Abu Dhabi, UAE
CNN
—
The chief of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday named his eldest son as crown prince of Abu Dhabi and his seemingly successor as president of the second greatest Arab financial system.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, named Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed as crown prince of the emirate, state-run WAM information company reported.
The transfer comes 10 months after MBZ grew to become president of the Persian Gulf nation after the demise of his brother Sheikh Khalifa. Oil-rich UAE is a member of the OPEC oil cartel and controls a few of the world’s greatest sovereign wealth funds. The nation is a federation of seven emirates, every with its personal ruling household, which additionally contains the regional enterprise and tourism hub Dubai.
MBZ additionally appointed his brother Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed as vice chairman of the UAE, a place he’ll share with the ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR), 73, who can also be his father-in-law. The place was beforehand held solely by the ruler of Dubai.
Sheikh Mansour, 52, has been deputy prime minister of the UAE since 2009, and this month grew to become the chairman of Mubadala, one of many UAE’s sovereign wealth funds that manages $17 billion price of property. Sheikh Mansour can also be the proprietor of the Premier League’s Manchester Metropolis Soccer Membership.
Two brothers of the president, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed and Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed, have been named deputy rulers of Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Sheikh Tahnoun is the UAE’s nationwide safety adviser and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Funding Authority, which has property price $790 billion, in line with the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
Cinzia Bianco, a visiting fellow on the European Council on International Relations, stated the naming of a second vice chairman for the primary time signifies an try by Abu Dhabi to centralize energy “in an inclusive manner.” The appointment of Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed to the place alongside Dubai ruler MBR was seemingly intentional, she stated, given that he’s MBR’s son-in-law.
“The general intention of all of those appointments is to centralize with out disrupting the unity and the fragmentation inside the totally different royal households of the UAE an excessive amount of,” she stated.
The UAE president needed to offer distinguished positions in Abu Dhabi to members of his household as a result of “having main place in Abu Dhabi is having a number one place over the whole nation,” she stated.
Bader Al-Saif, assistant professor of historical past at Kuwait College, stated on Twitter that the sharing of the vice chairman place between Dubai and Abu Dhabi doesn’t essentially chip away at Dubai’s function since MBR already serves as prime minister.
Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report.
