Tributes are pouring in to laud Mohammed Saeed Al Mulla, an Emirati businessman and former cabinet minister who has died at the age of 97.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, said he was among the "first men of the Emirates".
Mr Al Mulla was Minister of State for the Union and Gulf Affairs in the first cabinet. He became the first chairman of telecoms company Etisalat when it was founded in 1976.
He was born in Shindagha, at the time a village on the banks of Dubai Creek, where Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, was also born.
Dr Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, offered his condolences.
“Today, former minister and prominent businessman Mohammed Saeed Al Mulla has departed our world," he said on Twitter.
"He was one of the faithful men who worked dedicatedly and faithfully to achieve the vision of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and his brothers, the rulers of the emirates.
“With his departure, we lost a national figure who served his country with all honesty and loyalty. My condolences to his family.”
