Browse content similar to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
suicide bomb attack in Kabul. We now have an exclusive interview | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
with one of the world's most powerful men, the ruler of Dubai. | :00:00. | :00:21. | |
Your Highness, very nice to meet you. Welcome to Dubai. This is my | :00:22. | :00:30. | |
grandfather's house, where my grandmother and grandfather lived. | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
When I was born, clearly this light, you see? And, no water. This | :00:35. | :00:42. | |
is also where my grandfather, and that is my grandfather. Zimbabwe! A | :00:43. | :00:50. | |
lovely country. Did you just have people knocking on the door saying, | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
I have a problem with my house, can you help me? Yes, he knock on the | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
door. People will be sitting here. So, the ruler will be sitting here, | :01:01. | :01:07. | |
and the people will be here. Yes, so, anyone may come in, and ask to | :01:08. | :01:15. | |
have things done. You know, I remember as a child, trying to climb | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
this. I couldn't. This was my playground. You are going to drive | :01:22. | :01:28. | |
me out into the desert? Yes, and I am not a very good driver. Don't | :01:29. | :01:40. | |
worry! Am a very good driver. -- I am. I just want to ask you, because | :01:41. | :01:46. | |
we are going past the fabulous skyline, was that a vision? Did you | :01:47. | :01:54. | |
have a feeling when you are a child growing up, that one day Dubai would | :01:55. | :02:02. | |
look like this? I will tell you, I was lucky enough, I travelled with | :02:03. | :02:12. | |
my father to Europe, England, and it was always my dream, saying, they | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
have roads, and buildings, and flags. That was my dream. But we | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
would have that here. This was my childhood. Between the Emirates | :02:22. | :02:31. | |
there was no road. If the people are unhappy, how do you know? How do | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
they tell you that they are unhappy? They will tell me. You know, and... | :02:36. | :02:44. | |
For example, from ten years ago to now, they have not changed my phone | :02:45. | :02:52. | |
number. Then everybody knows. The whole country knows my number. | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
Ordinary people know your phone number, and will bring you up? I | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
have two numbers, one for private and one full public. Do you like | :03:04. | :03:15. | |
Twitter? Yes. 2.1 million followers, I see. I like to listen | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
to what they are saying, and not wait until they tell me. They follow | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
you, and why I am doing this, so I can understand. Your Highness, you | :03:27. | :03:38. | |
have just one Expo Twenty20, when we drove out here we saw the cream is | :03:39. | :03:52. | |
busy building. Is to buy back -- Dubai back? This to me is great, for | :03:53. | :04:02. | |
this country to believe. That is the message I got. But, now we have to | :04:03. | :04:10. | |
do something to make it even better for these people who bought it for | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
us, and to make it an excellent Expo. It was only five or six years | :04:16. | :04:24. | |
ago that people were saying Dubai was finished, there was an economic | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
crisis. Yes, some newspapers said that, but it is our mistake we did | :04:30. | :04:37. | |
not answer. We did not say anything. But, during the crisis, it was a | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
challenge and I knew we would overcome it. Therefore, I was happy | :04:44. | :04:46. | |
with my life going on, and the people were saying, how we see... I | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
know that Dubai wasn't finished, and it is back, because it is Dubai. | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
There must have been a moment where you thought, this is really scary. | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
No, I think this is a challenge. I don't get scared from challenges. We | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
face challenges and try to sort them out. Is the problem over? Are all | :05:14. | :05:25. | |
the debts paid off? Yes. The company is going to pay a year ahead, so it | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
is settled. Why do you think, why did you get into this mess? White of | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
the crisis, about? There must be things you have learned about it. Of | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
course, we learn everyday from this. But, it is not us, we are part of | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
this world, and this crisis, or challenge, is... You not like word | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
crisis? Gerry McCann no, it is challenge! -- no, it is challenge. | :05:58. | :06:16. | |
Every day, it is a challenge, and we take it as a challenge. Whenever | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
there is a difficulty or a challenge, someone will come | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
through, and that is just for us. The latest indication say that | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
property prices are rising very sharply, rental prices are going up | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
very fast, are you not worried that another bubble is being inflated | :06:36. | :06:42. | |
over Dubai that could burst again. We have put a law now, you cannot | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
raise the rent over a certain percentage. That will help. I know | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
the expo is coming and people will try to, but we have made sure they | :06:56. | :07:03. | |
do not raise the rent high. As a matter of interest, the Arab Spring, | :07:04. | :07:05. | |
did that turn out to be economic good news for? DubaiBecause, | :07:06. | :07:13. | |
investors who might have been putting their money into Syria or | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
Egypt, or bar rainfall Libya, they thought maybe they would put their | :07:17. | :07:27. | |
money into Dubai instead? High -- I was asked this question, and I was | :07:28. | :07:42. | |
honest. Yes, there is $30 billion, but I told her to remember, if the | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
Arab Spring didn't happen, it would be 60 billion. Did you see the Arab | :07:48. | :07:57. | |
Spring coming? Yes, and I said this when I spoke at the Gulf University | :07:58. | :08:11. | |
in 2004, and I said to the leaders of the Arab world, change or you | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
will be changed. People will look away from you, or try to do that. I | :08:15. | :08:22. | |
don't know the future, but there is an indication, so you can feel it is | :08:23. | :08:32. | |
coming. You cannot live for your nation -- live -- you cannot lie to | :08:33. | :08:45. | |
your country for years and expect them to still believe you. Can | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
President Assad stay in power? Somebody asked me about Syria, and I | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
said it would take a long time. But, if you kill your people you cannot | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
stay. I hope there will be a solution peacefully, with a new | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
elected government. Because he has killed his people, he will go | :09:12. | :09:21. | |
eventually? Eventually he will go. Will you offer any support to the | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
Free Syrian Army, or are you? We are supporting the people of Syria, in | :09:27. | :09:35. | |
Jordan or Turkey, we are helping those. But the Free Syrian Army, you | :09:36. | :09:43. | |
don't know, because there are some extremists and you don't know how | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
many groups of people are now in Syria. You hear that some groups are | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
fighting each other. So, you don't want to do what Carter has done, or | :09:53. | :09:54. | |
Saudi Arabia, want to do what Carter has done, or | :09:55. | :10:06. | |
different. We try to help, and not interfere -- Qatar. It seems that | :10:07. | :10:15. | |
the United Arab Emirates takes very light steps on foreign policy. He | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
doesn't like to show its muscle or its weight in the same way that | :10:19. | :10:29. | |
Qatar does. Perhaps they have the reason or revision, but we don't. We | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
like the Emirates, and it is kind. We don't want to interfere with | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
other people. Nations should say what they want, and we should always | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
help and not interfere. Here in the UAE, you have cracked down quite | :10:46. | :10:52. | |
hard on political Islam. On the Muslim Brotherhood. Is Egypt now | :10:53. | :11:08. | |
better off with General Al-Sisi in charge, then it was with Mohammed | :11:09. | :11:17. | |
Morsi? Much better. I ask them, were they worried about the Muslim | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
Brotherhood being in power, and I said no. I thought they would last | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
only one year, and many people and the army would sort it out. So, | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
therefore, it is better for Egypt. What did they do when they came? See | :11:37. | :11:45. | |
what happened, and see what happens now. Is not that democracy? The | :11:46. | :11:57. | |
people elected Mohammed Morsi. Why did they then go to the streets and | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
squares and save, come on, sort it out. We will see in the next | :12:02. | :12:12. | |
election. Do you think the general will stand? I think he will stay in | :12:13. | :12:20. | |
the army, and someone needs to be elected for the presidency. I think | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
it is important for him to be the head of the army, is a strong man | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
and a good man for Egypt. So, better for head of army then head of state. | :12:28. | :12:38. | |
That is what I think. Can I ask you, we heard about the death of Ariel | :12:39. | :12:49. | |
Sharon this week, how do you see the prospects of peace between the | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
Israelis and Palestinians? Well, between Israel and the Palestinians, | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
one day they came very close to signing, but they didn't sign the | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
peace process. If they had that, and they signed it, of course there | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
would be a bomb here, and a rocket here, but everybody in the whole | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
world would be against them doing that. I promise you, Israel will | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
benefit more than us, because we want to do the best for the area | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
after the peace process. What we are asking, is a country for the | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
Palestinians. And we are accepting Israel, but for the Palestinians you | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
can't just say nothing. The country, no place to stay. So, therefore, if | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
we had signed the peace process, there would be some problem, | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
difficulties, but in time, Israel will benefit. You said you would | :13:45. | :13:51. | |
like to be trading with Israel. After the peace process, we will do | :13:52. | :13:53. | |
everything with Israel. We will trade with them, and work with them | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
and everything. But, signed the peace process. How close do you | :14:00. | :14:07. | |
think they are? Everytime I think they are close, they go away. I | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
think, you see, what happened, with the peace process coming, and there | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
is a rocket going to Israel, which is not accurate, Israel) and hits | :14:21. | :14:29. | |
back. So, action and reaction. It always happens that way. But if we | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
just be strong and sign the peace process, I think it will be better | :14:35. | :14:43. | |
for everybody. I want to ask you about a run, progress has been made | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
in talks about access to run's nuclear facilities, you believe the | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
time is now right to lift sanctions against Iran? I think so, give | :14:51. | :15:02. | |
around some space. -- around. They are our neighbour and we do not want | :15:03. | :15:11. | |
any problems. But if the peace and we agree with the Americans and the | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
Americans agree and to lift the sanctions, everybody will benefit. | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
We suffered from the sanctions on Iran. They are your biggest trading | :15:19. | :15:29. | |
partner. When we suffered we try to open other doors for trading with | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
other countries. To be clear, Iran has done enough in your mind that | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
the sanctions should be listed? I think so. If they allow the people | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
to go and look at their nuclear weapons, they are not making any | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
nuclear, that is dangerous for me also. If they are not, it should be | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
lifted. So the unfairly. You believe that when they say that their | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
nuclear ambitions up purely for civilian nuclear power? I hear that | :16:05. | :16:13. | |
from them, I hear that always, I think they are sometimes saying the | :16:14. | :16:21. | |
truth. I don't think they want... I saw him and I asked him, are you | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
building a nuclear weapon? He said okay, what would I do? If I had the | :16:27. | :16:33. | |
means of transporting this weapon to Israel? How many Palestinians will I | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
kill? The Europeans and the Americans will finish my cities in a | :16:40. | :16:47. | |
run. -- in Iran. The weapons of the past. I want to talk about Dubai and | :16:48. | :16:55. | |
the criticisms made of Dubai about your country's human rights record. | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
We have the case of an American who has been released from prison who | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
made a spoof video about youth culture and was put in prison for | :17:08. | :17:16. | |
several months. Why? We have a law like we cracked the Muslim | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
Brotherhood because everyone to learn and stay and work, they are | :17:21. | :17:23. | |
okay, if they want to go extreme, we do not have room for that. The kid | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
said that he did nothing wrong that had no idea of the crime, and they | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
had no idea how they -- how long they would be in prison for. We were | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
not told of the crime until five months later after we were taken in. | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
For a modern country which you strive to be, is that satisfactory? | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
No, we tried to change it. We are not perfect. We try to change it. We | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
make mistakes and we going and try to change it. We are not perfect. We | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
are doing our best. Do you accept you got it wrong in that case? May | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
be, the judge, I can't talk about the judge of what he saw. What about | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
the Norwegian woman who, she was raped, she went to the police and | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
said as she was raped and she was put in prison herself for having | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
illicit sex outside of marriage. I think she was the victim. | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
Unfortunate. We tried for that not happen again. She was pardoned by | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
you in the end. Maybe the laws need changing. Human Rights Watch who we | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
interviewed said Dubai has the most modern skyline of anywhere in the | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
world but its legal system is from the Dark Ages. Not really. The legal | :18:46. | :18:52. | |
system, we are changing it, everything to suit Dubai and to | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
soothe United Arab Emirates. There is a change coming. Maybe if there | :18:59. | :19:08. | |
is a law which is old, we are going to change it. You need to carry on | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
changing your balls if you're going to carry on attracting -- your | :19:12. | :19:18. | |
cause. If you're going to carry on attracting the best. Yes. Dealing | :19:19. | :19:27. | |
with criticisms of your country, migrant labour that comes here are | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
badly treated. I disagree. The Labour, before sometimes the | :19:32. | :19:41. | |
companies give them less salaries and now we ask all the salaries to | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
go through the banks of the government can say. We can watch | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
these companies and give the rights for the Labour the right salaries. | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
The European command that -- public committee on human rights said the | :19:57. | :19:59. | |
minimum labour standards are not respected, systematic complaints | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
about Paul accommodation, that salaries, I withheld. You will also | :20:03. | :20:10. | |
see very beautiful accommodation for labourers. We built them and we told | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
the companies to build high standards. Your Highness, I want to | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
talk about one other subject which is a subject of great passion to you | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
and your love of horses. How shocked were you when you heard the news | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
that some of your racehorses were being kept at the stables in England | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
that had been doped. I was shocked. Really. I have many trainers and if | :20:41. | :20:49. | |
one of them did the wrong thing, you know, they gave him eight years and | :20:50. | :21:00. | |
I gave him a lifetime. Finished. Are you in touch with him? He comes to | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
see other friends but he will never come near horses. We put an | :21:07. | :21:17. | |
investigator now to really go through everything and meet | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
everybody and I think he is getting independent and he is getting a good | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
job. He has not finished yet but I hope good luck to him. Knowing how | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
closely you watch everything in terms of the way your economy is | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
developing, the legal system, all the rest of it, some people say it | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
is extraordinary that one of your trainers would doped the horses | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
without you knowing. Because he thought, he doped not for racing but | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
for treatment for long-term and they will not come to the races. Now we | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
find out the whole story and we will know what happened. Do you think it | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
damaged your reputation in the racing world? No, of course, if they | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
think that I know, I am clear, I still love horses and racing. What | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
do you still love going to the race meetings. I don't care. I go there, | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
of course. The truth will come out! The truth will come out because the | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
independent investigator is a policeman and he is straight. He | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
will solve it. That will give in to the media. If I wanted to, could use | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
anabolic steroids in Dubai on horses? Not in Dubai and not in the | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
whole United Arab Emirates. It is illegal? Yes. It is illegal now to | :22:50. | :23:01. | |
have it in the shots. A final question. If you were to invite me | :23:02. | :23:09. | |
back in 20 years time and we are still living, how would Dubai be | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
different than? What is your vision for the future? Seem to ride the | :23:13. | :23:20. | |
very -- seeing Dubai today. The other matter I will answer that. | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
Before that I will say something. I'm not doing this for the BBC, I am | :23:25. | :23:38. | |
saying to myself, to put my view to the viewers and to say that Dubai is | :23:39. | :23:47. | |
back in to save the whole world, we are here! And Dubai loves you back. | :23:48. | :24:00. | |
If you say, now, 20 years from now if we are still living, I cannot see | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
what we are driving, my vision is for Dubai to be number one. Happiest | :24:07. | :24:14. | |
nation, all of that way. We want to be number one. They give very much, | :24:15. | :24:17. | |
your Highness. A pleasure. After a night where we have seen | :24:18. | :24:30. | |
some heavy showers we have got | :24:31. | :24:31. |