Dubai- Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum addressed a panel of the World Government Summit, which was launched in Dubai on Sunday, affirming that the Arab world civilization should start comprehending the indicators of the future to regain its past glories.

Sheikh Mohammed referred to a message he made to the Arab governments 12 years ago that “you must change, or you will be changed.”

“As we talk about resuming civilization, we need hope. I am optimistic because it is the man who makes civilization, economy and money. If the Arab-Muslim man succeeded in building a civilization in the past, then he is capable of resuming it,” he added.

Sheikh Mohammed continued, “The Arab world possesses all required potentials, including human resources, education, fertile lands and will-power. The only thing missing is management — The management of governments, economy, resources, infrastructure and even management of sports. We are 300 million, almost equal to the population of the U.S., but look how many medals they win in the Olympic Games. We have failures in certain areas that need to be addressed.”

Answering a question on the possibility of achieving a balance between economic and tourism openness on one hand and security on the other, Sheikh Mohammed replied: “The world’s problems are open-ended and we have to grow for the interest of our people and country. If we had said 40 years ago: let us stop until it is safe, we wouldn’t have achieved anything.”

On how to develop civilization through separating religion from politics, he said: “During the pre-Islam era, tribes used to fight and invade each other and when Islam came, the civilization started. Today, there are people with half knowledge, who blow themselves up in Europe and America in the name of faith. Their interpretation of Islam is wrong — Islam is a tolerant faith that calls for peace for all people, not only Muslims.”