Wibke Sonderkamp ========================================================================
A new dawn
======================================================================== A new dawn An Islamic state where the DJs’ turntables in trendy clubs stop spinning just before the muezzins’ morning call to prayer, and where the traditional Bedouin lifestyle continues alongside a very Western version of rampant consumerism? You must be in UAE. While most visitors are dazzled by hotel and real estate projects of record-breaking superlatives, an even more astonishing achievement is how the savvy sheikhs manage to harmonize such disparate and seemingly contradicting forces. The United Arab Emirates (Arabic: Dawlat al-´Imarat al-`Arabiyyah al-Muttahidah), often simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a federation of seven emirates, each governed by a hereditary emir, who choose one of their members to be the president of the federation. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain, with the capital Abu Dhabi also serving as the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities. Since 1962, when Abu Dhabi became the first of the emirates to begin exporting oil, the country's society and economy started to experience what was to become a drastic transformation. As one of the most advanced economies in Western Asia, the UAE has the world's seventh-highest per capita income
Page 36
and is ranked seventh in the world for both, its oil and natural gas supplies. The late Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the UAE at its inception, oversaw the development of all the emirates and made sure to direct its oil revenues into healthcare, education and the national infrastructure. Over the coming years the thriving economy is expected to undergo another structural shift in its economy, favoring more sustainable, long-term sectors such as transportation, healthcare, education, tourism and financial services. Although the natural resources of some emirates are expected to last for another generation, the journey of diversification for this market has already started. Nevertheless, petrochemicals and heavy industry still belong to the fastest growing segments as market expert Dr. Dalia Abu Samra-Rohte, Deputy CEO and Director Abu Dhabi Office of the German Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce (AHK), explains in an interview with LIFESTYLE clean energy. To safeguard access to energy resources for future generations, an orientation towards renewable energy resources seems to be the logical step – especially for a region that has sunshine and wind in abundance. “While Dubai made the first move and was a pioneer in the fast growing tourism sector, Abu Dhabi has taken the lead
GO GLOBAL UNITED ARAB EMIRATES