Indonesian envoy hails UAE's 'extraordinary transformation'

The UAE is the country which local to national public and private leaders and authorities, must look up to, for guidance in good governance.

- Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

That was from a diplomat who has seen and experienced the nation progress and develop - at least in the past 14 years of posting four years in Dubai and 10 years in Abu Dhabi.

He is Indonesian Ambassador to the UAE Husin Bagis who led the 70,000-strong Indonesian Community across the seven emirates, host a recent Diplomatic Reception, at the Abu Dhabi Country Club, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of their independence from the nearly 350-year rule of The Netherlands.

The Netherlands monarchy, discovered what would become the Republic of Indonesia from August 17, 1945, after a fleet of ships, led by Dutch merchant sailor Cornelis de Houtman, accidentally landed in Banten, West Java in 1596, to rival Portugal in the intensifying global trade of spices from Southeast Asia.

"Over the past 14 years, I have witnessed with admiration the extraordinary transformation of the UAE. The rapid pace of economic development across sectors - from innovation and finance to infrastructure and green energy - is nothing short of remarkable," said Bagis.

"The UAE has shown to the world how vision, leadership and ambition can change the face of a nation in just a few decades," Bagis stressed in his address.