Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates who dominated throughout a time of speedy financial and cultural growth, has died on the age of 73. There shall be a 40-day mourning interval and a three-day suspension of labor in all ministries and the personal sector starting right this moment, and flags shall be flown at half-staff, the ministry of presidential affairs has introduced.
Sheikh Khalifa got here to energy in 2004 upon the dying of his father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE. It was throughout Sheikh Khalifa’s rule that lots of the main cultural tasks—that now make up the UAE’s vibrant artwork panorama—got here into being, notably in his residence emirate of Abu Dhabi. This contains the Saadiyat museums district that’s residence to the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the forthcoming Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; academic initiatives equivalent to New York College Abu Dhabi and the Sorbonne College Abu Dhabi; and vacationer ventures equivalent to System One and the leisure venues of Yas Island.
The world’s tallest constructing, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, can also be named after the ruler. Initially meant to be referred to as the Burj Dubai, it was renamed as a gesture of thanks after Abu Dhabi got here to assistance from Dubai after the 2008 monetary disaster.
Sheikh Khalifa was born within the small inland metropolis of Al Ain, then the capital of the Abu Dhabi emirate, in what was nonetheless the British-administered Trucial States. He was educated at Sandhurst within the UK, and have become Crown Prince in 1969 after fulfilling a sequence of governmental positions. He additionally served as the top of the UAE’s Supreme Petroleum Council and the Abu Dhabi Funding Authority (ADIA), which gave him management over two of the necessary sources of wealth within the UAE. When his father died, as eldest son he turned each the ruler of Abu Dhabi and of the UAE, the federation of seven emirates of which Abu Dhabi is the capital.
In 2014, he suffered a debilitating stroke and stepped again from public duties. His youthful brother, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has since acted as de facto president. There’ll seemingly be little cultural or overseas coverage shift after his dying, and Mohammed bin Zayed is likewise credited with cultural openness and ambition.
Whereas Sheikh Khalifa presided over a interval when Abu Dhabi and Dubai radically climbed in worldwide profile, certainly one of his longest-lasting legacies will seemingly be that of Emiratisation, which promoted elevated employment of Emirati locals in governmental, cultural and training positions. Most of the UAE’s necessary initiatives at the moment are staffed in key positions by Emiratis.
