Dear brothers and sisters...

May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.

Since I became Prime Minister of the UAE four years ago, the cabinet has built on more than three decades of achievement and development, inspired by the march of our founding fathers and guided by the national work programme launched by my brother President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. We look forward to realising the programme's objectives of promoting and enabling the nation and its citizens to take their place among the most respected and privileged in the world.

This book documents the government's policies, initiatives and hard work, which have yielded so much success over the past four years. These great strides came as part of the framework of the government's strategic plan, the launch of which was to signal the start of a race for development and excellence. This gave an impetus to all ministries and government institutions to perform their duties and achieve their designated goals.

The last four years were not only rich in accomplishments, but also filled with many challenges, most significantly the global financial crisis that negatively impacted and damaged economies around the world.

The UAE Government has managed, thanks to Allah, and following the directives and support of the country's leadership, to tackle the crisis with determination and competence. Our response to this challenge, as with all challenges, proves that hard work and dedication inevitably lead the country and its citizens to better things.

We prefer to look to the future rather than dwell on past successes; however we must give pause sometimes to assess our achievements and learn the lessons which may benefit our planning in the future.

I remain supremely confident in the ability of our dedicated staff, our men and women, to achieve more in the upcoming period, so that we can move towards the future with the strength to attain all that is good for the country and its people.