His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, celebrates his 70th birthday on Monday.Born on July 15, 1949, in the Al Maktoum home in Shindagha near the Dubai Creek, Shaikh Mohammad is the third of four sons to Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
On January 4, 2006, Shaikh Mohammad became the Ruler of Dubai following the death of his brother Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. On January 5th of the same year, members of the UAE Supreme Council elected Shaikh Mohammad as the Vice President of the UAE.
On February 11 in 2006, UAE President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan nominated Shaikh Mohammad as Prime Minister of the UAE. Shaikh Mohammad and the members of his Cabinet took their oaths before Shaikh Khalifa at Al Bateen Palace in Abu Dhabi.
Sheikh Mohammed was privately tutored in Arabic and Islamic studies and started his formal education in 1955 at Al Ahmadiya School, a small primary school in Deira. He also learned hunting, falconry and horsemanship at an early age.
In August 1966, he flew to the UK to enrol in the Bell School of Languages in Cambridge. He also attended Mons Officer Cadet School-Aldershot (currently the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst) where he received the highest mark of any foreign and commonwealth officer cadet.
In 1968, Sheikh Mohammed returned to Dubai and Sheikh Rashid appointed him as the head of the Dubai Police and Public Security. It was his first public position.
Later, he was appointed as Minister of Defence and became the world’s youngest defence minister.
Sheikh Mohammed was present at a desert camp, where the late Sheikh Zayed – then Ruler of Abu Dhabi – and Sheikh Rashid – then Ruler of Dubai – met to discuss forming a federation between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which led to the foundation of the UAE.
Fast forward to January 3, 1995, Sheikh Maktoum, then Ruler of Dubai, signed a decree appointing Sheikh Mohammed as Crown Prince of Dubai.
Sheikh Mohammed laid out many infrastructure projects for the new digital economy and launched the eGovernment initiative. Expectedly, Dubai and the UAE rapidly evolved, leaving the world in awe of its transformation.
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