Forty years of UAE. Emirati's reflect on forty years of growth as the United Arab Emirates celebrates National Day. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv
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00:0040 years ago, we had a very limited number of schools, a very limited number of schools.
00:17That is the case in some Emirates, even just one school, which had boys and girls going
00:21to the same school in some instances.
00:24No post or higher education institutes whatsoever.
00:28I remember myself when I started my construction company, I was taking a $20,000 project, and
00:36then I made a project worth billions of dollars.
00:39I mean, the time has been changed a lot, and people educated, and people saw a lot of things.
00:46I remember I first realized that I wanted to become a film director, I was probably
00:50at the age of nine years old.
00:52And back then, I remember we just had a handful of cinemas.
00:57The tallest building was the World Trade Center, and Sheikh Zayed Road was just two lanes.
01:03Over 40 years, there's a very dramatic and significant growth in all fields, actually,
01:33including education, as such.
01:35An extraordinary achievement, because you've got seven completely different Emirates who
01:40had no tradition of working together, or being on top of each other, or underneath, or obeying
01:44each other, having to come together into one single state.
01:48Not an easy job.
01:49And you've got the rulers in charge who had to negotiate this.
01:54Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Rashid of Dubai were fundamental in bringing together
02:01this group into one coherent whole.
02:20To have a vision, to have created a place from absolutely nothing, to one of the major
02:28metropolises in the world, is genius.
02:31Sheikh Rashid, also the father of Dubai, you think like, wow, how this guy thought ahead,
02:39way ahead.
02:40And everybody knows that all this that you see right now in Dubai, or in the UAE, he
02:46predicted.
02:47His vision.
02:48It's not that he thought, oh, if he was here today, he would be overwhelmed.
02:51No, he knew and probably wanted more.
02:54There's no doubt, I mean, in the 40 years, the progress has been tremendous.
02:58In the economy, in education, in a lot of things.
03:02The growth has been so quick.
03:04I don't think even the people who planned it at the start there planned it that way.
03:09It became quicker than anything ever planned by anybody at all.
03:14It's too quick sometimes to the point that we have been missing things on the way because
03:20it was so fast.
03:21I'm 30 myself.
03:23And the fact is that, you know, the country is 10 years older than me.
03:28It's a surreal feeling, but it's a wonderful, wonderful feeling that we've managed to achieve
03:34so much in such a short amount of time.
03:3740 years on now, I think it's a good opportunity to probably stop for a while and reflect on
03:44the past experience.
03:46Dubai is the place that you gotta see.
03:48And number one, they keep it hot like a kettle bee.
03:50In Sharjah, keep reading the books.
03:52And Ajman got you hooked to the souks.
03:55Drag race through Q to Fujairah.
03:58My thoroughbreds hold it down in Ras Al Khaimah.