- Also spelled:
- Muḥammad ibn Rāshid Āl Maktūm
- Born:
- July 15, 1949, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (age 77)
Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum
-
Who is Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum?
Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum, born in Dubai on July 15, 1949, is the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, a position he has held since 2006. Additionally, he has been the emir of Dubai since 2006.
After completing his secondary education in Dubai, he studied in Cambridge, England, and received military training at Aldershot. Under his leadership, Dubai initiated ambitious projects to attract international business and luxury tourism, including the Palm Jumeirah and Burj al-Arab. In 2009, the global financial crisis severely impacted Dubai's economy, requiring financial assistance from Abu Dhabi.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are Sheikh Mohammed’s main roles in the United Arab Emirates and Dubai?
Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum is the prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Additionally, he is the emir of Dubai.
Key roles:
* Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE Since 2006, Sheikh Mohammed has held these positions in the UAE.
* Emir of Dubai Since 2006, Sheikh Mohammed has been the emir of Dubai, where he has steered ambitious projects to attract international business and luxury tourism, such as the Palm Jumeirah and Burj al-`Arab hotel.
* Minister of Defense Appointed in 1971, Sheikh Mohammed was tasked with building the federal Union Defense Force.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
When did Sheikh Mohammed become the ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the UAE?
Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum assumed the roles of vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and emir of the Dubai constituent emirate in 2006. These transitions occurred after his brother, Sheikh Maktoum ibn Rashid Al Maktoum, who previously held these positions, passed away. By 2006, Dubai's strong financial standing enabled it to operate independently within the federation.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are some major projects that Sheikh Mohammed has launched in Dubai?
Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum has launched ambitious projects to attract international business and luxury tourism to Dubai. These include the development of the free-trade zone around the Jebel Ali port, which became a business center for thousands of industrial companies. His monumental projects include construction of the artificial Palm Jumeirah islets and Burj al-`Arab hotel. In 2010, he opened the world’s tallest building in Dubai, and renamed it Burj Khalifa after Sheikh Khalifa ibn Zayed Al Nahyan. He dedicated much of the next decade to revitalizing Dubai.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How has Sheikh Mohammed helped change Dubai into a modern city?
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been instrumental in transforming Dubai into a modern city. In the 1980s, after his father became ill, Mohammed and his brothers took charge of Dubai’s affairs and developed the free-trade zone around the Jebel Ali port. After becoming emir in 2006, he launched ambitious projects to attract international business and luxury tourism, such as the Palm Jumeirah and Burj al-Arab. Despite economic setbacks from the 2007-08 financial crisis, he dedicated the following decade to revitalizing Dubai.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are some of Sheikh Mohammed’s goals for Dubai and the UAE in the future?
Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Dubai, has focused on attracting international business and luxury tourism through ambitious projects.
Some of his goals include:
* Developing free-trade zones
* Constructing monumental projects such as the Palm Jumeirah and Burj al-Arab hotel
* Revitalizing Dubai, despite obstacles such as high real estate prices, regional instability, and low oil pricesHe became emir of Dubai in 2006. By this time, the emirate’s financial strength enabled it to act independently within the federation.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al Maktoum (born July 15, 1949, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) is the vice president (2006– ) and prime minister (2006– ) of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Dubai constituent emirate (2006– ).
Mohammed was the third son of Sheikh Rashid ibn Saeed Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and head of the Maktoum dynasty from 1958 until 1990. After Mohammed finished his secondary education in Dubai, he studied English in Cambridge, England, and later received military training at a cadet school in Aldershot.
In 1968, after the United Kingdom announced that it would withdraw its forces from the region, Mohammed accompanied his father to a summit of the Trucial States Council that led to the federation of the seven sheikhdoms that now make up the United Arab Emirates. Upon the independence of the new country in 1971, he was appointed minister of defense (1971– ) and was tasked with building the federal Union Defense Force. After his father became ill in the early 1980s, Mohammed and his three brothers took charge of Dubai’s affairs. Among his most notable achievements during this period was the development of the free-trade zone around the Jebel Ali port, which became the business centre for thousands of industrial companies.
After his brother Maktoum became emir in 1990, Mohammed continued to steer some of Dubai’s most ambitious projects to attract international business and luxury tourists. His monumental projects included the construction of the artificial Palm Jumeirah islets and Burj al-ʿArab hotel. By the time Mohammed became emir of Dubai in 2006, the emirate’s financial prowess allowed it to act unilaterally within the federation—even when that meant undermining the federal policy agenda of the Nahyan dynasty in Abu Dhabi constituent emirate.
However, only a couple of years into Mohammed’s reign, Dubai suffered an extraordinary setback when the global financial crisis of 2007–08 devastated its economy. In 2009 the emirate announced that it would be unable to meet its immediate expenses, including payments on more than $100 billion of debt. Two $10 billion bailouts from Abu Dhabi helped stabilize the crisis, but the slow recovery left Dubai dependent on Abu Dhabi’s oil coffers. In 2010 Mohammed, upon opening the world’s tallest building in Dubai, announced that its name was being changed from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa—after Sheikh Khalifa ibn Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi.
Mohammed dedicated much of the next decade to revitalizing Dubai, although high real estate prices, regional instability, and low oil prices all presented additional obstacles to lightening the emirate’s large remaining debt burden. In 2018 he came under fire after the unsuccessful attempt of his daughter Latifa to flee the country; his second wife, Haya bint Hussein, fled the following year.