Mohammed delivers keynote speech at Forbes event

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum?s keynote speech at Forbes Global CEO Conference dinner reception in Dubai UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attended a dinner banquet hosted by Dubai Government at Armani Restaurant in Burj Khalifa in honour of 500 Global Forbes CEOs who are taking part in the Forbes Global CEO Conference 2012, held for the first time in the Middle East.

Sheikh Mohammed delivered a keynote speech at the event. The following is the full text of his speech.

Assalamu Alaikom

It is my pleasure to welcome our guests... and my great pleasure to see the business leaders from around the world gathering and meeting in Dubai... and I hope they will build on their success.

As everybody knows, we had a recession in the whole world... but I’m pleased to say that the UAE and Dubai came out of it... and Dubai is flying now again.

It is what is good for you, is good for Dubai.

After welcoming you... I would like to tell you a few stories about Dubai... from where we were and where we are now and what you see.

First, I would like to talk about this place around us here... A group of people brought me the drawing of a small shopping mall and a few buildings around it. I just said two words “Think Big.” After talking and discussions for three days, this is what it has become. Dubai Mall is the biggest mall in the world and Burj Khalifa is the tallest tower in the world.

Not only the shopping mall and Burj Khalifa... the area is surrounded by many hotels and many facilities and features... just like a small city here... all because we ‘think big.’

When I was a young boy, my father took me to Jebel Ali... and there was only sand and sea water. We got off the car and we walked on the sand looking at the place... He looked at me and said “Mohammed... I’m going to build the biggest sea port in the world.” I was a boy, so I couldn’t say anything. But his friend next to him said.. “Sheikh Rashid... We have Rashid Port which is enough for Dubai. Why do we need another port?”
And he (Sheikh Rashid) said “We must have a vision. For today, yes... Rashid Port is enough but we want to build for the future.”
His friend asked “Why now?”
He answered “Because building it today will be cheaper and it will make Dubai grow faster.”
That was Jebel Ali which is now the biggest port in the world and one of the biggest ports for containers.

About Jebel Ali again... A few years ago, they started building these big ships for cargo. And because of the relationship of Jebel Ali port management with the shipping lines, the shipping companies said “Don’t dredge anymore... these big ships are not coming to Dubai because they will go from Europe to Asia. They will not have cargo for the Gulf so they will dock elsewhere.”

And because Dubai World is running 60 ports around the world, they know ship management very well. I told them “No. Go on and prepare... dredge more and prepare the port for these big ships. We will bring them to Dubai.”

So, now... we have all the ships, the big ships and cargo ships coming to Dubai and won’t go look for a dock anywhere else in the world.

That was about Jebel Ali... and then, about Emirates airlines...

We had a local airliner for the Gulf before... and one of the Gulf airlines told Dubai “You must help us to expand and reach other countries...” We said no. We have an open sky and we cannot do that.

So, they put pressure on us and they stopped more than 60% of the flights coming to Dubai to add to the pressure. Then I thought of making our own airlines... So, we borrowed 11 million to start operations. We started with two aircraft... and paid the money the next year. And now Emirates airlines is one of the biggest in the world and one of the best.

Another thing... When the Gulf war came to be, we found ourselves in a war zone. So no ships and no flights would come except with very high insurance. Ahmed bin Saeed then came to me with the people running the ports saying... What can we do? The insurance is sky high.

I said... I have an answer. We will insure all the ships and all the airplanes coming to Dubai. So, all the ships came back to Dubai... offloaded their cargo to smaller ships to serve other Gulf countries... All the planes also came back... So Dubai benefitted from that.

So, you know... We want to be number one. The second place... nobody knows.

You got where you are because of determination and positive thinking... and positive thinking is always the right thing. If you doubt yourselves... then you’ll face failure. If you don’t learn everyday... then you are not leaders and the world will pass you by... So, we all have to learn in this life and you have to aim high... and have to reach out and catch the moon and stars.

That’s what Dubai is all about... we are determined to be number one...

I am very pleased to have you all here and I won’t take much of your time...

Thank you.