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In
the name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
“It
was better for you to say when you entered your garden,
‘That which Allah wills. There is no power but with
Allah’
”
Honoured guests and dear friends…Welcome to my
celebration. Welcome to the celebration of 35 years of
hard work. Welcome to the celebration of my dream come
true.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, who says in his
Glorious Book: “And proclaim the Grace of your Lord”
I am honoured and blessed in so many ways that I cannot
adequately begin to thank God and all those who have
helped along the way. But this evening is a small
expression of how I feel and I want to share that
feeling with you.
I, with my directors and management would like to share
with you all our pride in our achievements over the
years and also my vision of the future.
We would certainly not have had such success without all
of you here; without all of the different nationalities,
without all the varied skills both existing here in my
country and bought in from outside. This is one of the
critical differences that set us apart from other
countries. Everyone comes together to work for the
success and achievement of our country.
We at Al Habtoor Group are a major contributor to this
success. On this 35th anniversary, our Coral
Anniversary, I would like to highlight the growth of our
group in the last few decades.
By any financial indicators this Group of companies has
done extraordinarily well and this is an achievement for
us all to be proud of.
It makes me think of the early days when my brother Riad
Sadik and I started work in the early seventies. It was
just he and I and a few clerks and a foreman … maybe no
more than 10 of us.
And now here we are celebrating the difference we have
made over these past 35 years. Some of those people who
started out with us are still here in top positions with
our Company.
Today our Group employs over 25,000 people. Now that’s
what I call responsibility. On one hand it makes me so
happy and on the other hand it makes me worried that I
have to take care of all these people by creating
ongoing work.
It’s my job. Of course but for the Grace of God and
every single one of these people, I would not be here
today.
I don’t mean to highlight just the efforts of the
management either. We are, all of us, partners in
profitability.
But the risks, the losses, those responsibilities are
mine and mine alone. That is why I’m the Chairman of the
Group, because I’m willing and able to take that
responsibility.
I don’t want to continue speaking … maybe because I’m
not such a good speaker.
My vision and my directors’ visions are the same … there
is no limit to how long we can continue to improve, to
grow and to be profitable … the sky’s the limit.
My plan for future years has been to reinforce our
management and the overall quality of the people, and
the training and development of our senior management.
Our decision is that success and continuous growth are
the only targets - parallel to that of my country, which
I’m so proud of: the United Arab Emirates and its
leadership that God blessed us with.
Thank you very much everybody. Enjoy your dinner and
please feel at home.
Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor | 
