President Sheikh Mohamed said unity was the strength of the UAE as the country marks Union Pledge Day.
It was on this date, July 18, in 1971 that UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, signed the declaration of the Union and the Constitution, while announcing that the country would be named officially as the United Arab Emirates.
"On Union Pledge Day, we celebrate the blessed history of our Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and his brothers the Rulers in working together towards establishing the Union," Sheikh Mohamed said in a post on X.
"As we renew our shared commitment to sustaining the progress and prosperity of the UAE, we affirm that unity remains the strength of our nation and its continued advancement."
The occasion was established to reaffirm loyalty to the homeland and celebrate the country’s continued development, state news agency Wam reported.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said in a post on X that the occasion marked the day the nation's founders agreed on the resources and effort needed to build the "greatest unification project in the modern Arab world".
"Today, we renew our pledge to continue building with the same spirit, the same resolve and with global ambitions for the future," Sheikh Mohammed said.
The day aims to strengthen national identity and raise public awareness of the steps that propelled the UAE to its current status as a regional and global leader, Wam added.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China |
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Japan |
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Canada |
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
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Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
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