Communicado

It is a very tough decision to name a person or an event in whose remembrance, the UAE government should declare a public holiday. After thinking a lot, I concluded that the UAE government should dedicate a holiday to celebrate UAE’s heritage.

Though UAE was established only 46 years ago, it has a very rich heritage dating thousands of years back. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late president and founding father of the UAE, had a great interest in preserving the heritage for the benefit of the country and the next generations. His interest was not limited to the national heritage, but also included international heritage in order to encourage human creativity and save threatened heritage monuments.

On this day, people of UAE will perform activities in order to preserve tradition of UAE’s heritage. Activities will include fun events and competitions around pearl diving, fishing, trading, jewelry making, pottery and other activities.

Competitions and celebrations will be conducted in all seven emirates and in the evening there will be felicitations to remember the great history of UAE.

• Schools will organize exhibits and competitions on UAE heritage

• Offices will organize activities around their offices to mark the heritage day

• Government organizations will organize road shows that reflect Highlights of UAE’s heritage across all emirates

I will take an analogy of a tree, a healthy tree needs to have very strong roots. Similarly, for our country to become the happiest place and be pioneer in today’s world, we need to constantly reflect upon our heritage. And Heritage day celebration gives an opportunity to ensure we look back and fast forward.