Dubai ruler launches £5bn fund
Dubai has enjoyed great economic growth
Saturday, 19, May 2007 07:00
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, has announced that he is founding an educational trust with a £5 billion donation from his private wealth.
Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as the United Arab Emirates' prime minister, hopes his gift will be used to establish research centres and add to the burgeoning economic growth of the region.
In a speech to the World Economic Forum in Jordan, he outlined plans to push the education of the Middle East population up to Western standards.
"There is a wide knowledge gap between us and the developed world in the West and in Asia. Our only choice is to bridge this gap as quickly as possible, because our age is defined by knowledge," he said.
While the sheikh emphasised the empowerment and opportunities that education could bring to the people of Dubai, he also stressed that it his foundation meet a practical need as well.
"Our region needs at this moment 15 million job opportunities, and our Arab world will need in the next 20 years between 74 to 85 million job opportunities," he told the conference.
Scholarships and grants from the fund are due to begin being distributed next year.