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KT edit: UAE’s leaders dare to dream

Collaboration will be speeded up between departments, ministries and also between private and government entities.

What makes the UAE stand out as a modern nation that embraces the future? Leadership, competition and collaboration. As it peers into the next 50 years, the collaborative spirit will power its growth. Partnerships will define its progress and people will be at the core of these pacts. Sustainable growth is important, more so during the pandemic that has changed the way people work and live.

Collaboration will be speeded up between departments, ministries and also between private and government entities. It will also be an era of stronger international ties for the country with new ventures and investments.

The leadership has made no secret of its ambitions and the desire to pursue what many thought as ‘impossible’. From a desert expanse to a futuristic city on Mars by 2117 is slowly becoming reality. The UAE recently sent an orbiter to the Red Planet to become the first Arab country that has travelled the longest distance in such a short span of time. The projection of technological power and reaching for the stars that has made the UAE a power to reckon with. The last five decades were about building infrastructure in an arid land, a solid foundation that could stand the test of time and is resilient to the forces of nature and changing economics. The oil economy generated revenue and profits in the first three decades of its existence, but the leadership realised that sticking with oil and failure to challenge the status quo could make it a laggard.

So the UAE moved, and moved swiftly to transform into a more diversified economy that welcomes people and their talent. It has not just moved with the times but has jumped ahead of the rest on the global stage. It’s the leader in commerce, hospitality, shipping, logistics, realty and aviation, but wants more of the pie in technology and is in a hurry. The Mars mission was completed in just six years.

Meanwhile, it sent a man into space. What has happened after the pandemic is that the country has shifted gears. “We have the scientific, educational and economic resources to take the UAE to new frontiers in the next 50 years, and we have Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed to lead this journey,” said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai. It will take hard work and all sectors of the economy must work together to meet national goals, said His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. Leadership has been the UAE’s strength over four decades and the country is playing to its inherent strengths as it sails out of the pandemic.