to transform the UAE from an obscure hinterland to a highly respected nation-state in a matter of decades. By all accounts, the UAE, along with the United States of America, is the most successful federation in the world.

If Sheikh Zayed were alive today, he would undoubtedly say that the story of the UAE’s success is not about one man’s dreams. Rather, it is about faith and cooperation: faith that the statehood experiment launched by seven disparate emirates in 1971 would succeed, and cooperation – setting aside one’s personal interests or those of one’s emirate for the greater good of the UAE.

Competition remains among the emirates today – like siblings engaged in a good-natured footrace – but cooperation is stronger than it has ever been. For the first time in memory, master planning for mega-projects – ports, light rail, highways, airports, and the like – is being undertaken with multiple emirates and economies of scale in mind. The result: In a few short years, inter-emirate communications, transportation, and infrastructural development will be more seamlessly connected than ever.

Dubai, under the leadership of its Ruler, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has been largely responsible for raising the profile of the UAE on the world stage. The emirate’s innovative and sometimes audacious economic expansion – at home and around the globe – is the stuff of legend.

Not everyone is in love with Dubai, but even its detractors must admit that Dubai has been incredibly successful in positioning the emirate as a global hub. With its world-class airports, airlines, free zones, theme cities, financial center, and leisure facilities, Dubai has become an international platform for just about anything under the sun.

This approach to development may have been expressed best by H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi, the UAE’s Minister of Economy. At a NUSACC roundtable discussion last year, she noted, “The UAE doesn’t look at its borders, period. When we look at markets, we look at the two billion consumers in the region.” This, in a nutshell, has been the key to Dubai’s success.

Dubai may be the public face that much of the world associates with the UAE, but the other emirates are expanding rapidly. Abu Dhabi, for example, is an unassuming powerhouse that is expected to invest more than $200 billion in the next few years alone. The five other emirates that make up the UAE – Ajman, Fujairah, Ra’s Al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al-Qaiwain – aren’t far behind.

Sheikh Zayed once said, “With the help of God and a sincere will, there is nothing that cannot be achieved in the service of the people.”

With Sheikh Zayed’s death in 2004, the UAE’s mantle of leadership has been passed to his son, H.H. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He is blazing his own trail as Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the UAE yet, to his credit, he is doing a remarkable job of honoring his father’s memory. Through Sheikh Khalifa, the legacy of Sheikh Zayed lives on: his deep belief in stewardship, his strong commitment to cooperation and, above all, his love for the people of the UAE.

David Hamod
President & CEO