Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Deputy Ruler of Dubai is to pay two visits to Dundee over the course of the next year.
This was announced yesterday (Monday July 12) by his Private Secretary, Mr Mirza Al-Sayegh speaking at the Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies in the city.
Mr Al-Sayegh, who is chairman of the Institute’s Council, was speaking at an awards ceremony being held for students from three Universities in the United Arab Emirates who have been taking part in a summer school. It is the second year that the Institute has played host to students from the Middle East.
The 30 students, all female, have been identified as future leaders of Emirates society and have been mixing academic studies with cultural visits and sight-seeing around Scotland.
Mr Al-Sayegh said “In the Emirates we see the role of women as crucial to our society. We are taking all necessary steps to ensure women are at the heart of leadership through extensive investment in training and development.”
He praised the work of Dundee’s Al-Maktoum Institute including the recent launch of the Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Awards for Multicultural Scotland.
These awards are open to any individual or organisation nominated as having done something to promote multiculturalism in various areas including health, education and sport.
The first awards will be presented at a ceremony to be held in Dundee next May by Shaikh Hamdan and he will also be in the city to lay the foundation stone for a new cultural centre currently being designed and to be built in Blackness Road on the site of the former Harris Academy annexe.
At the awards ceremony Scottish guests were treated to a poem and song specially written by one of the students, Zainab Amer with a vote of thanks on their behalf from Fatma Saif.
Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the Institute thanked all those from around Scotland who had played host to visits or taken part in the lectures for the students. He had particular thanks for Dundee’s Lord Provost John Letford and Councillor Jill Shimi, leader of the administration of Dundee City Council.
The students return home today (Tuesday July 13) on the direct flight to Dubai operated by Emirates Airlines from Glasgow airport. A small group representing the students will meet with Shaikh Hamdan on their return to Dubai to report on their experiences in Scotland.
