Event Details

The U.A.E.’s development story is one of the tremendous economic and social expansion and a success that inspired other Middle Eastern countries 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 leaders from a cluster of very separate tribes were inspired to work together and form the seven emirates which led to the formal union we know today as the United Arab Emirates.

Francis has drawn on archive images and narratives from those ‘founding fathers’ that led to the publication of “Building a Nation”,  a unique collection of more than 750 historic pictures which chronicle the story of the country, published by Gulf News to mark the 40th anniversary of the U.A.E.’s founding.

The book chronicles the UAE from its very simple early beginnings before the formation of the federation, through its four decades of progress right up to today’s modern state. The pictures illustrate how the development of the U.A.E. transformed the country from very basic conditions into the socio-economic marvel we live in today. Looking around the country now it is hard to grasp how far and fast the U.A.E. has advanced in the 43 years since its founding and it is important to remember that the federation might have failed without the wisdom, foresight and leadership of the rulers, who tackled the problems they faced wisely.

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