The National Archives concludes its participation in students summer camps

The National Archives enriches summer camps with events that enhance national education for generations



The National Archives concluded its participation in summer camps with a number of workshops and lectures, given its role in national education for generations, fostering loyalty and belonging and instilling good citizenship among students so that they would be able to continue the march of safeguarding the accomplishments of the homeland in the future.

There were various participations and events conducted virtually by the NA via the interactive communication channels, including reading workshop entitled “Qasr Al Hosn”, a lecture entitled “Identity, Loyalty and Belonging: Key National Values” and a lecture entitled “Zayed: The Father and Leader”.

All these lectures were delivered by Mrs. Hind Al Zaabi who is specialized in educational programs at the Educational Programs Section at the NA. She ensured that participants gain both enjoyment and benefit, so she enriched these events with national stories inspired by the biography of the Founding Leader Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and supported them with the directives by wise leadership for today’s students, the generations of future.

The NA’s participations were part of the summer camp events “Ya Zain Sayfana”, which was organized by the “Future Generation Library” of Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Future Generation Society and part of the events of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority camp.

 The events in which the NA participated have contributed to the spread of historical awareness among students, promoting the sense of original thinking and expression, encouraging research on the UAE history and protecting its landmarks.   

The NA has also participated with a reading workshop entitled “Qasr Al Hosn” inspired by the book Qasr Al Hosn: The History of the Rulers of Abu Dhabi, which discussed the importance of forts, the early history of Abu Dhabi, life in the past, order of Abu Dhabi rulers, construction and importance of Qasr Al Hosn.

The lecture “Identity, Loyalty and Belonging: Key National Values” held in collaboration with Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Future Generation Society, has focused on fostering loyalty, identity and belonging to homeland, enhancing principles of good citizenship, building a tight-knit community and preparing a generation with a sense of sacrifice for homeland. The lecture emphasized the importance of the values of belonging, loyalty and identity and of reading the document of Conduct and Ethics of the Emirati Citizen, which confirms the directives of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, H.H. Sheikha Dr. Shamma Bin Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, given her belief in the effective role of the Society in building a positive national system.

In a training workshop organized for teachers of the Emirates National Schools and the Spanish School,

The National Archives enriches the new teachers’ knowledge of the UAE history and heritage



The National Archives organized a virtual training workshop to raise awareness among new teachers of the Emirates National Schools and the Spanish School of the UAE’s ancient history, culture, heritage and traditions, which instill the sense of national identity and enhances loyalty and belonging among students. Accordingly, this would close the gap between students, their parents and teachers.

The workshop, organized by the NA via interactive media, strived to acquaint the new teachers and administrators with national values derived from the UAE history and heritage and enhance their experience with the virtues of the Emirati community, which they have to instill among the students.

Emphasizing strategic partnership in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding concluded between the NA and Emirates National Schools, the workshop included events that are concerned with the 100th centennial anniversary of the UAE and that highlight the significance of the Union and the planning of the founding fathers, which has resulted in crowning each stage with innovative and creative achievements that led to the comprehensive and integrated development over the past 50 years. Based on this vision, the “UAE Centennial 2071” will continue the pioneering and sustainability march in the next five decades.

 The workshop started with an exhibition of the photographs preserved in the NA photo archives. The photos showed the attention devoted to education in the UAE by Sheikh Zayed Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the founding fathers and the follow up given to the advanced education nowadays under the directives of our wise leadership. After that, a documentary film entitled “Building a Nation” was shown. It presents the beginning of the development of education in the UAE and the related achievements that were made in record time.

Dr. Aisha Bilkhair, Research Advisor at the NA, held an intensive lecture entitled “The UAE History and Culture”. She tackled milestones in the history of the UAE foundation, development and prosperity as well as its key symbols such as the flag and national anthem. She, then, elaborated on the journey of education in the UAE, which started from the Katateeb and reached smart education, the role of the Emirati society in education and contributions of pearl merchants and other society members to the support and development of education since giving was part of the Emirati culture. This is in addition to semi-formal and formal education and the role of Kuwait in establishing formal schools and teaching the Kuwaiti curricula there.

She also highlighted the great role of the founding leader, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and H.H. Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation, in the Emiratization of education and approving Emirati curricula of national identity. Moreover, the lecturer talked about Sheikh Zayed’s role in enabling and guiding women to gain the knowledge that leads to a job so that women would have an effective role in the society. It is worth mentioning that H.H. Sheikha Fatima’s follow up has enabled women to work in various fields with confidence and competence.

The lecturer aimed to foster doing good deeds among children in the UAE. This is, actually, part of our heritage. Fathers and ancestors raised their children on principles of generosity and helping the others. She also illustrated the efforts of the UAE and the Federal National Council in honoring women, brining their role into prominence and achieving gender balance.

She pointed out that the UAE being able to provide smart education at this stage has opened the door to artificial intelligence and modern sciences. This was also accompanied by recruiting brilliant brains, stimulating creativity and innovation and entering space. The UAE is fully prepared for the next fifty years, which objectives and strategies have been set by the leadership and which are a continuation of the last fifty years that were visioned and planned by Sheikh Zayed.

Dr. Aisha Bilkhair supported the workshop ideas with some stories, which stress on Sheikh Zayed’s sustainable leadership and continuous approach and indicate that his vision, which emerged in advance of his time is reflected in our present. His approach is featured by humanity, tolerance, safety and security, containment of others and many values that the UAE is still proud of.

The workshop took participants on virtual tours of the NA to learn about its facilities and services including historical records and documents, which are accessible to beneficiaries. The tours started with the Arabian Gulf Digital Archives (AGDA), which is a source of inspiration because of its documents that are of historical value and pertaining to the UAE and GCC. Accordingly, it became a source of rare information and unique documents.

The virtual tour of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Hall at the NA served as a window through which a visitor is acquainted with aspects of the UAE history. The next tour was of the Emirates Library, which forms a significant part of the NA academic and research program since it enables researchers, students and knowledge seekers to benefit from its rich and specialized collections of both paper and electronic documents on the UAE and GCC history. The last tour was of the Customer Happiness Hall where researchers can be provided with historical documents they request from the NA.

In cooperation with Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

The National Archives Announces the Launch of the Master Degree Program in Records Management and Archival Studies Starting in Next September



The National Archives announced the launch of the Master Degree Program in in Records Management and Archival Studies, which was designed in cooperation with Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, and its first academic year will begin in September 2021. This high academic program will qualify the enrolled students with the necessary skills to improve the archiving system and will be in line with the development witnessed in our current era in the field of archiving, documentation, artificial intelligence programs and other technical sciences. This program is the culmination of a series of study programs in which the National Archives cooperates with Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. Firstly, there was the Professional Certificate in Records and Archives Management which was designed to qualify the employees in charge of government archives to enhance their knowledge. Then the university started the Bachelor Degree in Records Management for the secondary school graduates. The two programs proved successful and encouraged the introduction of a Master Degree Program in the field of Archiving.

Regarding the introduction of this program, His Excellency Abdullah Majid Al Ali, the Executive Director in the National Archives, said: “The success achieved by the National Archives in cooperation with Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi in the Professional Certificate and Bachelor Degree Program encouraged us to cooperate together to introduce the Master Degree Program in Record Management and Archival Studies. We have a great hope on this program, which we expect to be very popular; because this specialization is the first of its kind in the UAE, and that it gives the graduates greater confidence when they enter the labor market since it is a comprehensive program that provides a high level of intellectual education through specialized research in the fields of archiving and all related modern sciences. All that can pave the way for them to think outside the box.

The National Archives paid great attention to this program as it will prepare a generation of experienced professionals in this field in the wake of the information revolution and the digital transformation that prevailed in the various administrative and the paperless management fields. The program aims to prepare distinguished professionals to assume positions in senior and middle management in various agencies, or qualify them to pursue their PhD Programs in Records and Archives Management.”

His Excellency thanked the prestigious Sorbonne University for its permanent cooperation with the National Archives, which lead to the achievement of all joint projects with great success and pointed out that the curriculum of the master degree program will equip the students with in-depth theoretical and methodological knowledge and offer them excellent learning experience through training and experiences. This will provide the students the opportunity to apply their distinguished acquired skills in their places of work.

His Excellency praised this program, which provides the students with specialized knowledge and new skills resulting from deep research and study that will enhance their ability to become creative, innovative and enable them to develop scientific thinking. It also prepares the students to be pioneers in the development in the fields of documentation and archiving and show their interest and keenness to use both traditional and modern methods to preserve and organize archives and to preserve and process documents in the presence of huge data and the modernity we live in that has become a distinguishing feature of this era.

His Excellency said: “We are very keen to enhance the knowledge and theory wealth, which the students will gain from the master degree program by way of practical application and through the visits to the headquarters of the National Archives, and the practical experience they will gain in the Restoration and Preservation Centre of the National Archives. The students enrolled in this program shall acquire accurate knowledge in all aspects of this specialization, as well as in the modern sciences such as artificial intelligence, which we hope will be used tremendously in the field of documentation and archiving and they shall also promote cultural awareness on preserving documents of all kinds and forms and encourage scientific research in this field.”

Professor Silvia Serrano, Director of the Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi - thanked the National Archives for the good cooperation in all stages of developing and designing the master degree program in Record Management and Archival Studies, which is taught in English for two years. The program includes professional skills and in-depth knowledge in the field of this constantly evolving scientific specialization.

She added: “Archiving plays a very important role. It is considered the memory of nations that enriches society at the cultural and intellectual levels. The progress and development of countries is closely linked to the efforts made in preserving history and learning from the past and that can only be achieved through mastering the science of records management and archiving. The successful cooperation between Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and the National Archives has resulted in several distinctive and unique programs in records management and archival studies that brings together the academic excellence dating back to 760 years and international professors and experts. We are fully confident that this cooperation will yield many achievements in the future and we look forward to seeing the positive effects that the graduates will have through the development the institutions in which they work and contributing to support the country’s economic progress in general.



The National Archives:

The National Archives of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs was first established in 1968 upon the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with the aim of collecting documents and information relating to the history and heritage of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region. Forty years later, HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE President, issued Federal Law No. (7) of 2008 changing its name to the National Center for Documentation and Research (NCDR), and assigning it to organize the archives of the various UAE government entities. Finally, HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued Federal Law No. (1) of 2014, renaming it the National Archives.

Through British records and archives,

The National Archives reviews the history of Sheikh Zayed in Al Ain and his achievements, which brough prosperity to people and the area

The National Archives organized a virtual lecture entitled “An Introduction to British Documents: Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in Al Ain as a Model for Study”. The lecture reviewed the historical context of the period in which Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan was the Ruler Representative in Al Ain and described the tribal map in the middle of the 20th century. This is in addition to the great role of Sheikh Zayed in Al Ain, which witnessed the first signs of his unprecedented unitary thought and where he rose to prominence as a leader of wisdom and dedication. He was admired by his people who were impressed by the major projects in the fields of education management, schools construction, agriculture and agrarian reform as well as encouraging farmers to engage in farming. Trade boomed in Al Ain, thanks to Sheikh Zayed’s efforts.

In this lecture, which was organized by the NA and broadcasted via the interactive social media, Dr. Hamdan Al Dara’, Researcher and Historian, expressed his admiration for the period, which Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan spent in Al Ain (1946-1966) and in which he started to implement his huge project to provide fresh water. He was dedicated to dig and restore Falajs and end water monopoly. He succeeded in achieving social justice.

The lecture, which received the interest of internal and external researchers, started with defining history and demonstrating the importance of documents in writing history. The lecturer reviewed the main sources and references for studying history, noting that the British Indian Government archives contain documents that record the British activities in the region and the administrative dependencies of the British Indian Government from the 17th century to the 20th century. He presented samples of this archive. He suggested that documents of the British Foreign Office and the UK National Archives are of great help in studying the history of the region affairs. He appreciated the personal archives of VIPs who spent part of their lives serving as officials in the UAE. He also stressed the importance of academic integrity in verifying the facts contained in documents.

With respect to the period in which Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan was the Ruler Representative in Al Ain, Dr. Hamdan Al Dara’ highlighted the timeline of the leadership roles of Sheikh Zayed at various levels, his hobbies, sports and efforts in accompanying the oil exploration teams as well as his journey to the Western Region with the British traveler, Buckmaster, in 1954, which lasted for two full months. It was the first statistics on population and oases.

Under the topic “Zayed and the Unitary Thought”, the lecturer talked about unity in Sheikh Zayed’s thought and about his efforts and discussions to achieve the Union.

With the aim of promoting archival work and for further awareness,

The National Archives organizes a training course to raise and spread archival awareness

The National Archives has organized a virtual training course entitled “Raising and Spreading Archival Awareness” that is part of the “Knowledge Transfer” project, which the NA relies on in training the employees, developing their skills, bridging the knowledge and skills gap, exchanging experience among employees, and providing them with the required knowledge to boost professional development. The course was held upon the appointment of a number of employees by the NA to equip them with adequate experience of the duties they have to perform in accordance with the work system and mechanisms applicable at the NA.

This training course is part of the activities, courses, lectures and workshops, which the NA focuses on in the “Knowledge Transfer” project that provides employees with knowledge, which helps them in achieving their objectives and improving their skills through a chain of activities of national, academic and professional contents.   

The training course, delivered by Hatem Younis, Technical Expert at the NA, tackled documents definition, preservation period and the difference between current and intermediate archives. It highlighted the FAQ related to archives and reviewed Federal Law No. (7) of 2008, its amendments and Executive Regulation. Moreover, it presented the NA’s archival policies, procedures, and guides.

The course, held via interactive communication technologies, began with defining documents, their means of storage, lifecycle and the three ages:  which start from documents creation and preservation at the current archives (1-5 years), and then they are transferred to the intermediate archives where their values depreciate, and they remain there for 15 years. Finally, they are moved to the permanent archives, the historical archives, and they become of a great historical value. If they are useless, they are disposed following a number of legal processes and after getting the NA’s approval for disposal.

Frequent asked questions in the field of archives were presented in this training course. The lecturer reported that these questions are available on the NA website and that they should be reviewed due to their importance in all fields of work at the NA.

Furthermore, the course illustrated Federal Law No. (7) of 2008, its Executive Regulations and amendments in addition to the amendments expected to be made in the near future. It showed the main articles of the law since they serve as the roadmap for the archives of government and semi-government entities in the UAE.

The training course, which is aimed to raise and spread archival awareness demonstrated the policies and procedures applicable at the NA such as the NA’s policies of documents accessibility, historical archives collection, paper and electronic documents management and documents preservation.

The course concluded with a detailed explanation of the NA’s guides, which are the Archives Guide, Electronic Archiving Guide and Documents Disposal Guide. All these guides are available on the NA’s website.

The National Archives Provides the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Center with Documented Publications and Multimedia of National Content



The National Archives Continues the Cooperatation with the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural Center in the Dissemination of Documented Historical Information and in the Upbringing of Young Generations

The National Archives continues its joint cooperation with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan’s cultural and educational institutions, with the aim of disseminating documented information that enhance national knowledge in writings and through exhibitions of historical documents, multimedia and photos that document the efforts of loyal leaders who devote a lot of efforts to advance their country. The National Archives aspires by this constructive cooperation to raise a conscious generation capable of bearing its national responsibilities as that is consistent with its role in the national upbringing of generations.

In this regard, the National Archives provided the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural Center with a number of short documentaries from the “Memory of the Nation” project and provided Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Future Generation Society with its publications which document important chapters of the history of the UAE and the Gulf region.

It is noteworthy that the cooperation and coordination between the National Archives and the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural Center resulted in the organization of two events per month. These events include lectures, reading workshops and educational games. Coordination between the two parties continues in the summer program for children. Regarding this cooperation, Her Highness Sheikha Dr. Shamma Bint Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural and Educational Institutions, said: “The national and cultural goals of the National Archives are in harmoney with the goals of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan institutions and the frameworks for joint cooperation between the two parties represent strides towards realizing the visions of the UAE; as the modern National Archives system aims to provide integrated research and knowledge services and undertakes to develop the center’s holdings and enhance their accessibility to community institutions and the members of society by strengthening the corporate and community outreach in order to achieve its mission by providing and publishing specialized historical research materials, and issuing a number of books and periodicals that act as refernces to students and researchers interested in the history and heritage of the UAE and the Gulf region. The Center also presents seminars and participates in regional and international conferences and seeks to organize exhibitions of historical archives. With this we can reach community participation together to shed light on the history and civilization of the UAE; in a way that supports and enhances the national identity and belonging to the homeland.”

About this cooperation, His Excellency Abdulla Majed Al Ali, the Executive Director of the National Archives, said: “The National Archives has strong cooperative relations with the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural Center. These relations aim at creating the integration between the two parties in some mutual tasks and roles that would be in the interest of the community and residents in the UAE.

These relations are based in the fact that the National Archives is a source of serious and documented publications that review the aspects of the civilizations that the UAE has gone through and its modern history in which one feels full of pride as well as the multimedia, historical records and documents and documentaries that can enrich the historical dimension of the UAE in the activities of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural Center.”

He added: “We highly value the national role the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural Center plays at the level of national upbringing. This mission coincides with the strategy of the National Archives, which has taken upon itself the task of national upbringing of generations. Whereas the National Archives is keen to fulfill its mission in providing decision makers and public with trusted information with the aim of promoting the sense of belonging and national identity, it is keen to strengthen relations with the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural Center, which carries out an important national mission.”

His Excellency pointed out that the efforts of the National Archives combined with the efforts of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Center will have a great impact on the national upbringing of the children of today, the men of tomorrow as they enhance their children’ sense of belonging to the homeland and loyalty to its wise leadership. Moreover these efforts consolidate their national identity and instill in them the principles of good citizenship and inform them about the lives of the great leaders in the history of the UAE, which makes it easier for them to choose real role models that will help them carrybear the mission and follow the path of the fathers and ancestors in building the nation and preserving its gains.

The National Archives:

The National Archives of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs was first established in 1968 upon the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with the aim of collecting documents and information relating to the history and heritage of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region. Forty years later, His Higness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE President, issued Federal Law No. (7) of 2008 changing its name to the National Center for Documentation and Research (NCDR), and assigning it to organize the archives of the various UAE government entities. Finally, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued Federal Law No. (1) of 2014, renaming it the National Archives.

The National Archives evokes and recalls the "Early Formal Education in the Emirates" in a virtual interactive discussion session



    As part of a its knowledge and cultural activities, and its national role and mission to eduacate future generations about the UAE history, the National Archives organized a virtual interactive discussion session entitled: "The Early Formal Education in the Emirates- Interviews with the Early Teachers". The session discussed the impact of education on the Emirates region.

   The National Archives sought to discuss and tackle this journey that goes back about 68 years to remind generations how the educational process developed and advanced since its early stages, and how the UAE shifted from “traditional education” of limited oral and written contexts to a modern“formal education” since 1953 with the establishment of Al Qasimia School in the Emirate of Sharjah. Following which establishment in 1971,  the UAE witnessed tremendous civilizational transformation that duly brought about an unparalleled openness through which the UAE, lead the innovations and smart education era, and invaded space, and became an icon of science and knowledge, and a leading country and a role model in educational and cultural enlightenment in the region, in less than 50 years after its estalishment.

At the beginning of the session, Dr. Mohammed Faris Al-Faris, a Historian and Researcher Specialized in the history of the UAE and the Gulf region, praised the efforts of the National Archives and the great services it provides to researchers, through offering them easy access to all specialized sources and references, and the various needed historical documents on the history of the UAE, the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula regions.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Faris stressed that the introduction of formal education resulted in breaking the isolation and seclusion the Emirates region had suffered from since 1820, following the general agreement’s conclusion with its Rulers. Before, the Emirates did not have any links with their Arab surroundings, and when formal education was introduced there, it was an overlooked and almost forgotten region, as the Arab world was preoccupied with many issues, at the forefront of which was the struggle for liberation from colonialism; Thus, the formal education which started in the Emirates in 1953 was a major shift and a quantum leap from complete seclusion and isolation to wide openness and receptiveness to its Arab surroundings which- according to British documents - led to confrontations and clashes between the British on one hand and the teachers and students on the other, this was confirmed by some of the teachers with whom Dr. Al-Fares met upon conducting his research.

The session indicated that traditional education in the Emirates before 1953 was limited to teaching religion, Arabic language, and Mathematics principles, and did not tackle or address any historical or political aspects. Then Kuwait began opening schools in the Emirates, and "semi-formal education" began, after which “formal education” was introduced in 1953, and after the British saw Kuwait rushing to help the emirates in developing education, they offered modest contribution, namely, some simple educational facilities, and also suggested that technical education replace formal education, so it established two schools: the Industrial School In Sharjah, and the Agricultural School in Ras al-Khaimah, but technical education would not have been a suitable and effective substitute or alternative to formal education.

It is noteworthy that the Researcher, Dr. Mohammed Al-Faris met a group of the early teachers who had remarkable efforts in establishing formal education in the Emirates since 1953 and teaching in its schools, including Emirati teachers who worked side by side with their fellow Arab teachers, such as: Ali bin Mohammed Al-Mahmoud, whose father played a role in establishing Al-Islah (Reform) School in the 1930s, which as managed bt the Principal Ahmed Bu Rahima, and its staff included local teachers, , namely: Ali bin Rashid Al Owais, Ali Al Ghanim, Abdullah Al Qaiwan, Ismail Abdullah, and Jassem Al Midfa. As for the most prominent Arab teachers who came to the Emirates and were recruited for its early semi-formal then formal education, they were: Zuhdi Al-Khatib, Jawdat Al-Barghouthi, Ahmed Qassem Al-Borini, Mustafa Youssef Taha, and Muhammad Diab Al-Mousa. The Researcher, Dr. Mohammed Al-Faris obtained from them many photos, and great information that tackle and shed light on the details of such an important stage in the history of the Emirates.

The discussion session’s audience interactively asked many questions pertaining to the educational field’s various aspects since its its introduction in the UAE.

It is note worthy that the National Archives has prepared a full program of conferences, seminars, discussion sessions and lectures, on various cultural and historical topics, and just recently it virtually held its first translation conference which was a the greatest specialized translation conference the UAE has witnessed in the last two decades, as it brough together various renowned Researchers, Specialists and Experts from all over the world.





The National Archives of the UAE:

The National Archives of the UAE was established in 1968 under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, upon directives from the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with the aim of collecting and documenting material relating to the history and heritage of the UAE and the Gulf region. Forty years after its inception, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, issued the Federal Law No. (7) of 2008 changing its name to be the National Center for Documentation and Research, entrusted with organizing the archives of the UAE government entities, later H.H. Issued an amending order to change its name to be the "National Archives" in accordance with Federal Law No. 1 of 2014.

The UAE National Archives and its Colombian counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding aiming at enhancing archival cooperation in cultural and expertise exchange 

In the context of advocating joint archival and documentation efforts and goals supporting the cultural and documentary heritage sector in both countries and internationally, the National Archives of the UAE and the National Archives of the Republic of Colombia signed a memorandum of understanding aiming at the collaboration in cultural and knowledge exchange enhancing activities, implementing archival training programs, and exchanging experiences and expertise in the archives field.

The MOU was signed by: His Excellency Dr. Abdulla Mohammed Alraisi, Director General of the UAE National Archives, and Mr. Enrique Serrano, Director General of the Colombian Archives.

The proceedings of the MOU signing ceremony took place (remotely) via interactive technology, In line with the adopted precautionary measures of the current critical stage, in the presence of His Excellency Salem Rashid Al Owais, Ambassador of the UAE to Colombia, His Excellency Jaime Amin, Ambassador of Colombia to the UAE, His Excellency Abdullah Majid Al Ali, Executive Director of the UAE National Archives, and a number of officials from the National Archives of both countries.

In his speech, His Excellency Salem Rashid Al Owais praised the UAE National Archives and its great role in preserving the memory of the nation, and urged archivists to strengthen constructive relations to develop and advance archival business.

His Excellency Jaime Amin, Colombian Ambassador to the UAE thanked the UAE for its role in supporting the Republic of Colombia in countering and containing the Corona-virus (Covid 19), and expressed his hope that this memorandum would serve to enhance cooperation between the two countries in archival and documentation fields.

On this occasion, His Excellency Dr. Abdulla Mohammed Alraisi discussed and commended the role the National Archives has played for more than half a century, noting that it is one of the oldest archival and documentation institutions in the region; as it was established in 1968 upon directives from the Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founder of the UAE. The National Archives is currently overseeing the organization of more than 300 UAE Government entities’ archives, and its core business is not limited to preserving the memory of the nation, but also preparing historical research on the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, educating youth and future generations in schools and various vital entities on the history of the UAE, hosting conferences, organizing exhibitions, and participating in international forums. The National Archives also plays a major role in enriching libraries with valuable publications on the culture and heritage of the UAE and the Gulf region.

His Excellency said: The quantum leap that the National Archives and the UAE archiving system witnessed, and all recognized achievements in this respect since the beginning of this century is due to the keen interest and unlimited support of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, his vision, directives and constant follow-up.

Dr. Alraisi expressed his hope that this memorandum shall pave the way for further cooperation in all fields, particularly in electronic archiving and its various challenges, and historical documents restoration and sustainability employing artificial intelligence techniques. We hope that this memorandum will contribute to organizing joint exhibitions and exchanging expertise in technical fields.

He pointed out the importance of the National Archives hosting the International Council on Archives Congress in Abu Dhabi, since this major event has been postponed to October 2023 in order to receive the duly deserved attention in an atmosphere that will hopefully be Covid-19 free.

H.E. concluded his speech by inviting the Colombian National Archives Officials and stakeholders to visit the United Arab Emirates to witness the National Archives realized achievements and great role in preserving the memory of the nation, HE also highlighted the importance of the National Archives’ Center for Preservation and Restoration, which includes a highly advanced document restoration laboratory, and employs advanced document digitization techniques.

Director General of the Colombian Archives, Enrique Serrano expressed his pleasure and optimism about signing this memorandum, which he perceives as supportive to the joint collaboration efforts of the National Archives of both friendly countries.

The Memorandum of Understanding’s terms focused on the joint cooperation, participation in and support of programs and activities of mutual benefit, and the mutual search in the parties’ respective Archives for sources and material relating to the history of each in the other party’s holdings, digitizing and exchanging these documents, exchanging knowledge and expertise in the archival field, and implementing Archival training programs, as well as cooperation in cultural exchange activities.



The National Archives of the UAE:



The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates was established in 1968 under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, upon the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with the aim of collecting and documenting material relating to the history and heritage of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region. Forty years after its inception, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE issued Federal Law No. (7) of 2008 changing its name to be the National Center for Documentation and Research, entrusted with organizing the archives of the United Arab Emirates’ government agencies. Later, H.H. issued an amending order to change its name to be the "National Archives" in accordance with Federal Law No. 1 of 2014.

To open the door for volunteering and to encourage humanitarian work,

The National Archives launches “Hand in Hand” initiative in collaboration with the Red Crescent

In collaboration with the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, the National Archives organized a human initiative under the slogan “Hand in Hand”, which allows the NA staff to get involved in the voluntary corporate work of the Red Crescent projects and initiatives. This initiative comes as part of the social responsibility undertaken by the NA and of its efforts in charity and humanitarian work and to stress the importance of volunteering in fostering sustainable development.

Many employees demonstrated their willingness to volunteer in the Red Crescent projects, and they confirmed their preparedness to be assigned, at any time, by the authority to participate in any of its projects or initiatives that suit them. This reflects their interest in supporting the society, meeting its urgent needs, and serving its issues at social, cultural, and economic levels.

The NA shows its interest in this initiative because the UAE considers voluntary work as a national and community service. Our ancestors instilled in their children the sense of voluntary and humanitarian work, which has become an important part of the UAE approach. The NA encourages the voluntary work that makes use of the employees’ qualifications and capabilities in projects and initiatives launched by the Emirates Red Crescent Authority.  

Given its belief in the importance of voluntary work, which is a national responsibility, the NA has participated in this initiative to provide humanitarian help and serve the homeland and community members. The social responsibility assumed by the NA reflects its love for the UAE and its appreciation for those living on its land.

Volunteering is a civilized behavior that promotes the community culture, heightens sense of responsibility, and enhances social solidarity values, and its positive impact appears on people’s life.

The National Archives educates its employees about decision making for strategic planning



The NA organized a virtual training workshop entitled “Decision Making for Strategic Planning”, which stressed on the importance that decision taking should be based on practical principles and rules to enable the organization to achieve its objectives and that accurate information should be available for decision makers.

The workshop provided examples of its topics drawn from the NA, such as: employees appraisals, operations management system, transfer, disposal and digitization processes, delegation of authorities and committees.

It also tackled a number of important topics, most notably human brain, how does brain make decisions? development in understanding how to make decisions, decision making, who is responsible for decision making? factors affecting decision making, types of decisions and decision-making methods and tools.

The workshop presented learned lessons in various fields including roles of employees, line manager, domain experts, directors and higher management in addition to decision inputs.  

It reviewed the process of decision making and the related influential factors between logic and emotions as well as other factors such as automation and artificial intelligence, machine learning, business intelligence, smart government, and role of leadership, which is the most important factor. Moreover, it illustrated challenges of decision making at individuals’ level and the factors affecting decision making. It also explained decision types, decision making methods, techniques, tools and evaluation. The workshop relied on international reports on how to make decisions.

It also discussed the development in understanding the process of decision making, starting from decision determination, information collection, specification of options, evidence evaluation, selection of best option, taking actions, and decision review and evaluation.

Furthermore, the workshop tackled the definition of decision making. It is defined as the process of selecting one of the available reasonable options after being evaluated and benchmarked, and after considering all alternative options. To make an effective decision, one should be able to predict the results of each option, and based on all these elements, the best option is specified for a particular situation. The workshop has also compared between decision making and decision taking.

More than 6000 Teachers Participated in the National Archives Eighth Annual Forum for Training Teachers

The National Archives held the eighth annual forum for training teachers over four days to virtually train and educate teachers on the history and heritage of the UAE, with the aim of promoting and enhancing their national values as well as raising their awareness level of the history, culture, civilization, heritage, customs and traditions of the ancient UAE society, which in turn contributes to enhancing the values of loyalty, belonging and national identity among teachers, students and future generations.

More than 6000 teachers from across the UAE participated in the virtual forum, where they took a virtual tour of the National Archives facilities, and watched national documentaries, and inspected an exhibition of historical films and photos documenting the UAE education process and journey.

With this forum, the National Archives aims to enrich Arab and foreign teachers’ knowledge of national values derived from the history and heritage of the United Arab Emirates, and enhance their experience with the Emirati society virtues and exploits that must be instilled in students so they can be good citizens capable of continuing the UAE national march and legacy in the future.

The Eighth Annual Teachers Training Forum focused on promoting the values of tolerance and coexistence, upon the directives of the wise leadership that spares no effort towards the advancement and development of the UAE people and nation.

In his inaugural speech at the forum, Mr. Farhan Al-Marzouqi, Director of the National Archives’ Corporate and Community Outreach Department, stressed that this forum was a great event among a series of National Archives’ projects and initiatives, and an enjoyable valuable educational experience that reflects and comes in line with the directives of the UAE wise leadership on investing in knowledge economy and stressed the importance of investing in teachers to develop their capabilities as the basis of any sound educational process and its key pillar.

He added that this forum is considered an important national initiative which paves the way towards building generations of students, shaping their future, enriching their knowledge, enhancing their creative thinking skills, and promoting or instilling in them the values of love, loyalty and belonging to the homeland and its wise leadership. This was the celebrated legacy of the past fifty years. The National Archives as it looks forward to the upcoming UAE celebration of the year of the Fiftieth to carry on dedicating its efforts, and full potentials and capabilities to support the educational system within the framework of its national role as a key partner and a main pillar in future generations civic education.

The Director of the Corporate and Community Outreach Department expressed to the participating teachers his wishes that their next academic year will hopefully be Covid19- free, and that the world will have contained and overcame this pandemic, which had a significant impact on the educational process, as it became mostly virtual, and that students will return to schools in a sound and healthy interactive educational environment. He finally wished the forum to achieve great success and all its desired goals.

On its first day, the forum’s activities focused on the UAE centennial anniversary celebration, highlighting the solidarity of the UAE Union and the role of the founding fathers, their effective planning and vision, which contributed to crowning their march with innovations and creativity which resulted in the comprehensive development, prosperity and advancement over the past fifty years. From this vision, "UAE Centennial 2071" carries on its next five decades’ march of leadership and sustainability, and constructs a clear organized and long-term work plan to enhance and promote the UAE distinguished status, reputation and soft power.

In addition to the photo exhibition, presented during the forum, which reflected the extent of the late Sheikh Zayed’s interest in education, along with his brothers the founding fathers, who closely followed-up the educational process and took great interest in its advancement, the UAE wise leadership currently follows the forefathers’ footsteps and adopts their approach. A documentary film entitled “The Building of a Nation" was presented which recounted the story of the early educational development in the Emirates, and the achievements that this field witnessed in a comparatively record time.

Dr. Aisha Bilkhair, the National Archives’ Research Advisor, enriched the forum by delivering two lectures, the first of which was on the first day of the forum, and was entitled: “Education Centennial: From Katateeb to Mars”, where she addressed the following themes: From kataeb to artificial intelligence, empowering women, leadership, talent, and accelerators, Good manners, ethics, etiquette, tolerance, support, solidarity, and peaceful coexistence. She also tackled the UAE achievements and leadership in various fields, including but not limited to: equality and social justice, and virtual education after Covid 19.

The lecturer discussed the early education form or stage of Katateeb then the regular schools, and from there to “illiteracy elimination” schools and adult education, then to higher education and scholarships abroad.

The lecturer discussed at length Emirati women’s education, their empowerment, and the attention they received that resulted in their assuming UAE leading and key positions alongside their male counterparts. With well and thoroughly considered plans and unlimited support from the builder and founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan and Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (Mother of the Emirates) who dedicated all means towards the advancement of UAE women, along with their family and society as a whole. The Speaker linked how all these elements and achievements led to the realization of Sheikh Zayed's dream and aspirations of the UAE reaching space in cooperation with the International Space Station, with Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati Astronaut’s arrival to space, and the UAE sending the probe of hope to Mars. Thus the UAE proved that it is the nation of possibilities that beats any Impossible, as it reached Mars with its Probe of Hope, and successfully operated the Barakah peaceful nuclear power plant to produce nuclear energy, and took a leading role and position among the world states in countering and containing the emerging Corona virus.

The UAE continues its march under its wise leadership, and is incorporating artificial intelligence into educational systems to pave the way and prepare for a brighter and a more promising future.

Dr. Aisha also discussed the deep-rooted Emirati heritage, from which the present culture stems, and the accelerators according to her theory, such as: good morals, manners, ethics, etiquette, tolerance, support, solidarity and peaceful coexistence.

The forum interestingly organized for its participants a competition with three questions closely related to the education field.

The second day of the Eighth Annual Forum for training teachers, virtually held by the National Archives, tackled Emirati history. It began with a documentary film reviewing the United Arab Emirates’ past and present, stressing the importance of the National Archives and its role in preserving the memory of the nation.

The forum took its audience and participants on a virtual tour in the National Archives to explore its facilities and services that offer and allow the public easy access to its valuable holdings of historical records and documents. The tour began with the Arabian Gulf digital archive (AGDA), which is an important source for historical documents on the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and a key resource of rare documents and information which support raising and promoting awareness of the history of the region.

Then the virtual tour continued in Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan’s Hall at the National Archives, where its visitor explored the various aspects of the UAE history, and from there to the Emirates Library which is an important and integral part of the National Archives academic and research program. It provides its services to researchers, scholars and knowledge seekers to benefit from its rich and specialized collections that cover the history of the UAE and the Gulf region whether in paper or electronic form. The tour ended at the Customers Happiness Hall, which provides researchers with the historical documents they request from the National Archives.

On the second day, Dr. Aisha Bilkhair's second lecture entitled: (History of the UAE: the history of a nation and the Civilization of a People), in which she reviewed the history of the UAE from its ancient civilizations to its current development, advancement and prosperity.

The lecture began with an invitation to the public and all individual to educate themselves employing whatever available means; she used paper currency as an example for the opportunity to provide learning and education. With a careful look at it, one realizes from the printed pictures on it the UAE heritage and historical monuments. Then she moved to the UAE ancient history, as indicated by archaeological finds and discovered pearls. This confirms the fact that the UAE is not an emerging nation in history but is rather a nation with a long and deep-rooted history that calls for its people to take pride in it.

The lecturer also called upon future generations to follow the footsteps of the forefathers, to employ and utilize their wisdom in all aspects of life, and to adopt their inherent values that promote civic education and national identity.

The Lecturer discussed at length the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s vision and wisdom, as manifested in his belief in his people’s development to preserve their dignity, and as indicated through all his achievements, where his advanced ideas and vision to build his nation and develop his people were clearly manifested.

The Forum’s Agenda was concluded with a discussion session where the forum’s audience and participants interacted and further enriched their knowledge with important information on the history of the UAE in general and the National Archives in particular.

It is noteworthy that the four days’ National Archives eighth annual forum for training teachers, presented its activities in Arabic for two days, and in English for the other two days.  

The National Archives First Translation Conference was concluded with important recommendations followed by the UAE national anthem

The National Archives concluded its first translation conference (Translation in the Digital Age between Modern Technologies and Challenges of Historical Text). His Excellency Abdullah Majid Al Ali, National Archives’ Executive Director stressed in his speech that the conference with its participating Speakers and specialized Researchers from distinguished and prestigious international universities, translation societies and research centers representing all continents became an academic forum and a Hub for cultural and civilizational diversity- which constitutes and reflects the Emirati culture’s friendly and fraternal spirit- rather than being a mere academic research event.

H.E. added: This conference achieved unparalleled success as an academic forum that clearly reflected the linguistic and cultural diversity which characterizes the twenty-first century’s cosmic civilization and the contemporary Emirati society. H.E. pointed out that the conference presented ten scientific sessions, where a group of the finest Researchers and university Professors specialized in various branches of translation presented their valuable and enlightening research papers that discussed the role of translation in promoting civilizational dialogue and spreading the culture of tolerance adopted by the UAE government.

His Excellency highly valued and appreciated the great efforts of the organizers of this leading international academic event, the participating conference Speakers, Abu Dhabi Media, the NA media partner, and all who contributed and paved the way for this conference to achieve this phenomenal success.



The closing session was moderated by Mr. Hamad Al-Hamiri, Director of the National Archives’ Research and Knowledge Services Department, and witnessed the presentation of the conference recommendations by Professor Saddik Gouhar, National Archives’ Translation Expert. The important conference recommendations included: the necessity of holding such conference annually, and expanding its topics scope and increase its themes to include more issues related to translation and its specializations and its role in promoting the values of tolerance along with cultural and civilizational dialogue, publishing the research-papers in a scientific or academic periodical and gathering them in a book, and of the National Archives participation with major specialized internationally renowned entities in organizing and holding various translation conferences in the future.



On its third day, the conference presented two sessions, the first, entitled: "Problems of Translation from Foreign Languages: Japanese, German, Hebrew and Portuguese" was moderated by Mrs. Ghada Al-Ashry, National Archives Senior Translator. In this session, Dr. Maher El-Sherbiny, Professor of Japanese Language Department of Cairo University, discussed the problems that face translators when translating from Arabic to Japanese. Then Dr. Samar Mounir Ali Khalil, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Al-Alsun of Ain Shams University in Egypt, addressed in her research-paper titled: “The Impediments of Literary Translation from German to Arabic: Clemens Meyer’s short story collection “Dark Satellites” as a Model” the problems faced in translating literary works from German to Arabic, especially translating culture, environment, and society related or associated terms.

Following which Dr. Elham Mahmoud Mohamed Badr, Associate Professor at the Hebrew Language Department at the Faculty of Al-Alsun of Ain Shams University in Egypt, presented her research-paper entitled: “The Drawbacks of translating Sholem Aleichem’s story “Lehnyu” from Yiddish into Hebrew” in which she emphasized the importance of conducting a Comparison between the original Yiddish literary text (the source language) and the translated Hebrew text (the target language), to identify translation difficulties.



The first session of the conference third day was concluded by the research paper presented by Ms. Hagar Azaz, Lecturer at the Portuguese Language Department at the Faculty of Al-Alsun of Ain Shams University in Egypt, entitled “Translating historical terms from Portuguese to Arabic between cultural sensitivity and textual reliability”, in which she addressed the problems and obstacles that translators face when translating historical documents from Portuguese to Arabic, namely: the scarcity of Arabic-Portuguese dictionaries, in addition to the fact that political and historical terms translation requires great accuracy.



The second session, entitled: “Translation between past and present: issues and challenges”, was moderated by Mrs. Fatima Al-Hudaidi Head of the National Archives Publishing Unit, began with a research paper entitled: “Simultaneous translation in the digital era in presence of the emerging corona virus pandemic” which was presented by Dr. Amal Hassan Al-Sabban Professor at the French Language Department of Ain Shams University in Egypt, in which she stressed that simultaneous interpretation is the most difficult form of translation or interpretation, and requires employing special tools and devices, and is generally used in official context as in official meetings, seminars and conferences at International level. Then Associate Professor Youmna Azmy Gamal Abdel Rahman, at the Spanish Language Department of Ain Shams University in Egypt, presented her research-paper entitled: “The dilemma of translating linguistic leaps between classical and colloquial / foreign words and intertextuality: Mai Khaled’s novel (Gymnasium) as a model” in which she indicated that the novel events took place in Cairo and Switzerland, which presents a challenge for the translator along with other faced important challenges.

In the research-paper entitled “The Paratextual Discourse and the Post-Colonial Translation: Reuben Snir’s translation of Mahmoud Darwish’s poems into Hebrew”, Assistant Professors Nahed Raheel and Nahla Raheel from the Hebrew Language Department of Ain Shams University in Egypt stressed that when discussing translation between the Arabic and Hebrew languages one cannot ignore the post-colonial context in which translation attempts between the two sides or parties arose, as well as the hegemonic discourse directed by the ruling establishment towards Arabs and Arab Jews, within the majority-minority relations framework and relating or resulting issues.

In the research paper entitled: “Arabic/Spanish/Arabic Machine translation: problems and solutions,” presented by Dr. Shaima Mohamed Abdel-Fattah Radwan, Associate Professor of Translation at the Faculty of Al-Alsun of Ain Shams University, in Egypt, she indicated that in the information revolution, computers systems, Internet, websites and programs control era - there is an urgent need for an educational environment that prepares students and develops their skills for an era where means and tools change, and knowledge concepts evolve, and where the need to ensure their awareness of key modern concepts and terms in digitization field and their education employment mechanisms becomes clear.



Thus the two sessions of the third and last day of the conference were concluded with some inquiries that enriched the discussion and indicated the followers’ interaction with and interest in the presented research-papers.



National Archives

The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates was established under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs in 1968, upon the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with the aim of collecting and documenting material relating to the history and heritage of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region. Forty years after its establishment, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, issued Federal Law No. (7) of 2008 changing its name to be the National Center for Documentation and Research, entrusted with organizing the UAE government entities’ archives, and later issued another order to change its name to be the "National Archives" in accordance with Federal Law No. 1 of 2014.