Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi, the Largest of the UAE's Seven Emirates and Its Most Prosperous, Owning 95% and 92% Respectively of the Country's Considerable Oil and Gas Wealth, Is Moving into a New Era of Economic Diversification and Groundbreaking Cultural Innovation, Writes Pat Lancaster

Lancaster, Pat, The Middle East

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DEVELOPMENT FROM SLEEPY DESERT backwater to the thriving futuristic 21st century city of dazzling architectural design we see today began in Abu Dhabi only four decades ago under the leadership of the much loved "Father of the Nation", the late President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi.

A man of vision and integrity, Sheikh Zayed laid the foundations of present-day Abu Dhabi and, although he died in 2004, his legacy lives on in an innovative plan for the future of the emirate that will realise the ambitions of the Vision 2030 economic project, unveiled five years after his death.

Vision 2030 is essentially a road map for greater diversification away from the current hydrocarbon-dominated economy. Mubadala Development Company, the strategic investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, continues to play a major role in the region's industrial development, including a wide range of projects, among them commerce, finance, energy and leisure.

A keen focus of the 2030 plan will be on renewable sources of energy and the government-owned clean energy company, Masdar, is a key part of this strategy. The much anticipated Masdar City is described by the company as 'the world's first carbon-neutral zero-waste city'; it will also, fittingly, be the home of the headquarters of the International …

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Publication information: Article title: Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi, the Largest of the UAE's Seven Emirates and Its Most Prosperous, Owning 95% and 92% Respectively of the Country's Considerable Oil and Gas Wealth, Is Moving into a New Era of Economic Diversification and Groundbreaking Cultural Innovation, Writes Pat Lancaster. Contributors: Lancaster, Pat - Author. Magazine title: The Middle East. Issue: 423 Publication date: June 2011. Page number: 41+. © 2009 IC Publications Ltd. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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