Birth and Family: Born in Al Hosn palace -Abu Dhabi- in 1918, His Highness was the youngest of the four sons of H.H. Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed, ruler of the emirate ( 1922-1926). He was named after his famous grandfather, usually called Zayed the Great, who ruled the emirate from 1855-1909. Since the 18th century, Al Nahyan, a main branch of the union of Baniyas tribes, emerged as the leaders over 300 years.

Sheikh Zayed: The UAE Real Prosperity: It was realized that a new vision of governance was required to address the new challenges and to optimize the use of oil revenues. Therefore, Al Nahyan were unanimous in their choice of H.H. Sheikh Zayed as the new ruler on 6th August, 1966. During the five-year period that preceded the Union in 1971, Sheikh Zayed devoted himself to bring about two main objectives; first, to launch a major developmental program including the national infrastructure; second, to capture the idea that was crystallizing at that time to create a federation of seven emirates.

The dream came true on 2nd December, 1971; and Sheikh Zayed was elected as President of the new state by the rulers of the emirates who are at the same time members of the Federal Supreme Council. Every five years, FSC renewed their confidence in Sheikh Zayed and reelected him.

Sheikh Zayed: Foreign Policy: Sheikh Zayed held a firm belief in the Arab solidarity. Moreover, he called for cooperation between nations based on the principle of friendship, mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Sheikh Zayed's philosophy in international relations pivoted around the idea that countries, whether big or small, cannot do without cooperation to cope with the world problems and solve them away from violence and confrontation.

Due to his long experience of governorship and presidency, he gained a deep knowledge in regional and international affairs. He dedicated those distinguished attributes to the benefit of his country, and to settle those problems peacefully. In all his negotiations and consultations with various leaders from all corners of the world, Sheikh Zayed used his renowned prudence, foresight, and wisdom to solve different regional and international issues of common interest.

His expertise and merit were successfully tested regionally and internationally as he used his natural disposition, sound opinion and gorgeous reconciliatory skills to devise a solution for the issues that he tackled for more than half a century of Sheikh Zayed’s International Prestige

Sheikh Zayed’s factors of Success: Sheikh Zayed’s success can be mainly attributed to the great value he attached to dialogue and cooperation, which he relentlessly relied on in approaching the internal, Arab and international affairs in parallel with his wisdoms, experience and vision that he accumulated over more than fifty years as governor and president.