Courtesy of ADC HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein receiving the award.

Washington DC, June 2007 (WAM)--- The Wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein accepted the Arab-American Anti Discrimination Committee’s Global Leadership Award on behalf of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The ADC’s award comes in recognition of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s leadership and vision, and commitment that contributed to the political and economic landscape in the UAE, but also around the entire world and has impacted the advancement of individuals of Arab origin globally.

Her Highness Princess Haya accepted the award on behalf of HH Sheikh Mohammed and delivered a speech on this occasion during the ADC Convention, the largest annual gathering of Arab-Americans in the US that hosts 3000 people, Congresswomen the Honorable Mary Rose Oakar, President of the ADC presented the Award to Princess Haya in the presence of UAE’s Ambassador to the US His Excellency Mr. Saqer Ghabash.

This prestigious Global Leadership Award bestowed upon His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, she said, “is an honor for a man who is a true Arab and a true ambassador for us all in the 21st century.

By honoring him, you are honoring a true statesman, politician, economist, poet, and humanitarian.”
She said One of the many successes of Dubai and of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed is to put the Arab world back on the map. Dubai has bravely served as a pilot model, to make the Arab world more accessible and more easily understood by non-Arabs.

“It is not loud rhetoric and expansive actions which make strong leaders it is thinkers, men of vision, whose humility and inner peace comes from their desire to put the welfare and happiness of their peoples above all else. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed is a man of vision and a man of strong human values. His belief in a modern Arab world which reclaims the greatness of the Arabs of the past is the foundation of a lifetime of work to advance Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and Arab achievement internationally”, Her Royal Highness said in her speech at the ceremony.

She stressed that “although great oceans divide the Arabian Peninsula from America , people overcome distances by reaching out to each other, just as this eminent gathering of extraordinary individuals has chosen to honor His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum with this Global Leadership Award.”

“It is an indisputable fact that in the history of the world no group has had more influence than the Arab people. Our history has seen the birth of the first civilizations, the three monotheistic religions, and cultural practices that have been globalized more than any other peoples.

All people in this world have the right to be proud, but we are distinguished in having earned the right to be a proud people”, she added.

Honoring Sheikh Mohammed in this way, she said, does not only mean “recognizing his inestimable vision and leadership” but also “recognizing all of us who have followed his vision in wiping the sand from our eyes and helping us to raise our heads and look out over the sea of challenges.” “All of us who have found inspiration in his creations, energy from his relentless press forward towards modernity, and hope from the teamwork he forges. By this action you have made us all stronger, for you have recognized a leader who was born walking in front of his nation, but chooses instead to often walk beside his people.”

“When people describe His Highness they often refer to him, ‘as a man who thinks out of the box’ ? but in truth knowing him as I do, I can assure you all that he has not come to think out of the box? he got rid of the whole darn box altogether!”

“When we speak about Dubai, we are not referring to ideas that are hopeful, or dreamlike, I speak of a man who has achieved a living, breathing reality that is undeniable. Sheikh Mohammed has been the driving force behind the growth of modern Dubai and the effective and positive creation of a new set of values which drive forward not just an economy, but a diverse and prosperous society where humanity is at the heart of all activities.”

“He has turned the desert city state of Dubai, roughly the size of Rhode Island, into a futuristic global hub in the span of just one generation, and managed, with a bold vision of urban planning on a cosmic scale, to raise the GDP from $8 billion to $37 billion in 15 years. This opportunity has benefited not only Emiratis but the peoples of another 180 nationalities who live in peace and harmony in Dubai. It is this lighthouse that Dubai has become which throws out the light of his wider vision for a peaceful and prosperous Middle East, for all Arab Peoples.”

Princess Haya said “the basis of Judaism is rooted in law and that of Christianity in love and understanding but the basis of Islam is knowledge and education. Often our people have spoken of the reawakening of our glorious past, while at the same time ignoring what it was that made us great in the first place. It is HHSM’s vision that by reawakening and reinvigorating that cornerstone, that the winds of permanent stability and the basis for a just and lasting peace will blow across the Arab world.”

Princess Haya quoted Sheikh Mohammed’s recent speech at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East at the Dead Sea in Jordan as saying “Any development that fails to advance knowledge, enhance social cohesiveness or encourage positive thinking and the exchange of ideas, tolerance, openness to others and respect for others’ opinions and culture is dysfunctional and distorted.”
“The recent establishment of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, with an initial endowment of $10 billion, is a further example of his commitment to the development of the entire Arab world. With adult literacy at shockingly low levels and a creative and scientific output that is also disappointingly poor, this development, sadly, is not only desirable, but desperately needed to ensure sustainable growth in the coming years.” This development, she stressed, “cannot take place in isolation from the rest of the world, as economic and educational change embeds itself across the Arab world we must work too with those from other cultures.”

The Arabic language was once the universal language of much of the world and provided a bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. It is HHSM’s belief that we must understand other cultures but other cultures must open their hearts and minds to ours, and to learn more about who we are.”
“The Arab Anti Discrimination Committee is a proud example of how organized work with a clear mission produces great results on the ground. In this spectrum that we are all working to create lies a peaceful future, where dialogue, tolerance, progress and fruitful cooperation dominate.”
Sheikh Mohammed, she added, “believes that Arabs not only have a place in the modern world, but that Arabs deserve a prominent place - a place that recognizes that time is like a river, it never stops.”

“We should not strive to duplicate what has past, but to follow instead brave men like him to create a future where our children live in peace and harmony together whatever their religions, and nationalities may be”, she stressed “The role of Arabs in the today’s world is not to be restricted or defined by trade and economics alone... the role of Arabs can and should encompass science, art, literature, knowledge creation, and the advancement of humanity.

“We must once again find our pride and be justified in being proud of Arab achievement, in partnership with the rest of the world.”