Sheikh Khalifa served as the UAE's second President for almost two decades.
Succeeding his father, UAE Founding Father the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Sheikh Khalifa oversaw many moments of historic progress in the Emirates.
Here, The National takes a look at the key moments in the life of Sheikh Khalifa.
1946: Sheikh Zayed settles in Al Ain after being made Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region.
1948: Sheikh Khalifa, Sheikh Zayed’s first son, is born in Al Muwaiji fort, Al Ain. He is educated in the first local school established by his father.
1966: Aged 18, Sheikh Khalifa is appointed Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region after his father becomes Ruler of Abu Dhabi and moves to the capital.
1969: Appointed Crown Prince, Sheikh Khalifa moves to Abu Dhabi to take command of the emirate’s newly formed army.
1971: Following the foundation of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa is appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the first federal Cabinet.
July 15, 1971: Sheikh Khalifa launches the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development to help developing countries with assistance in the form of concessionary loans, developments grants and equity participation.
1974: The Executive Council replaces local Cabinet as executive authority for local government of Abu Dhabi; Sheikh Khalifa is named its first president.
1976: Sheikh Khalifa is promoted to Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, with special responsibility for training and equipment.
1976: Sheikh Khalifa is instrumental in the foundation of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority “to invest funds on behalf of the government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi to make available the necessary financial resources to secure and maintain the future welfare of the emirate”.
1979: Sheikh Khalifa’s maternal grandfather, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa, dies. The senior member of the Al Nahyan family taught Sheikh Khalifa much about leadership as a young man.
1979: Sheikh Khalifa establishes the Khalifa Housing Fund to finance the construction of residential and commercial buildings for nationals at low cost. He is credited with kick-starting the construction boom in Abu Dhabi.
1981: Sheikh Khalifa sets up the Abu Dhabi Department of Social Services and Commercial Buildings, popularly known as The Sheikh Khalifa Committee, to provide loans to nationals for construction projects. More than Dh35 billion has been lent, helping to create more than 6,000 multi-storey buildings in the Emirate.
December 1, 1985: Sheikh Khalifa announces the UAE is to build a new naval base to “ensure sovereignty over territorial waters, protect our coasts of some 400 nautical miles and preserve our national resources, much of which are located offshore in the Gulf”.
Late 1980s: Sheikh Khalifa becomes Chairman of the Supreme Petroleum Council.
November 1, 2004: Sheikh Khalifa is appointed as Interior Minister.
November 2, 2004: The UAE's Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed, dies at 86.
November 3, 2004: The Federal Supreme Council elects Sheikh Khalifa as President of the UAE, for an initial term of five years, renewed in 2009. Sheikh Mohamed succeeds him as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 1, 2005: Sheikh Khalifa announces that half the members of the Federal National Council will be elected.
December 2, 2005: “The years ahead require a bigger role for the Federal National Council,” Sheikh Khalifa says in his National Day address. “We will embark on a march that culminates in more participation and interaction from all the citizens of the country ... today, we stand at a threshold of a new era, whose ultimate objective is to entrench the rule of law and due process, accountability, transparency and equal opportunity.”
February 2007: Sheikh Khalifa sets out a strategic vision for the future, designed to ensure the welfare of citizens, in policy agenda issued by Abu Dhabi Executive Council. In a speech to the Federal National Council he commits the UAE government to a political system based on “consultation, justice and security", which enables all citizens – men and women – to “actively and positively participate in running their country”.
May 1, 2007: Johns Hopkins Medicine in the US announces a “transformational” financial gift from Sheikh Khalifa in memory of his father, Sheikh Zayed.
May 13, 2007: Sheikh Khalifa welcomes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a two-day visit to Abu Dhabi, the first by an Iranian president since 1979.
June 3, 2007: Sheikh Khalifa launches the Dh2bn Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development to develop small to medium-sized business and “to create a new generation of Emirati entrepreneurs”.
January 4, 2010: Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, is renamed Burj Khalifa in honour of the President.
January 25, 2014: It is announced the President has suffered a stroke and undergone surgery.
July, 2017: President Khalifa is shown receiving rulers and members of the Supreme Council at Al Bateen Palace.
May 13, 2022: State news agency Wam announces the death of President Sheikh Khalifa.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Cofe
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 80-100
Amount raised: $13m
Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
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Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01
