Mohammed bin Zayed hailed as a 'thoughtful world leader'

Foreign Policy Magazine said in a report that His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, is one of the
most thoughtful world leaders.
Editor David Rothkopf said in the report that Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed is "one of the most thoughtful world leaders I have ever met", noting that he delivered last year a speech that would have been revolutionary in every other oil-producing country. He said Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed declared that it was a goal of the nation to learn to live without oil.
"The country has already reduced oil as a percentage of its GDP to under 30 per cent and is aiming to achieve a level below 20 per cent by 2020. That is a radical commitment to diversification of the economy that shows the kind of foresight Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed's father demonstrated when he set up the world's first sovereign wealth fund just years after oil was discovered in the country," he said.

Rothkopf said the story of the creativity of Emirati leaders is worthy of
consideration regardless of how you may view the overall track record of the country. Some four decades after its founding, the recent government reforms in the UAE included the placement of eight women to the federal cabinet of 29 ministers, including the 22-yearold Minister of Youth Shamma Al Mazrouei, who holds degrees from Oxford University and New York University Abu Dhabi. Having a youth minister who can actually relate to young people in a world in which one of the great challenges is millennials' distrust of institutions is in itself a bold and long over due step that other countries would do well to emulate. - Wam

• Abu Dhabi