Why Sheikh Mohammed found a GCC meeting boring

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Why Sheikh Mohammed found a GCC meeting boring

Dubai - It makes me sad that we never trust any ideas proposed by our youth, the Dubai Ruler writes.

By Hesham Salah

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Published: Mon 18 Feb 2019, 5:08 PM

Last updated: Mon 18 Feb 2019, 6:15 PM

In the 36th chapter of his latest book, Qissati, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, talks about the Gulf Cooperation Council and how he was once bored with its "endless talks about politics".

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I believed that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) would make us greater, stronger and wealthier than any other country in the region. In the early 1980s, during a meeting of the council, the ministers were discussing challenges and problems, and recommending suggestions. I was in my 30s then and the youngest of the attendees. I was bored with the endless talks about politics.

I said: "Why don't we develop our region, especially Dubai, as a tourism zone to attract people from around the world?"

There was a moment of silence, before the oldest foreign minister laughed and said: "What would tourists find in Dubai? Who would come to the desert, to humidity and hot weather?" Everybody laughed. I didn't want to argue with him as his mind was closed before even hearing the details of my proposal.

It makes me sad that we never trust any ideas proposed by our youth. Sometimes, I think that our cooperation systems in the GCC or the League of Arab States need to be reconsidered and revised. These systems are managed by politicians or ministers, which would make the system work only in this field.

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I always wonder what would happen if development directors managed the systems? What if administrators or leaders managed them? What if we focused on developing the infrastructure and reforming the services for our peoples? What if we worked on investments and industry and scientific researches?

The League of Arab States is 70 years old, what would have happened if started all these 70 years ago? Where would we have reached by now? Maybe it is time for leaders and businessmen to take responsibility of these organisations instead of ministers.

I believed we have great tourism attractions - the sun and the desert. We launched tourism campaigns and attracted many visitors. Today, 31% of Dubai's income comes from tourism. The number of international tourists reached 16 million in 2017 and our target is to raise it to 20 million by 2020.

Sometimes I wonder, what would have happened if we cooperated with our brothers in the tourism sector since the 80s? Would we have had better success? Just a question I raise to their excellencies the ministers of foreign affairs.
In what he is calling his "incomplete biography", His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has broken his latest book, Qissati (My Story), into 50 chapters, narrating 50 stories in his 50 years of serving the nation. Khaleej Times got a signed copy of the book from the Dubai Ruler and everyday, we will be featuring excerpts from each of the 50 chapters.


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