https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=CesyqwKyJuc
It seems to me, although Saudi Arabia has been liberalizing its attitude towards women’s rights in recent years, it seems to me that there’s a marked difference between the UAE and Saudi Arabia on the women’s rights front. And so why did those two societies develop in different directions? And what do you see happening in Saudi Arabia on the women’s rights front? Well, I like how I think the region is diverse. If you spend time in Dubai and then go and spend time in Cairo or spend time in Muscat or spend time in Amman, it’s different. Yes, there are common values. There are always Arabic language. There is always Islamic traditions. But then the way the societies live or grow is completely different. There’s different opinions. There are different point of views. And I think the region is somehow heading to a very bright, positive side. I see something happening in the region. I see hope in the region. When I meet young Arabs, when I meet decision makers in the Arab world, Dubai just hosted World Expo. And now Saudi Arabia is applying to host World Expo. Doha hosted the World Cup. You have many other cities are planning to build new cities, build on new islands, have new tourism experiences. And I think that goes back to an event that I attended in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, where the Crown Prince had a talk there. And he said, back in 90s, he saw a man or a leader that showed and proved to the whole region what could be possible and how to design and build something global out of this region. And that person was Hezayn al-Sheikh Mohammed, the UAE Prime Minister. It made me feel proud at that moment of who we are and what’s our impact. But then I see it everywhere, Jordan. I don’t see it only on GCC. I even see it across the globe. I see articles. I saw an article on BBC where it was about the next Dubai of Africa. Where could the next Dubai be in Africa? Where are the next growing cities in the Middle East or many different areas? I like how the UAE, how Dubai, how Abu Dhabi became a model that works and that shows you can actually achieve what your dreams or vision are in a very short time. In your age, in my age, we can actually build a whole nation. So let’s talk about your, I’d like to talk about the international scene a little bit now. And so, how are your relationships with your immediate neighbours? And so I want to know that. And what direct influence you think the success of the UAE has had on their development strategies? Let’s start with that. How are your relationships with your immediate neighbours? Who are your strong allies? Who do you feel that you’re collaborating with to build a more positive vision of the future on the Arab side? Okay. I’m not a diplomat. I won’t speak on behalf of our embassies or our ambassadors. But what I see is UAE have maintained a positive relationship, a respecting relationship with almost every single country worldwide. That’s why we gain trust from many different countries. That’s why we became the world, a smaller world in this nation. You would see us participating in every single mission or act that helps humanity grow. Look at the numbers. Look at the numbers. You would see the UAE among always among the top five when it comes to foreign aid, when it comes to support humanitarian activities. That goes back to 1971. You would see many hospitals, many schools, many universities, many clinics worldwide are named after the Lechik Zayed or named after the UAE. Just recently, I was in Washington, D.C. and I met a friend of mine there. He told me, I actually go for my clinic appointments to a hospital where the UAE invested heavily in for its research, for its services in Washington, D.C. And the same you would hear it in many different countries where actually you would see the UAE’s and its leadership footprint there that there is something good happening. That’s what again built credibility in this country. That’s again built why this country is special. This country is different. You would hear many head of states speak proudly about their partnership with the UAE. It’s a small country, but it showed the whole world that you could actually have a huge impact. Let’s talk a little bit about the Abraham Accords and your relationship with Israel. What’s happening on that front and what are the challenges and advantages to such initiatives? You have lived it. You have heard it for 20, 30 years. Conflicts and tensions, we didn’t see a result. I think there were no winners in conflicts and tensions. The UAE took a whole different direction. The UAE took the direction of actually looking at peace and tolerance, but then be brave and bold enough to act on peace and tolerance. We all want, we all in campaigns and strategies say that we want to be more tolerant, more accepting, more respecting. But then what proves all these campaigns or all these beautiful messages is what are your actions or what are your movements toward peace. And I think that something we have showed very clearly in the UAE where you would see everyone from any other nationality, any religion that would feel respected, it will feel safe and actually feel inspired, feel inspired to accept the other and feel inspired to see what brings us together. I can spend this hour, Jordan, to speak about how close we are when it comes to thoughts, or I can also look at it from a very dark lens where we see how different we are. I think we chose the right lens. We chose to be also a beacon of hope to send that message loud to even inspire others. If it works in the UAE and you see peace actually in action in the UAE, you see respecting different cultures and nations are happening here right now, why do you want to wait for you to actually be more tolerant? I think no one will win against tolerance.