Nothing impossible in UAE: Youth minister tells youngsters

Dubai - Al Mazrui paid tribute to the leaders of the country for their support in empowering women.

 Women's rights in the UAE were interwoven into the very foundation of the UAE, said Shamma bint Sohail Faris Al Mazrui, Minister of State for Youth Affairs, at the Global Women's Forum Dubai on Wednesday.
Al Mazrui, who recently became the youngest minister in the UAE Cabinet, said: "As we developed schools, universities and the other facilities of a modern nation, women were included in all this development, thanks to the vision of the late founding father Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan A Nahyan, a vision carried today by our President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed."
"The fact that I am speaking to you today is the greatest proof of how appropriate it is that the UAE should host a conference discussing the empowerment of women, women's rights and the role of women in the developmental process," she further said.
Al Mazrui paid tribute to the leaders of the country for their support in empowering women. She said that His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, says that 'we are past the stage of empowering women in the community, we are in the process of empowering communities through women'."
She further said: "Our generation is guided by the leadership of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, who has himself insisted on giving leadership roles in our government to women. That spirit of guidance also rests with Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's, who gives us confidence in our role as we work together to build our nation."
Speaking about the series of events that led to her appointment as the youngest minister, Al Mazrui said that Shaikh Mohammed's tweets asking UAE universities to nominate a young man or woman to take a post in the country's cabinet engendered pride among the youth. "What I didn't know was that my university had nominated me," she said.
"That announcement changed my life in an instant. From a private life to a public life and a huge challenge and responsibility. Nothing, as Shaikh Mohammed reminds us, is impossible in the UAE," she said.
"I am only now starting to embark on my journey... and yes, it is a huge responsibility on these young shoulders," she said. "But it also shows that every one of our young men and women can afford to have dreams that touch the sky. That our ambition knows no limits. That our country does not only want to reach space but wants to take our dreams and ambitions even beyond that goal," she added.
The UAE is a country that sets no limit or cap to the dreams of its young generation, she said. "My story is a message to all young men and women in our country that nothing is impossible in life. Nothing is impossible in the United Arab Emirates."
The Global Women's Forum Dubai 2016 was held at the Madinat Jumeirah from February 23-24, under the patronage of Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid; and led by Shaikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, wife of Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council and President of Dubai Women Establishment.

• UAE