Tag Archives: muslim
We will bring minds together for a better future
We will bring minds together for a better future Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum / 11 June 2013 MORE THAN 1,200 years ago, while Europe was in its Dark Ages, the Muslim world was ruled by a dynasty of Islamic leaders who embraced free thought and creativity from all corners of the globe. Never before had history witnessed such cultural openness and symbiosis as during the reign of the Abbasid Caliphs. They built the world’s first university, named it Bayt Al Hikma (‘House of Wisdom’), and filled its library with the finest cultural, scientific and literary creations known to mankind. As early as the ninth century, under the Caliph Al Mamoun, Baghdad had become the world’s capital of science and culture. The city was renowned for embracing all races and religions. It became a magnet for intellectuals, free thinkers and innovators from East and West. Its people developed a passion for gathering together all of the fruits of mankind’s quest for happiness. This celebration of human creativity flourished for more than five centuries and set the stage for the European Renaissance. Looking at the Middle East and its challenges today, it is tempting to think back to that golden age of Islamic culture with wistful nostalgia for a faraway time. But Al Mamoun’s vision is more than ancient history. It is also a solution for the present and the future — a model that we are actively rebuilding, right now. My own country — the United Arab Emirates — stands where it stands today because since our inception we have given the utmost priority to the human mind. Our land has always been a safe harbour for great thinkers. We have welcomed innovative minds and given them the freedom to create. By working together, thousands of experts and specialist from the UAE and around the world have built in Dubai the world’s tallest skyscraper, the largest manmade islands, the largest automated metro network and the third largest airline in the world. In our capital Abu Dhabi, they built the world’s largest carbon-free city, complete with advanced research facilities for renewable energy. Great artistic and cultural minds are collaborating to build a vast cultural and artistic city complete with the greatest international museums. We have been building on an idea that is more than 1,000 years old. Today we want to extend this vision to an international level. We want to host Expo 2020 — a global event in which the cultures, innovations and creations of the world will meet in Dubai. We want to welcome more than 25 million people during six months, so they can see the best of what the human mind can achieve across cultures and races. We want to host the greatest minds in the world to share innovative solutions for global challenges that cannot be dealt with in isolation. Expo 2020 will bring together expert thinkers to share inventive ways to deal with pressing issues such as energy and water. Great minds will also come together to share smart solutions for transportation, sustainability and global economic stability. When we proposed to host the world’s biggest cultural event, we promised to astonish the world. Today we pledge to breathe life into our slogan: we will bring minds together for a better future. We proposed to host this international event in 2020 to deliver three important messages. Our first message is to tell the world that the Middle East is not a region of conflict, war and tension. Its history and geography prove that this is a region where cultures, civilisations and innovation can meet and flourish. Initiatives such as Expo 2020 are an opportunity to restore this role by playing host to the world, communicating positively and openly with its diverse cultures, accepting and embracing ideas and interacting with all people. We are at the heart of the world. Two thirds of the world’s population live less than eight hours away. We are destined to be a meeting point for mankind and a melting pot for cultures and civilisations that will provide humanity with amazing innovations and creations. Our second message is to the people of our region who are tired of conflict and tension. We tell them that we have a culture, a religion and a language in common: if communication among different cultures can bring about a better future, imagine what it could do for us with all our commonalities. We have been trying for more than six decades to communicate and interact positively within our region. We endeavour to unite minds, and then borders; to touch together our hearts before touching on economic interests, and to unify our collective will before unifying our currencies. We have always wanted to establish connections, real connections, to build a better future for the people of our region and its youth in particular. It is time for our region to restore its role in history and civilisation. Our history and our culture have destined us for greatness, and our future should showcase this destiny.Our last message is to the governments representing the 166 countries that will vote next November to choose the winning host country for Expo 2020. We tell them that our region deserves the chance to organise this great world exhibition, that our country is ready to host it, and that we are committed to staging the best Expo in history. We are thankful to the countries that announced their support to us; and to the people of the world our message is that of love and peace. Our slogan will always be that connecting minds creates a better future. It is a slogan of which Caliph Al Mamoun would have been proud. Continue reading
Palm Stockpiles Dropping to Nine-Month Low Seen Boost for Prices
By Ranjeetha Pakiam – May 5, 2013 Palm oil inventories in Malaysia , the world’s second-largest producer, probably declined in April to the lowest level in nine months as exports held above production, boosting optimism that prices will rebound. Reserves decreased 5.1 percent to 2.06 million metric tons, the least since July, from 2.17 million tons in March, the median of estimates from three plantation companies and four analysts showed in a Bloomberg survey. While exports fell 6.5 percent to 1.44 million tons, they were higher than the output that gained 5.3 percent to 1.4 million tons, according to the survey. Official data are due for release on May 10. A drop in stockpiles for a fourth month from a record 2.63 million tons in December may help stem a 33 percent price slump in the past year as supply outpaced demand for the commodity used in everything from biofuels to noodles. Futures in Kuala Lumpur may recover as much as 20 percent by the end of this quarter as stockpiles fall and demand rebounds, according to a Maybank Investment Bank Bhd. report dated May 2. “There is still potential for stocks to go down,” said Ivy Ng, an analyst at CIMB Investment Bank Bhd. “There’s still room over the next few months for exports to improve” as we head into the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, she said. Consumption usually increases during Ramadan, which begins in July this year, boosting imports from Middle East to South Asia including India , the biggest buyer. Exports will pick up in May and June because of the festival, Rabobank International analysts led by Luke Chandler said in a report last month. Worst Streak Palm oil for delivery in July dropped 0.7 percent to 2,246 ringgit ($740) a ton on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives at 5:45 p.m. Kuala Lumpur time on May 3. Futures, which entered a bear market in June 2012, are poised for third year of losses. That would be the worst run since at least 1996. Prices may recover by end of June to 2,600 ringgit to 2,700 ringgit a ton, a level last traded in September, Maybank analysts including Ong Chee Ting wrote in a report dated May 2. Rabobank forecasts prices climbing to 2,500 ringgit in the second quarter before dropping to 2,450 ringgit in the third and to 2,400 in the fourth quarter as Malaysia enters the high- output season and global vegetable oil supplies increase. Output usually surges from July to October in the country. World production of seven major oilseeds in the 2012-2013 season may be 456.1 million tons, 1.3 million tons more than the estimate in March and 5.8 percent larger than last season, because of bigger-than-expected supplies of soybeans and rapeseed, Oil World said April 30. In March, the Hamburg-based researcher said that palm oil production may reach a record 55.7 million tons in 2012-2013, with 27.9 million tons coming from Indonesia , the world’s biggest supplier, and 19.7 million tons from Malaysia. If prices decline further Malaysia’s export will become duty free from the 4.5 percent tariff this month, CIMB’s Ng said. That should boost demand from importers, she said. Malaysia announced tax changes last year to reduce palm inventories and compete with Indonesia. The reform resulted in a zero tariff for January and February as the reference price fell below the minimum threshold of 2,250 ringgit. Indonesia has set its duty for May at 9 percent, down from 10.5 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net Continue reading
Real Estate in the Philippines, Cavite – House and Lot for Sale | Gabrielle (Turned Over)
Gabrielle is 25 minutes away from Mall of Asia and 45 minutes from Makati. Now, homeowners can enjoy a free park exclusive only for the block where children … Continue reading
