His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has published a personal open letter addressed to his son.

He, on Saturday, wrote a warm, heartfelt open letter to his son, Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, First Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister of UAE and Minister of Finance, calling him one of the "pillars of the homeland".

Likening the nation to a building, he said that Sheikh Maktoum is like a pillar of that building — "bearing its responsibilities in silence, serving its people with sincerity, and supporting this vast edifice by extending the night into the day."

Highlighting his son's qualities, he said he admired his "breadth of knowledge, your calm demeanour, and your gracious listening to those who speak with you".

The long letter was not just all praise for his son. The UAE leader also shared lessons he learned from life, saying that "wisdom is the finest gift I can offer".

He spoke of how cities succeed through its people and their movement, he said, "ports and airports do not transport goods alone, but transport knowledge, and new ways of thinking, and different technologies, and create unexpected wealth."

Successful cities, he says, are those that provide an environment where wealth interacts with ideas and institutions.

He added that the role of governments is to create these environments and bring in people who are ambitious and "build a global centre for the exchange of knowledge and ideas and goods and wealth".

(Source: Khaleej Times)