Abu Dhabi, Rabi'I 13, 1439 H., December 1, 2017, SPA -- On the occasion of the UAE's 46th National Day, marked on December 2nd, President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has said that the leadership will stay the course laid down by the nation's founding fathers and continue to deepen the Spirit of the Union, which was motivated by the aspirations of the people. In a statement provided to Nation Shield, the Armed Forces monthly journal, President Sheikh Khalifa also spoke about the prospects of the future. Below are excerps of the speech: "Dear Emirati sons and daughters, On this glorious day, on which we celebrate the 46th anniversary of the establishment of our state, we pray to Allah Almighty to have mercy on the founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and on his brothers, the co-founders of the Union. While we give a standing ovation in their memory, we take them as inspiration, our inspire the role models, and derive our ideals from their insightful lifetimes and biographies. We ask Allah Almighty to grant them mercy and forgiveness. Dear Emirati people, Our federal experiment, which will celebrate its golden jubilee in a few years, boasts of examples of courage, heroism and achievement. Armed with unflinching perseverance, our fathers laid down a solid foundation that delivered remarkable, honourable achievements and a giant productive infrastructure and achieved paradigm changes in all walks of life, making significant transformations that changed the course of history and enabled the country to depart - once and for all – from the eras of division and misery. They paved the way for a successful federal experiment that promoted the concepts of national participation and pride. We will stay the course laid down by our founding fathers and continue to deepen the Spirit of the Union, whose announcement was motivated by the aspirations of our people for a system that unifies and mobilises efforts and unleashes energies through federal institutions that play their role in an integral method with local governments and in complete coordination with all other sectors. This unique federal experiment has become an inspiring role model for many countries. As a successful state, we believe that the prime job of the government is to make people happy; its mandate is to make the homeland a good place in which to live; its goal is to create an environment that revives hopes, to adopt policies that foster dreams, to launch projects that realise great expectations, to engage in actions that make citizens feel safe and enjoy care, employment, education and housing. In this respect, we appreciate the persistent efforts being made by the Follow-Up Committee of the Initiatives of the UAE President to deliver its objectives and its close cooperation with federal and local competent authorities to produce tangible results in developing infrastructure projects for services, housing and improving living standards across the emirates. We also applaud the efforts being made by the federal government, the Federal National Council and local governments to spread the culture of participation, to integrate the citizens into the labour market, to build the capacities of the vulnerable and people of determination, to harness energies of youth and to empower women, who are today efficiently participating in different areas of national action and holding the highest political and legislative posts. --More 12:45 LOCAL TIME 09:45 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w550869