The success story of the United Arab Emirates began in 1971 against a difficult background of an abrupt British withdrawl from the region after many years, and no previous history of the future member states working together.

The way the member emiratesof the Federation converted this difficult start into eventual success shows why the UAE is confident that it can face the future successfully. The country's record during its first 25 years of existence gives great hope of its future development.

One of the most important achievments of the Rulers has been to create a significant sense of identity for the United Arab Emirates. At the same time as building this sense of national identity, the UAE also successfully handled a tremendous inflow of oil wealth into what had been a very basic society with minimal resources. This inflow of oilwealth has allowed the country to develop beyond all recognition but true mark of the Government's success is that time, the essence of the people of the Emirateshas survived.

This achievement is all too often ignored and taken for granted. The planned and coherent developmentof the UAE hidesthe scale of the achievement, which can really be measured by asking what could have gone wrong. Without god leadership, and the strong sacial root's of the UAE's people, the country could have gone off the rails completely. The world has many examples of societies where sudden wealth has descended, and the societies have not been able to cope.

However, in the UAE's case, it did not lose control of its own fate, it did not lose its moral standards, and it did not waste its money. Instead, it has retained the loyalty of its population, and the government has spent its money by targeting it at education and infrastructure needs for further development.