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 Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, underscored the UAE is moving steadily to meet the people's aspirations under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Despite the progress realised in many of essential sectors, future planning and readiness are a shared responsibility between the people and the government. The function of the UAE government is drawing up an agenda and a roadmap for the future of the UAE.

This came during the announcement of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of a new ministerial retreat for the ministers and officials in UAE federal and local government entities as well as a number of economists, which will take place this month.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum tweeted, "We decided to convene a ministerial retreat in coming weeks in presence of local governments and economists to discuss UAE’s economy beyond oil". His Highness Sheikh Mohammed added, "We will celebrate while exporting the last oil barrel as my brother His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, said, and we will embark on setting up a thorough national programme to maintain that vision to realize a sustainable economy for future generations."

Sheikh Mohammed stressed that "Today, 70 per cent of our GDP is independent from oil. Our goal is to have a new equation for our economy where we neither depend on oil nor market fluctuations. We will add new economic sectors, leverage efficiency, productivity in current sectors. We want to prepare generations capable to lead a sustainable, balanced national economy."

Through workshops and brainstorming sessions, the Ministerial Retreat will address means to boost economy of the UAE away from oil as well as discuss possible future scenarios in different and new sectors.