Since its establishment in 1971, the UAE has been a fast-evolving country. In recent years, new branches of government have emerged to realise increasingly ambitious plans to make the country a world-leading example of economic diversity, openness and tolerance.
In 2016, the post of the Minister of State for Tolerance was created. This year, the government announced a new industrial strategy, Operation 300bn, which aims to more than double the industrial sector's contribution to the economy. Just this month, 50 major government projects are being rolled out incrementally to do the same. One is a plan to get 75,000 Emirati nationals into the private sector in the next five years.
Yesterday, a cabinet reshuffle revealed the ministers that will be at the heart of driving this evolution. Major new appointments include Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and Mohamed Al Hussaini was made Minister of State for Financial Affairs.
Work is also underway to adapt ministerial portfolios to create posts that further correspond to today's challenges. An important example is the updated role of Mariam Al Mheiri, who has been made Minister of Climate Change and Environment. The move is in line with the government's ambitions; earlier this year, Ms Al Mheiri was involved with Dubai's launch of Food Tech Valley, a major new food technology hub that intends to become a global destination for enterprising food production businesses, and act as a key driver of the emirate's increasingly diversifying economy. But Ms Al Mheiri will also continue her previous post as Minister of State for Food Security, a sign that the government, which is investing heavily in both areas, views food security and environmental challenges as interlinked.
Adapting the ministries themselves is part of a longer-term plan to make governance flexible in an unpredictable world. Announcing the new cabinet, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said that it will reflect a change in the UAE's approach to development. “The next cycles of change will be flexible and fast (between six months to two years), unlike the previous strategic cycles which used to last five to 10 years”, he said.
The government will try to shift ministerial working cultures away from “individual responsibility to shared responsibility among the field teams", part of an ongoing strategy to the make the work of government more transparent. Earlier this month, the UAE published a list of the five best-performing ministries, as well as the five those most in need of improving. The latter were given 90 days to do so.
The main aspects of the reshuffle are, as always, the people that sit at the Cabinet table. But yesterday's was also about the country's plans to evolve the way Emirati government works going into the next 50 years. Greater transparency, adaptability and long-term planning will, the government believes, be key qualities that help the country deal with a very different future to the one it confronted in its first five decades.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
MATCH INFO
Fulham 0
Aston Villa 3 (Grealish 4', Hourihane 15', Mings 48')
Man of the match: Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
UAE%20ILT20
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