Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum BBC News Special


Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

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suicide bomb attack in Kabul. We now have an exclusive interview

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with one of the world's most powerful men, the ruler of Dubai.

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Your Highness, very nice to meet you. Welcome to Dubai. This is my

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grandfather's house, where my grandmother and grandfather lived.

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When I was born, clearly this light, you see? And, no water. This

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is also where my grandfather, and that is my grandfather. Zimbabwe! A

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lovely country. Did you just have people knocking on the door saying,

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I have a problem with my house, can you help me? Yes, he knock on the

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door. People will be sitting here. So, the ruler will be sitting here,

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and the people will be here. Yes, so, anyone may come in, and ask to

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have things done. You know, I remember as a child, trying to climb

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this. I couldn't. This was my playground. You are going to drive

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me out into the desert? Yes, and I am not a very good driver. Don't

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worry! Am a very good driver. -- I am. I just want to ask you, because

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we are going past the fabulous skyline, was that a vision? Did you

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have a feeling when you are a child growing up, that one day Dubai would

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look like this? I will tell you, I was lucky enough, I travelled with

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my father to Europe, England, and it was always my dream, saying, they

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have roads, and buildings, and flags. That was my dream. But we

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would have that here. This was my childhood. Between the Emirates

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there was no road. If the people are unhappy, how do you know? How do

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they tell you that they are unhappy? They will tell me. You know, and...

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For example, from ten years ago to now, they have not changed my phone

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number. Then everybody knows. The whole country knows my number.

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Ordinary people know your phone number, and will bring you up? I

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have two numbers, one for private and one full public. Do you like

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Twitter? Yes. 2.1 million followers, I see. I like to listen

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to what they are saying, and not wait until they tell me. They follow

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you, and why I am doing this, so I can understand. Your Highness, you

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have just one Expo Twenty20, when we drove out here we saw the cream is

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busy building. Is to buy back -- Dubai back? This to me is great, for

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this country to believe. That is the message I got. But, now we have to

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do something to make it even better for these people who bought it for

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us, and to make it an excellent Expo. It was only five or six years

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ago that people were saying Dubai was finished, there was an economic

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crisis. Yes, some newspapers said that, but it is our mistake we did

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not answer. We did not say anything. But, during the crisis, it was a

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challenge and I knew we would overcome it. Therefore, I was happy

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with my life going on, and the people were saying, how we see... I

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know that Dubai wasn't finished, and it is back, because it is Dubai.

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There must have been a moment where you thought, this is really scary.

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No, I think this is a challenge. I don't get scared from challenges. We

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face challenges and try to sort them out. Is the problem over? Are all

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the debts paid off? Yes. The company is going to pay a year ahead, so it

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is settled. Why do you think, why did you get into this mess? White of

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the crisis, about? There must be things you have learned about it. Of

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course, we learn everyday from this. But, it is not us, we are part of

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this world, and this crisis, or challenge, is... You not like word

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crisis? Gerry McCann no, it is challenge! -- no, it is challenge.

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Every day, it is a challenge, and we take it as a challenge. Whenever

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there is a difficulty or a challenge, someone will come

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through, and that is just for us. The latest indication say that

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property prices are rising very sharply, rental prices are going up

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very fast, are you not worried that another bubble is being inflated

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over Dubai that could burst again. We have put a law now, you cannot

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raise the rent over a certain percentage. That will help. I know

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the expo is coming and people will try to, but we have made sure they

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do not raise the rent high. As a matter of interest, the Arab Spring,

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did that turn out to be economic good news for? DubaiBecause,

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investors who might have been putting their money into Syria or

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Egypt, or bar rainfall Libya, they thought maybe they would put their

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money into Dubai instead? High -- I was asked this question, and I was

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honest. Yes, there is $30 billion, but I told her to remember, if the

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Arab Spring didn't happen, it would be 60 billion. Did you see the Arab

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Spring coming? Yes, and I said this when I spoke at the Gulf University

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in 2004, and I said to the leaders of the Arab world, change or you

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will be changed. People will look away from you, or try to do that. I

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don't know the future, but there is an indication, so you can feel it is

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coming. You cannot live for your nation -- live -- you cannot lie to

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your country for years and expect them to still believe you. Can

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President Assad stay in power? Somebody asked me about Syria, and I

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said it would take a long time. But, if you kill your people you cannot

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stay. I hope there will be a solution peacefully, with a new

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elected government. Because he has killed his people, he will go

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eventually? Eventually he will go. Will you offer any support to the

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Free Syrian Army, or are you? We are supporting the people of Syria, in

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Jordan or Turkey, we are helping those. But the Free Syrian Army, you

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don't know, because there are some extremists and you don't know how

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many groups of people are now in Syria. You hear that some groups are

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fighting each other. So, you don't want to do what Carter has done, or

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Saudi Arabia, want to do what Carter has done, or

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different. We try to help, and not interfere -- Qatar. It seems that

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the United Arab Emirates takes very light steps on foreign policy. He

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doesn't like to show its muscle or its weight in the same way that

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Qatar does. Perhaps they have the reason or revision, but we don't. We

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like the Emirates, and it is kind. We don't want to interfere with

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other people. Nations should say what they want, and we should always

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help and not interfere. Here in the UAE, you have cracked down quite

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hard on political Islam. On the Muslim Brotherhood. Is Egypt now

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better off with General Al-Sisi in charge, then it was with Mohammed

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Morsi? Much better. I ask them, were they worried about the Muslim

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Brotherhood being in power, and I said no. I thought they would last

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only one year, and many people and the army would sort it out. So,

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therefore, it is better for Egypt. What did they do when they came? See

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what happened, and see what happens now. Is not that democracy? The

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people elected Mohammed Morsi. Why did they then go to the streets and

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squares and save, come on, sort it out. We will see in the next

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election. Do you think the general will stand? I think he will stay in

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the army, and someone needs to be elected for the presidency. I think

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it is important for him to be the head of the army, is a strong man

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and a good man for Egypt. So, better for head of army then head of state.

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That is what I think. Can I ask you, we heard about the death of Ariel

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Sharon this week, how do you see the prospects of peace between the

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Israelis and Palestinians? Well, between Israel and the Palestinians,

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one day they came very close to signing, but they didn't sign the

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peace process. If they had that, and they signed it, of course there

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would be a bomb here, and a rocket here, but everybody in the whole

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world would be against them doing that. I promise you, Israel will

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benefit more than us, because we want to do the best for the area

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after the peace process. What we are asking, is a country for the

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Palestinians. And we are accepting Israel, but for the Palestinians you

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can't just say nothing. The country, no place to stay. So, therefore, if

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we had signed the peace process, there would be some problem,

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difficulties, but in time, Israel will benefit. You said you would

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like to be trading with Israel. After the peace process, we will do

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everything with Israel. We will trade with them, and work with them

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and everything. But, signed the peace process. How close do you

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think they are? Everytime I think they are close, they go away. I

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think, you see, what happened, with the peace process coming, and there

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is a rocket going to Israel, which is not accurate, Israel) and hits

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back. So, action and reaction. It always happens that way. But if we

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just be strong and sign the peace process, I think it will be better

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for everybody. I want to ask you about a run, progress has been made

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in talks about access to run's nuclear facilities, you believe the

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time is now right to lift sanctions against Iran? I think so, give

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around some space. -- around. They are our neighbour and we do not want

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any problems. But if the peace and we agree with the Americans and the

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Americans agree and to lift the sanctions, everybody will benefit.

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We suffered from the sanctions on Iran. They are your biggest trading

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partner. When we suffered we try to open other doors for trading with

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other countries. To be clear, Iran has done enough in your mind that

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the sanctions should be listed? I think so. If they allow the people

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to go and look at their nuclear weapons, they are not making any

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nuclear, that is dangerous for me also. If they are not, it should be

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lifted. So the unfairly. You believe that when they say that their

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nuclear ambitions up purely for civilian nuclear power? I hear that

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from them, I hear that always, I think they are sometimes saying the

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truth. I don't think they want... I saw him and I asked him, are you

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building a nuclear weapon? He said okay, what would I do? If I had the

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means of transporting this weapon to Israel? How many Palestinians will I

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kill? The Europeans and the Americans will finish my cities in a

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run. -- in Iran. The weapons of the past. I want to talk about Dubai and

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the criticisms made of Dubai about your country's human rights record.

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We have the case of an American who has been released from prison who

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made a spoof video about youth culture and was put in prison for

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several months. Why? We have a law like we cracked the Muslim

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Brotherhood because everyone to learn and stay and work, they are

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okay, if they want to go extreme, we do not have room for that. The kid

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said that he did nothing wrong that had no idea of the crime, and they

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had no idea how they -- how long they would be in prison for. We were

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not told of the crime until five months later after we were taken in.

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For a modern country which you strive to be, is that satisfactory?

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No, we tried to change it. We are not perfect. We try to change it. We

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make mistakes and we going and try to change it. We are not perfect. We

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are doing our best. Do you accept you got it wrong in that case? May

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be, the judge, I can't talk about the judge of what he saw. What about

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the Norwegian woman who, she was raped, she went to the police and

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said as she was raped and she was put in prison herself for having

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illicit sex outside of marriage. I think she was the victim.

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Unfortunate. We tried for that not happen again. She was pardoned by

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you in the end. Maybe the laws need changing. Human Rights Watch who we

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interviewed said Dubai has the most modern skyline of anywhere in the

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world but its legal system is from the Dark Ages. Not really. The legal

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system, we are changing it, everything to suit Dubai and to

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soothe United Arab Emirates. There is a change coming. Maybe if there

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is a law which is old, we are going to change it. You need to carry on

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changing your balls if you're going to carry on attracting -- your

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cause. If you're going to carry on attracting the best. Yes. Dealing

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with criticisms of your country, migrant labour that comes here are

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badly treated. I disagree. The Labour, before sometimes the

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companies give them less salaries and now we ask all the salaries to

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go through the banks of the government can say. We can watch

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these companies and give the rights for the Labour the right salaries.

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The European command that -- public committee on human rights said the

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minimum labour standards are not respected, systematic complaints

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about Paul accommodation, that salaries, I withheld. You will also

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see very beautiful accommodation for labourers. We built them and we told

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the companies to build high standards. Your Highness, I want to

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talk about one other subject which is a subject of great passion to you

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and your love of horses. How shocked were you when you heard the news

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that some of your racehorses were being kept at the stables in England

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that had been doped. I was shocked. Really. I have many trainers and if

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one of them did the wrong thing, you know, they gave him eight years and

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I gave him a lifetime. Finished. Are you in touch with him? He comes to

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see other friends but he will never come near horses. We put an

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investigator now to really go through everything and meet

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everybody and I think he is getting independent and he is getting a good

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job. He has not finished yet but I hope good luck to him. Knowing how

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closely you watch everything in terms of the way your economy is

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developing, the legal system, all the rest of it, some people say it

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is extraordinary that one of your trainers would doped the horses

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without you knowing. Because he thought, he doped not for racing but

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for treatment for long-term and they will not come to the races. Now we

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find out the whole story and we will know what happened. Do you think it

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damaged your reputation in the racing world? No, of course, if they

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think that I know, I am clear, I still love horses and racing. What

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do you still love going to the race meetings. I don't care. I go there,

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of course. The truth will come out! The truth will come out because the

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independent investigator is a policeman and he is straight. He

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will solve it. That will give in to the media. If I wanted to, could use

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anabolic steroids in Dubai on horses? Not in Dubai and not in the

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whole United Arab Emirates. It is illegal? Yes. It is illegal now to

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have it in the shots. A final question. If you were to invite me

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back in 20 years time and we are still living, how would Dubai be

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different than? What is your vision for the future? Seem to ride the

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very -- seeing Dubai today. The other matter I will answer that.

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Before that I will say something. I'm not doing this for the BBC, I am

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saying to myself, to put my view to the viewers and to say that Dubai is

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back in to save the whole world, we are here! And Dubai loves you back.

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If you say, now, 20 years from now if we are still living, I cannot see

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what we are driving, my vision is for Dubai to be number one. Happiest

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nation, all of that way. We want to be number one. They give very much,

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your Highness. A pleasure. After a night where we have seen

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some heavy showers we have got

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