Events

Mohammed announces Dubailand

Sheikh Mohammed speaking at the Dubailand launch

The following is the translated transcript of Sheikh Mohammed's speech announcing Dubailand.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

I welcome our guests. I welcome our guest King Abdullah. I welcome our esteemed guests. I welcome you to Mina A' Salam.

My brother, friend and companion on the path to development, His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, our esteemed guests, brothers and sisters, peace be upon you.

Anyone who does not attempt to change the future will stay a captive of the past. With the passage of time, man works, creates and achieves, then the cycle of life begins and projects start small then they grow bigger and bigger, one after another. Anyone who looks at these projects as separate ventures won't realise that they form a chain of interlinked elements that are part of a clear strategic vision, nor will they realise that Dubai has the potential to be a destination that attracts millions of tourists. They would not have realised that Emirates, in a few years, would become one of the fastest growing and most profitable airlines in the world. They would not have realised that we would become the Middle East's capital for information technology and that, in terms of the usage of IT and its services, we would rival industrialised countries and that Dubai would become a centre for international conferences, or that we would have an annual growth rate of 30 percent in our tourism sector and that 45 percent of the Gross Domestic Product would come from trade, industry and transport, increasing the GDP from Dhs49 billion in 1998 to Dhs69 billion in 2002.

Your Majesty, brothers and sisters: Let's think and talk about the future so that our vision is clear.

When the Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids, they didn't think they would stand for 5 thousand years; they excelled at building but they still didn't expect this. And when the famous Italian painter Leonardo Da Vinci painted his well-known painting the Mona Lisa, he never imagined it would be the most famous painting in history; he created but didn't imagine. In all modesty, we create and we have foresight - if a man aspires to great things, he will work hard to achieve them. I don't want you to look at what we have achieved, but at what we can achieve.

When I was young, playing at the beach with my friends, they used to build houses and sandcastles on the beach while I was trying to build in the sea. They used to laugh at me. Now I laugh when I accompany any of my friends to The Palm island and the other construction projects out in the ocean. I would like to tell you frankly that developing man is one of my priorities, because it is the most difficult process - if a mistake is made, it cannot be corrected.

I would like to tell capitalists that Dubai does not need investors, investors need Dubai and I tell you that the risk lies not in using your money but in letting it pile up. It is dormant and dead if it is merely a figure in an account. I tell them not to hold onto it and kill it in safes, let it breathe and be active because money is like water - if you lock it up, it becomes stagnant and foul-smelling, but if you let it flow, it stays fresh. If it does not flow, it will become stagnant and its colour will change. When I encourage you to invest, I am not asking you to put your money into a fire - I guarantee that your money will be invested in carefully studied projects. I want to be frank with you - I have the courage to take decisions and to bear the responsibility for the consequences. Do you have the courage to be frank and decisive?

The biggest war that any country can engage in is that of development. Although it is a long and costly war, the number of soldiers increases instead of decreasing. So let's take part in the war of development together and let our victims be poverty, ignorance and backwardness.

I tell them our slogan, which was 'Dubai is the World's City', will become 'Dubai is the World'. Some thought our achievements were dreams that could not be realised - I say our achievements were planned and launched only after careful and comprehensive study. We do not risk our people's money and future, but we have a vision that some may find difficult to comprehend. What we want to build, before institutions and bridges, is trust. And the most important aspects of building trust are building our self-confidence and people's trust in us and we are qualified and eligible for their trust and capable of doing more than we say. We let our achievements speak for themselves.

The UAE's is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the country's rapid development is due to the wisdom and leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may Allah protect him, who has a clear vision and who has, in drawing up our policies, given the biggest role to the economic sector.

I will remind you of a term that appeared in the past and disappeared with the end of the Cold War - perestroika. Gorbachev, who invented this term, was not an economist, he was like someone who cures cancer with incense. Events have proved that a politician can never be an economist, but an economist is capable of applying perestroika. I have a message for the leaders of some Arab countries - I ask them to give small local investment the chance to grow by doing away with laws that discourage small projects, and I ask them to cancel taxes that go back to the Ottoman Empire. We are willing to support them with our expertise in this area.

I hope that intellectuals in Israel will play their role in convincing the Israeli Government that it is important that a comprehensive and conclusive peace pact with the Palestinians be signed so that there can be true development that serves the whole Middle East region.

Finally, let us launch an initiative that reinforces the strong partnership between the government and the private sector, an initiative in which the government develops the infrastructure, provides an environment that encourages prosperity and business growth and gives the private sector the chance to make the most of huge investment opportunities. Such an ambitious initiative will attract an expected Dhs18 billion in investments to the region and will include elements that will bring in more than 200,000 visitors daily. This will boost the country's tourism sector and increase its contribution to the GDP from 12 percent to 20 percent.

Brother, Your Majesty the King, brothers and sisters, I am pleased to present the region's biggest family tourism project... I am pleased to present Dubailand.

May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.

Tuesday, October 21, 2003