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2008-2010 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2006-2007 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2005 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2004 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2003 and Earlier UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
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| 2005 Archive – UAE – Abu Dhabi |
State control on the UAE’s economy loosened, but Abu Dhabi won’t let go
The UAE basks in international acclaim as an ‘open’ economy, underlined by the fanfare ringing out for Abu Dhabi’s new property law, but analysis of ownership and business practises in the emirates shows that some sectors are much more open than others.
Issue 763/764, 2 September 2005. more
Mubadala buys into Ferrari
Mubadala Development Company, the Abu Dhabi government investment fund chaired by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, has acquired a 5% stake in one of the world’s great brands, Ferrari. The deal finalised on 9 August with Mediobanca, Commerzbank and Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna priced the stake at E114m ($140m).
Issue 763/764, 2 September 2005. more
Six months after Zayed, the UAE’s new President keeps low profile
Federal President and Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan has kept a notably low profile in the six months since the death of the UAE’s revered Founding President, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan. According to GSN’s soundings within the UAE and in the wider region, questions are quietly being asked about whether this low profile reflects no more than a change of style, or whether more significant political issues are at play.
Issue 758, 27 May 2005. more
Americans benefit from Emiratis’ new attitude to oil partnerships
Abu Dhabi is looking to expand its oil production in the UAE and build up substantial positions abroad, increasingly working with US rather than its traditional French and British partners.
Issue 756, 29 April 2005. more
‘Prominent businessmen’ drive intense investment activity
Organisations close to the Abu Dhabi’s ruling family are continuing to make significant investments in the Gulf and beyond. Critics fear some of these operations – including initial public offerings (IPOs) reserved for national investors in activities hitherto dominated by state-owned entities – blur the boundaries between business and government activities, at a time when greater transparency is a formal policy priority.
Issue 754, 25 March 2005. more
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| 2004 Archive – UAE – Abu Dhabi |
Changes at the top
In a move to stamp his mark on Abu Dhabi’s government, President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan on 8 December formed a new Executive Council, chaired by the powerful Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Lieutenant General Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, with Mohammad Ahmad Al-Bowardi as secretary-general. Mohammed Harbroush Mohammed Al-Suwaidi was named advisor to the president with ministerial rank.
Issue 747, 10 December 2004. more
Khalifa consolidates alliances for the post-Zayed era
With the death of Sheikh Zayed, the Gulf has lost its most revered leader, a historic figure who carefully shaped the future of UAE politics by lining up an orderly succession with Sheikh Khalifa already named as federal President and Abu Dhabi ruler, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed’s position formalised as a powerful Crown Prince. Amid a 40-day period of official mourning for its founding President and Abu Dhabi’s Ruler Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan, the United Arab Emirates is entering a new and unfamiliar era. After more than three decades at the helm, ‘Baba Zayed’ incarnated the UAE’s singular combination of modernisation and tradition; his person commanded great respect abroad and genuine popular love at home.
Issue 745, 12 November 2004. 
more
Al-Nahayans reshuffle the deck, shaping the UAE’s succession
Sheikh Khalifa is president and Abu Dhabi ruler, and Mohammed Bin Zayed is expected to be a very hands-on crown prince. The government list published the day before Sheikh Zayed’s death was announced gives several pointers to the UAE’s political direction in the next few years.
Issue 745, 12 November 2004. more
Zayed ‘very ill’, unofficial sources
Officially nothing is wrong, but sources in the region on 13 October told GSN that there had been a “serious deterioration” in the health of the UAE’s venerated President and Abu Dhabi Ruler Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan. Concerns about Sheikh Zayed’s health were said to be one reason why next December’s Gulf Co-operation Council summit has been moved to Bahrain.
Issue 743, 15 October 2004. Full story
Fast cars and management gurus, but Abu Dhabi’s industrial revolution needs a firm foundation
Abu Dhabi is developing an aggressive industrialisation policy in which its VW purchase underlines the potential for major corporates in tax-free, cheap energy environments in the Gulf. But the Emirate’s policy still gives rise to a number of issues that future investors may want to see resolved.
Issue 734, 14 May 2004. more
The UOG generation emerges in Abu Dhabi policy-making
The new generation of economic policy-makers shaping deals like Abu Dhabi’s buy into Volkswagen is led by members of the ruling Al-Nahayan family and a nexus of well-connected 30- or 40-something men grouped around the influential and entrepreneurial UAE Offsets Group (UOG), headed by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan (GSN 728/9, 724/1).
Issue 734, 14 May 2004. more
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| 2003 and Earlier Archives – UAE – Abu Dhabi |
With MBZ’s promotion, Sheikha Fatima sons take centre stage
Abu Dhabi’s Ruler Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan has moved to clarify the long-term succession line in the Emirate – and implicitly the presidency of the UAE – by appointing armed forces Chief-of-staff Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed as Deputy Crown Prince. The consensus is that Sheikh Zayed will be succeeded as President of the UAE and Emir of Abu Dhabi by the present Crown Prince, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed. But Sheikh Khalifa is not a young man, while his half-brother Sheikh Mohammed – widely known as MBZ – was born only in 1961.
Issue 724, 12 December 2003. more
Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s paths diverge over real estate development
Dubai’s real estate boom demands that property rights are enshrined in federal law, while in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed and others remain opposed to foreign ownership. These differences pose big questions for federal legislators – so big, the decision is likely to be stalled.
Issue 723, 28 November 2003. more
Crown Prince Khalifa holds the purse strings as Abu Dhabi’s younger generations emerge
Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan has grown into an increasingly self-confident role over recent months. Opinion in the Emirate canvassed by GSN suggests that Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince now wields a central influence in making political decisions, receiving prominent foreign visitors separately from his revered father, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan, and taking most important financial decisions.
Issue 683, 3 April 2002. more
Gulf’s winds of change blow into Abu Dhabi
To little public fanfare, potentially radical change is being enacted in Abu Dhabi’s politics and society—which is already more liberal than the Emirate’s conservative public image would suggest. Among signs of change, women may be nominated to the Abu Dhabi contingent on the UAE’s Federal National Council (FNC) next year. The Council’s Speaker Mohammed Khalifa Al-Habtoor has indicated an openness to such a move and for elections to what is an increasingly vocal and expert assembly.
Issue 656, 5 March 2001. more
2008-2010 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2006-2007 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2005 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2004 UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
2003 and Earlier UAE – Abu Dhabi archive
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