What made this country as it is today? Some of the answers are obvious. The political will and determination of leaders like Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid. The bounty of natural resources such as oil and gas. The ability to think big, with projects like Dubai Dry Docks and Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Alone, though, this does not explain the success of the UAE. Like a photograph that, on close inspection, is formed from many thousands of pixels, so the true portrait of the nation is formed from the multitude of those who live there.
This week, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, travelled to India to meet an elderly woman many know only as "Mama Zulekha".
Dr Zulekha Daud, as she is more formally called, came to Dubai in 1964, when the emirate was still part of what were known as the Trucial States, and its internal and external affairs were largely controlled by Britain.
In a 50-year connection with the UAE, the daughter of a construction worker was to found two hospitals, several medical centres and a chain of pharmacies.
For more than 10,000 people there is an even deeper connection with Dr Daud – she delivered them as new-born babies. Hence “Mama Zulekha”.
In another, similar, ceremony in April, Sheikh Abdullah honoured the family of Katsuhiko Takahashi. You are forgiven if the name is not familiar, but if you live in Abu Dhabi, Takahashi literally shaped your daily life.
He was the city’s first town planner, arriving in 1967 to realise Sheikh Zayed’s grand vision. There is a story that the Ruler and the planner would walk the then empty sands of Abu Dhabi island as Sheikh Zayed sketched out his vision with a camel stick.
To Takahashi, who died last year, we owe the city's wide roads, its green parks and the broad sweep of the Corniche.
It is one of the objectives of the Year of Zayed to honour those who made their mark in the development of the Emirates. There is no doubt Sheikh Zayed himself would have approved.
To build his country, first as Ruler of Abu Dhabi and then President of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed was well aware that it could not be accomplished without the skills and efforts of others, many from far flung lands.
Those who came here, first in the 1960s and increasingly in the 1980s, often did so as a leap of faith. This was a time before villas with swimming pools, five star hotels, brand laden shopping malls and long Friday brunches.
For diplomats and Western executives, the UAE then was often described as a hardship posting, although the length of time many have stayed suggests that was not their experience.
But coming to a place about which so little was known required determination, courage, tolerance and no small measure of good humour. Precisely the qualities needed to build a country.
One of those was Abdul Hafeez Khan Al Yousefi, a graduate in Agricultural Science from Karachi University. In the summer of 1962, he stepped off a plane on a sandy airstrip on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.
Could there be more desolate and barren place, Mr Al Yousefi asked himself? And then a car arrived to drive him to Al Ain.
He had been hired by Sheikh Zayed, then the Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region, to green the desert, helping create what is now known as the Garden City.
Well past retirement age, Mr Al Yousefi stayed in Al Ain to retire in the house built for him by Sheikh Zayed. In an interview with The National in 2015, the gardener from Pakistan recalled the instructions he was first given: "Give me agriculture and I assure you of civilisation."
Abdul Rahman Hassanein Makhlouf. Margrit Muller. Roger Upton. Adnan Pachachi. Dominic Vugrinec. All have been winners of the Abu Dhabi Awards, decided, in the words of the judges: "In the belief that every person is inherently selfless and capable to support and care for others and their community."
Dr Makhlouf is a renowned Egyptian architect who managed the Department of Planning in the 1970s and had a hand in many of the city’s best loved buildings. Dr Muller founded the Falcon Hospital, saving the lives of countless birds and establishing a world-class research centre.
Mr Upton’s book on falconry preserves what was a way of life for Bedouin tribes. There is not enough space here to fully describe Dr Pachachi’s long and distinguished diplomatic career but it included a key role in establishing the first UAE mission to the UN.
Dominic Vugrinic is the odd one out, only that he was just 14 when he won a 2013 award for his work in identifying scoliosis, a spinal curvature that afflicted more than a dozen of his classmates.
All have something in common. They were born outside the UAE, but have each given a little of themselves to the country.
The roll call of those who made the UAE of course includes the expertise that drilled the first oil wells and built the first refineries that generated the income to bring prosperity.
They include civil engineers, architects, planners but also doctors, teachers, librarians, pilots, even, dare it be said journalists. Then there are those who toiled – and continue to toil – in the sun, literally laying the building blocks of a country.
When Louvre Abu Dhabi opened last year, among those thanked for their part in the ambitious cultural project by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, was group of construction workers. Like his father, Sheikh Mohammed understood the part they played.
There are many more who could be named, many who would be embarrassed to be so identified. You can add humility as a characteristic of those who have best served the UAE.
It is sometimes said, although impossible to precisely tabulate, that 200 nationalities have made their home in the UAE. That is seven more than the number of nations that are members of the United Nations.
Their contributions individually are important, collectively they have been critical, not just in the role played in the country’s past but as it is now, and will be in the future.
The great 17th Century English scientist Sir Isaac Newton once put it this way. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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The Written World: How Literature Shaped History
Martin Puchner
Granta
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
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THE BIO
Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
Favourite colour: Blue
The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
Surianah's top five jazz artists
Billie Holliday: for the burn and also the way she told stories.
Thelonius Monk: for his earnestness.
Duke Ellington: for his edge and spirituality.
Louis Armstrong: his legacy is undeniable. He is considered as one of the most revolutionary and influential musicians.
Terence Blanchard: very political - a lot of jazz musicians are making protest music right now.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
