NOVEMBER 4, 2004

Abu Dhabi sheikh to be head of UAE

HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been elected to replace his late father as President of the United Arab Emirates. He has been the crown prince of Abu Dhabi since 1969. The role of Prime Minister of the UAE remains that of Dubai's ruler HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

There was a government reshuffle just hours before the death of the previous ruler Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan al-Nahyan, which included a series of mergers of ministries and the appointment of Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi, to head the new economy and planning ministry. Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi, is a US-educated businesswoman, the niece of Sheikh Sultan ibn Muhammad Al-Qasimi, the ruler of Sharjah, who has been running the Dubai government's Tejari.com business in recent years.

It is not thought that the change will make much difference to the way things are run in the Gulf region, a boom area in recent months for motor racing with the first Grand Prix in Bahrain, the launch of the A1 Grand Prix series and the recent announcement of Team Dubai F1.