His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of United Arab Emirates University, declared 2016 to be the year of reading at the100-Retreat. This was attended by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and was inspired by the decrees of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE.

The retreat brought together 100 decision makers from various fields to discuss ideas and initiatives to make reading an essential goal to be shared by everyone as means to encouraging creativity and innovation. National institutions such as UAEU are strategic partners in the development of this initiative. They will launch projects, initiatives and activities aimed at students, researchers, employees, families and all parts of UAE society. This is part of an ambitious strategic vision identified by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He has stated that the Year of Reading is a great leap forward for society in an attempt to nurture a reading generation able conduct research, be creative, be innovative, and actively participate in the development of national excellence and responsibility.

He praised the 10-year plan as giving sufficient time to develop ideas and projects for reading. This all contributes to the building of a creative and competitive generation that can effectively help in the development of the UAE.

He stressed that reading is the fundamental foundation for building knowledge and directly contributes to the national programs put forward by the government. The government constantly strives for excellence and leadership and tries to establish a culture of reading throughout society and in national institutions.