From tents to tallest building: the UAE’s remarkable increase in 50 years

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The UAE has loosened its laws in recent years to attract more investment, calling itself a “zero” tax haven

Dubai, United Arab Emirates:

Ehab Fouad was a teenager when he marched in the parade marking the birth of the United Arab Emirates, which grew from a desert outpost to a regional power in 50 years.

The retired civil engineer, now 64, vividly remembers December 2, 1971, when he proudly held up the photo of the founding father of the oil-rich Gulf State, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, and saw his new flag for the first time.

Fouad, who walked right behind the flag bearer, cries when he remembers the Abu Dhabi parade and reflects on the decades that have followed.

“Fifty years later, I feel special,” said the Egyptian father-of-one.

“It was a remarkable trip for me, and a remarkable trip for this country,” said Fouad, who lives with his family in Dubai, one of the country’s seven emirates.

Foreigners make up 90 percent of the UAE’s population, which grew to 10 million from around 300,000 when its emirates came together to form a federation, even though its strict laws make most of them ineligible for citizenship.

Driven by significant oil wealth, the former British protectorate left behind its humble beginnings of tents and simple mud brick houses to become one of the biggest players in the Middle East, both economically and politically.

Dubai, a former pearl city and now a bustling commercial and financial hub, boasts a forest of skyscrapers, including the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which rises to 830 meters (2,723 feet).

“Some people here used to build their houses from date palm branches, then mud bricks, and today it’s just villas and towers,” Fouad said.

“Militant foreign policy”

The late Sheikh Zayed “believed deeply in Arab nationalism and worked to unite the seven emirates into one federation,” said Elham Fakhro, senior Gulf analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank.

“It remains the only functional system of federalism in the Arab world.

Among the world’s major producers of crude, the UAE’s rapid growth since the 1970s has been closely linked to its oil and gas wealth.

However, Dubai, with limited oil resources compared to the capital Abu Dhabi, has flourished as a financial, transportation, tourism and media hub.

The Arab world’s second-largest economy behind Saudi Arabia also wields growing political influence, occupying space ceded by traditional powers such as Egypt, Iraq and Syria.

Since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, the UAE’s increasingly assertive foreign policy has included participation in wars, such as in Yemen, and the mediation of several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.

It is also a beacon for many young Arabs fleeing conflict-ridden countries.

“The UAE has long been concerned about its relative vulnerability, in a region where it is surrounded by larger and more powerful states,” Fakhro told AFP.

“Its post-independence policy was relatively neutral, but since the Arab Spring it has adopted a more militant foreign policy aimed at shaping events in the region in its favor.

“We cannot sit idly by”

The United Arab Emirates, a staunch opponent of political Islam, has become a kind of steward in the troubled region.

Last year, he made the surprise decision to recognize Israel, breaking with decades of Arab consensus that avoided ties to the Jewish state.

“As a committed regional and international actor, we know that we must take even more responsibility for the future direction of our region,” said Presidential Advisor Anwar Gargash.

“We have had many voids over the past decade… We cannot stand idly by and watch these voids filled by malicious actors.”

Accusations of violations by human rights groups during its intervention in the conflict in Yemen and in the prosecution of dissidents have not prevented the Emirates from becoming an investment hub.

The UAE has relaxed its laws in recent years to attract more investment, calling itself a “zero” tax haven.

He lifted the cap on non-local ownership, allowed full foreign control of business enterprises, and offered long-term “golden” visas to investors and “exceptional talent” such as artists, doctors, engineers and artists. scientists.

Known in the 19th century as the Truce States, named after a maritime truce, the seven emirates had been under British protectorate since 1892.

But Sheikh Zayed, who ruled the oil-rich Abu Dhabi, the largest and richest of the emirates, saw an opportunity to slowly build a powerful state by joining his family neighbors under one flag.

Thursday’s Golden Jubilee celebrations will include an air show, a floating theatrical performance on a mountain lake, parades, concerts and fireworks.

(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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