After 34 years of huge achievementsUAE marks its prudent progress [Archives:2005/901/Last Page]
BY YASSER AL-MAYASI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
[email protected]
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) marked its 34th anniversary on the 2nd of December, after achieving huge progress that placed it among the developed countries. The UAE achieved stability and progress by the efforts of late Sheikh Zaid Bin Sultan, the founder of UAE in 1970. The people of UAE are now enjoying the development fruits that resulted in the stability and prosperity we see today, which was led by Sheikh Zaid who devoted his life for building this state.
The successful model of UAE deserves to be respected and followed. It is a model of a developing country that in a short period managed to become a leading economy in the Arab world.
To display some of the trends of progress, here are some excerpts of the millennium development goals report of the UAE, which was issued in January 2005 by UAE Ministry of Finance in cooperation with the UN Development Program. The report acclaimed the progress that UAE had achieved during three decades. It presented the comprehensive social and economic development and the high standard of living for the people of UAE. The report assured the state's pledge to pursue a policy of diversifying its economy through adopting sustainable development that would protect the environment. It related the economical success and the progress of development to the social, political, and security stability. It also mentioned the developed infrastructure that came as a result of the free and varied financial policy of encouraging investment in the different production sectors.
The financial success of UAE reveals a huge economic gap, if compared with the other countries of the region that failed to develop their economies. The success of the UAE is attributed to diversifying its national income away from oil and gas sectors. This secured revenue of 224 billion Dirham in 2005.
The country Gross Domestic Product rate in 2005 jumped to 3.1 %, which reached 101.1 thousand Dirhams. The Industrial Bank managed to fund 472 projects. Additionally, the Free Trade and Industrial Zone became a significant factor in attracting international investments and enhanced foreign trade. There are now more than 16 free zones that enjoy the membership of several international free zones establishments.
The educational sector has also witnessed successive boosting. The public and private schools were 1300 by the end of 2005. There are 40 universities and high polytechnic colleges. It is worth mentioning that the UAE has followed a balanced and credible policy in its international relations, which resulted in the generation of strong international economic ties.
Yemen and UAE – distinctive old relations
The Yemeni-UAE relations are historical ones and developing. The diplomatic relations was established in 1971 after which formal visits exchanged between Sana'a and Abu Dhabi. The first visit for Sheikh Zaid to Sana'a was in 12 March 1977. There were other visits, but the most important among them was the one in which Sheikh Zaid laid the base stone for Marib Dam in the early eighties. President Saleh also paid a number of visits to UAE and committees for promoting bilateral political and financial relations were formed.
Abu Dhabi Development Fund offered many loans that helped in promoting the national development projects in Yemen; for example, the fund financed the Sana'a Water project. It also helped in financing the south highlands rural development projects, aiming at increasing the agricultural product of the area to 50 thousand hectares. The fund also contributed to the technical studies of Wadi Siham in 1980. It also financed the construction of Aden Electric Power Station in addition to enlarging and developing its port.
The New Marib Dam
The fund furnished a large sum for the first phase of the rebuilding of Marib Dam project according to the directions of Sheikh Zaid. The new dam was built near the old one and now irrigates vast agricultural areas. It is an earth dam with a maximum height of 40 m, crest length 763 m and maximum retention volume of 398 million cubic meters.
After the unification of Yemen in 1990, the Republic of Yemen became an important market for the UAE products. This helped the two countries to set a good model in international relations.
——
[archive-e:901-v:14-y:2005-d:2005-12-08-p:lastpage]
