Event Details

The U.A.E.’s development story is one of the tremendouseconomic and social expansion and a success that inspired other Middle Easterncountries to try to follow.

In our previous BBG Construction Focus event, Francis Matthew,the Editor at Large of Gulf News shared his unique insight into how leadersfrom a cluster of very separate tribes were inspired to work together and formthe seven emirates which led to the formal union we know today as the UnitedArab Emirates.

Francis has drawn on archive images and narratives fromthose ‘founding fathers’ that led to the publication of “Building aNation”,  a unique collection of morethan 750 historic pictures which chronicle the story of the country, publishedby Gulf News to mark the 40th anniversary of the U.A.E.’s founding.

The book chronicles the UAE from its very simple earlybeginnings before the formation of the federation, through its four decades ofprogress right up to today’s modern state. The pictures illustrate how thedevelopment of the U.A.E. transformed the country from very basic conditionsinto the socio-economic marvel we live in today. Looking around the country nowit is hard to grasp how far and fast the U.A.E. has advanced in the 43 yearssince its founding and it is important to remember that the federation mighthave failed without the wisdom, foresight and leadership of the rulers, whotackled the problems they faced wisely.

Francis gave an excellent presentation of 50 pictures of theU.A.E. which include some remarkable images of life in the 1950’s running throughto the present day and shared his narrative on how the nation was shaped.