Khalifa Pledges more reforms

Abu Dhabi: As the nation dressed in red, green, white and black and wore a festive mood to celebrate the UAE's 39th National Day, the country's leaders paid rich tributes to its unity and resilience and pledged further reforms and econ-omic development.

In an address to the nation on the eve of National Day, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan expressed renewed confidence in the strength, vitality and resilience of the UAE economy, "which fully recovered from the aftermath of the global financial crisis," WAM reported.

He said the government "will press ahead with the process of updating legislation, regulating the labour market, supporting Emiratisation and empowering the private sector, encouraging it to shoulder social responsibilities, to invest in national human resources, to adopt environment protection mechanism and to meet the needs of the society."

In an address to the nation, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said the country was on the right direction towards achieving the Vision 2021 national plan and identified three sectors in which the country has made great strides in the past 38 years.

Global level

"In human development, the UAE has earned the first position on the Arab level and the 32nd on the global level in the latest international specialised indicators," he said.

Secondly, he added, "is the important advancement of the position of the UAE in the index of finance development, as our country assumed the first position at the Arab level and the 21st at the global level".

And thirdly, "I will mention the important progress achieved in the integration of the performance between the federal and local authorities, which manifested brilliantly in the joint meetings between the Cabinet and the local departments in most of the emirates," Shaikh Mohammad said.

"The United Arab Emirate is a monolithic entity, and all federal and local institutions work to serve the UAE and its people," he noted.