Focus on education in UAE’s 7-year National Agenda

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Tuesday launched the UAE National Agenda with a pledge to move education to top gear and increase the pace of Emiratisation in the private sector.

Shaikh Mohammed with Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Shaikh Saif, Shaikh Mansour, Shaikh Abdullah and Shaikh Nahyan at the launch of the UAE National Agenda in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. — Wam

The UAE National Agenda, launched in the presence of senior officials from federal and local governments and media representatives, stipulates the objectives and projects in the sectors of education, healthcare, economy, police and security, housing, infrastructure and government services.

“The UAE’s National Agenda for the coming seven years will lead us to 2021, the year marking the UAE’s Golden Jubilee. Our vision and ambitions haven’t been satisfied yet despite our many achievements in the past years. Seven years of hard work, rapid development and enormous projects with great challenges are ahead of us to realise our targets,” Shaikh Mohammed said.

He said the last phase witnessed many achievements, under the leadership of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and with the efforts of thousands of federal and local teams that followed one vision and worked with harmony and synergy. “The UAE took the lead in many aspects, launched various megaprojects and won the hosting of the biggest cultural event in the world. The UAE economy, which proved to be one of the strongest and most resilient in the world, could retain a sustainable growth that exceeded all expectations. The most important of all, we have proved that we are one of the happiest nations in the world, according to the United Nations’ reports,” Shaikh Mohammed said.

“On behalf of Shaikh Khalifa, and I personally, would like to thank those who put their efforts and hard work to recognise all these achievements. I would also like to tell everybody that we haven’t yet reached our objective, and we did not yet distinguish all our vision,” Shaikh Mohammed said.

He explained that the next seven years are crucial for the UAE as the country is trying to achieve its national objectives in a world that is undergoing major changes. “If our performance over the past years was 100 per cent, then we need 200 per cent during the upcoming seven years,” Shaikh Mohammed said.

Regarding the education sector, Shaikh Mohammed said all public schools and curricula will be transformed into smart learning. Governmental investments in nurseries will be increased in the light of the important role they play.

He said schools and universities will be fully equipped and the education institutes will integrate top-notch technologies to serve research and learning process.

On Emiratisation, Shaikh Mohammed said that 2013 was declared the Year of Emiratisation, and the project has achieved its objectives. “Our goal is to increase the Emiratisation in the private sector 10-fold. The government will enforce a number of measures if there is not enough incentive for working in the private sector. Emiratisation is a top priority during the next seven years.”

On the health sector, Shaikh Mohammed assigned the Ministry of Health, in conjunction with all health authorities nationwide, to accredit all public and private hospitals in accordance with world class standards in terms of services and quality of medical cadres. He clarified that medical services is a red line and any medical facility that does not acquire the required accreditation will not be allowed to operate in the UAE after 2021.

Regarding housing, he said the objective of the national agenda is to shorten the waiting period for housing applications from 10 years to two years, noting that this period has already been reduced to five years. “It is a world record time for provision of houses to youth planning to establish families.”

In the economic sector, Shaikh Mohammed assured that during the coming years the world will witness major economic changes and the UAE should be in the heart of these changes to become the world’s economic, tourism and trade capital for over two billion people. He stated that to achieve this objective, the UAE must develop its infrastructure and transport systems and lead the world in the “Ease of Doing Business Index”.

He said the UAE is looking forward to the best infrastructure in the world over land, air and sea.

Shaikh Mohammed explained that the government has set its objective to increase the UAE per capita income by 65 per cent, and to make the UAE the safest place in the world, in addition to achieving a four-minute response time for all emergency calls. Another objective is to make the UAE the top country in smart-phone governmental services.

In the government services sector, Shaikh Mohammed said he expect the government to introduce new and unique concepts in serving its clients, to compete with the private sector, to set the standards for other governments and to be first worldwide in smart services.

He said he is very optimistic about achieving the national agenda, as the seven emirates will work together as one team to ensure that the national agenda is achieved. “We want strong men, dedicated women and enthusiastic youth to share our journey to success. We want the Emirati team to be one hand and one heart, so we can achieve this.”

The ceremony was attended by Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance; Lt. General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior; Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister; Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nayhan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development; other Shaikhs, ministers and senior officials.

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