Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
December 01, 2023
Fifty-two years ago this Saturday, the rulers of six emirates along the coast of the Arabian Peninsula emerged, led by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, from a meeting at a small building now known as Union House, and raised, for the first time, the flag of a new nation. Two months later, they were joined by a seventh, Ras Al Khaimah, and the United Arab Emirates as we now know it was born.
The spirit of uniting different peoples under a common vision has been embedded deeply within the UAE’s national fabric ever since. Union Day, formerly known as National Day, takes place this year as Dubai hosts Cop28 – an international climate summit that epitomises that principle on a global scale.
The UAE has championed, in its role as Cop28 host, making inclusivity and open-mindedness central components of the summit’s discussions. The voices of groups too frequently underrepresented on the world stage – women, people with disabilities, indigenous people and youth – are expected to be amplified. Residents of the Emirates will remember that only four years ago inclusivity was at the forefront of the national conversation, when the country celebrated 2019 as the “Year of Tolerance”.
In an increasingly fractured, polarised and inward-looking world, the UAE bucks the trend
In that time, the UAE population, already home to nine million foreign residents hailing from more than 200 nations, has grown to become even more diverse. The opening of new churches, synagogues and Hindu temples, alongside mosques, is a testament to the spirit of fraternity that comes with having a global population. And the introduction of a long-term residency programme untethered to residents’ employment has reinforced the notion that diversity is a permanent feature of the country’s identity.
In an increasingly fractured, polarised and inward-looking world, all of this bucks the trend. Financial crises, refugee crises, trade wars, military wars and a pandemic have closed borders and had politicians in many countries that were formerly paragons of openness publicly questioning the value of diversity and cosmopolitanism. The “global village”, expounded in the 1960s by the philosopher Marshall McLuhan, seems in many corners of the world to be in decline.
Not so here. The UAE’s real-life Global Village, a cultural attraction and marketplace for food, clothing and handicrafts from around the world, has seen a record nine million visitors in the past year. The country has become central to the global political economy, as an entrepot, a source of capital and a promoter of dialogue. Openness and curiosity have positioned the Emirates as a leader in emerging fields like sustainable energy and artificial intelligence. In its own region, it is a beacon of stability; for 11 years running, the UAE has been named by respondents in the Arab Youth Survey as the top country young Arabs would like to live in.
None of this would have been possible without the statesmanship and values embodied in that foundational meeting of rulers on December 2, 1971. Union Day is a reminder to all of the UAE’s residents what unity means, here and around the world: that different peoples can and do have shared values and common interests, and when they come together they can achieve extraordinary things.
Juliot Vinolia’s checklist for adopting alternate-day fasting
- Don’t do it more than once in three days
- Don’t go under 700 calories on fasting days
- Ensure there is sufficient water intake, as the body can go in dehydration mode
- Ensure there is enough roughage (fibre) in the food on fasting days as well
- Do not binge on processed or fatty foods on non-fasting days
- Complement fasting with plant-based foods, fruits, vegetables, seafood. Cut out processed meats and processed carbohydrates
- Manage your sleep
- People with existing gastric or mental health issues should avoid fasting
- Do not fast for prolonged periods without supervision by a qualified expert
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
