>> this is my kitchen table and also my filing system.

over were of the past three decades i have been an investor. the highest quality of mankind i thought was private equity but then i started interviewing. i have learned from doing interviews how leaders make it to the top. >> i didn't negotiate. >> i have something i would like to sell. and how they stay there. >> you don't feel in addition adequate now. david: people who want to see great art often go to the louvre in paris but there is one in abu dhabi. who is behind these museums in abu dhabi. it is mohamad kalifa al mubarak the chairman of the department of culture and tourism.

david: for those not familiar with abu dhabi where is it? mr. al mubarak: abu dhabi is the gallon of the united arab emirates on the arabian peninsula. we are a connecting point between tease and east from present day and throughout our history. david: the other major city people know in u.a.e. is dubai so they have attracted a lot of attention because they have a fair amount of wealth and tourism attractions. let's talk about what your main measure is as the minister much culture and tourism? mr. al mubarak: what makes the job very interesting is the passion it instills. myself and all of my colleagues. we have something special here in abu dhabi and united arab emirates. it is the continuous pursuit of the events handsment of quality of life. it is not just tourists but the residents living here.

we work with our colleagues and partners to create experience the to cater to their needs. as you can see almost every year there is addition of experiences, addition of institutions, additions of new concepts that come in and create these fantastic cure rated experiences for people to really challenge and enjoy. david: with what is the population? mr. al mubarak: it is the largest land bank a little over 3.5 million people. david: your position is to make sure people come and understand the attractions but you are building a lot of things. how long have you been in this position? mr. al mubarak: i have been in it for 20 years and at the department of cult and tourism close to 10 years. i'm very humbled and lucky to be working for a government that

has visionary ideas. their vision of investing in culture have not just been set not but from the inception of the country of enhancing it with entertainment projects, projects that are theme parks, public parks, beaches has continuously evolved. david: for those not familiar with abu dhabi when did it become an independent country? mr. al mubarak: as a country it is 1971 but the history of its people dated back for thousands of years. david: the founder of the company was sheikh zayad. mr. al mubarak: yes, he was a visionary man. through his vision you see the country being created that kiters to the wants and needs of its people and the story has continued by his son the current president his behindness.

david: when was oil discovered in abu dhabi? mr. al mubarak: oil was discovered prior to the formation of the country. it was discovereded a when it was discovered it was thought of how to utilize the natural resource like we have always done to find value it create valuer the people. david: before that the man business in it abu dhabi was what? mr. al mubarak: through time we utility iced our natural resources whether pearls, copper. we have always been a trade partner. our ancient trade routes mesopotamia to china we traded natural resources through or time. like we have used oil the next step is using the most important natural resources which is us, people, human beings. david: let's talk about some of the museums. when i want to see the louvre i go to paris but i have you have

your own louvre. is that connected to paris? mr. al mubarak: money but not territorial intent. it is in partnership with the louvre of paris and afm. that partnership is a long-standing partnership that continues to flourish and it is a transfer of knowledge on a daily basis with loans that come from different french museums compounded with the acquisitions we acquire for our assets and team building. david: they lend you things and you left-hand them things? mr. al mubarak: absolutely. david: will they lend the mona lisa think time soon? mr. al mubarak: maybe. currently we have the most beautiful paintings and it is john the baptist and it is beautiful because the way we have it is it gives you a one to

one view of everything whether a painting, artifact, it is creating a passionate interaction. david: you are building another art museum of the guggenheim. the louvre is big enough. why do you need a guggenheim in connection door? mr. al mubarak: great question. the great thing about the u.e. we live with over 200 nationalities and they have become part of the country's fabric and we need to celebrate everybody's identity, background and history. what a beautiful way in this institutions. they are educational institutions and community institutions so we want it curate a story where you come to the culture and you start at the naturalist museum you get a understanding of how we came to

be, how the earth and universe came to be. once you leave the naturalist museum you go to the national museum. there you understand the history of the great land not just the history of the country but people that have been part of the land over 300,000 years. you get a glimpse of the past and present and future is like in the u.e. then you maneuver to the louvre which is a beautiful museum. it is universal in the them approach and you see part of you with the entire world then you go to the guggenheim which is a contemporary art museum focussing on the late 1940's to today but it looks at a global perspective is you will see art from war hill or others but it will be side by side from artists from kenya, nepal and philippines. we have taken it on ourselves to

make sure it is showcased not just a western perspective. david: you want to build a could not prayer art why do you have an affiliation with guggenheim? mr. al mubarak: similar to the louvre with the opportunity of transfer of knowledge working side by side with the team at tkpwaoug home of new york and 40u we can detail this museum compounded by that you take years of blueprints of acquisition tkphaoes rapid you take them and evolving them to your needs. david: museums are great and i am involved in a number of them in the united states but there are performing arts of the cultural world. are you involved in that? mr. al mubarak: yes. music is very close to or heart. when live with over 200

nationalities they bring their musical touches. or events calendar is filled from classical to hip-hop, pop, korean pop, dance and the list goes on. since covid where the world told us people won't come to these live events we've pretty much sold out every live event. david: you build a facility for those as well? mr. al mubarak: yes, sir. david: who is going to go it these because the population is not that big. do you have enough people to fill the museums and performing arts arenas? mr. al mubarak: first and foremost is the why. why are we building these. when it comes it the cultural institutions we believe culture is the backbone of any forward thinking society. it has to be in the d.n.a. they are not the institutions built for tourists they are for the residents and future generations of residents in abu

dhabi. you have the tourism story. last year we had a little under 5.3 million tourists. we are targeting 6 million this year. why where do they come from? mr. al mubarak: from all over the world but you are looking at indian, chinese, russian, u.k. market of course the western european whether germany or france so they are coming from everywhere. david: what about americans? mr. al mubarak: we have seen a double digit growth with americans from the u.s. david: i was chairman of the smithsonian a number of years and when we had a been already attraction people wanted tree tickets but they wanted access. do you ever get this request? mr. al mubarak: yes. these 3450u678s are educational institutions so all kids go for free. all military personnel go for free. anybody over age 60 goes for free. then anybody who is doing

research if gets a helpful subsidized aspect of the ticket and get the right it basically enter all the research labs so they are educational and community facilities. david: what about private equity people? do they go for free? mr. al mubarak: if they sponsor. ♪ pat pat

david: there's a surveyor amount of turmoil in the middle east. what about this part? is it facebooked by what is going on in israel and gaza and syria and lebanon or not so affected? mr. al mubarak: first and foremost we all as human beings look for peace and harmony. nobody,s to see devastation anywhere regardless of if it is next to you or not. the kwraoepbted arab many rates is home to over 200 nationalities. the focus is how to keep our community safe and make sure we

work with the entire diplomatic ties to find the solution that caters for the events and needs of the overall world with peaceful co-existence. david: in the united states there's a big concern about immigration in the country as a political issue. here you have a lot of immigrants coming in. more immigrants live here than people from the native part of abu dhabi. is that a concern or not a problem? mr. al mubarak: not a problem because we are still a developing accountant and developing city. everything is done through a well thought out strategy so it is not just open the doors to everybody to come in. you look for teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers. these are people that fly in it helps grow. david: sometimes a populations grow quickly you see a lot of crime. is it a lot of crime here? mr. al mubarak: it is one of the safest cities because there's a

plan but everybody who lives here loves the way of life. they want it sustain it. so everybody works it sustain that. david: in europe and united states in major stills you see homeless people. i haven't seen any here but is that a problem? mr. al mubarak: when it comes to the local population this is where i go back to say the government continuously works on,enhancing the quality of life of the residents of the united emirates so as locals we have opportunities for free housing, free medicare, subsidized power and water and job opportunity so you are given the tools to succeed. what you do after that is up to you. david: let's talk about your background. where were you burn? mr. al mubarak: i was born in paris, france. i grew up here with a fantastic upbringing, community, society

was amazing to be part of it. always seeing a sense of how leadership is so close to the people and how it wants to make sure people are comfortable and happy. my mother did an amazing job with my siblings and myself. we were very close together. my brother brother and stores were a tightknit family. david: how many sublinks do you have. " older brother and two sisters. david: your brother runs an investment company and are your sisters involved in be a -- electric you? mr. al mubarak: my sisters rosanna works for the environmental agency in abu dhabi. she advocates sustainability and safeguarding the environment. the other sister is a studied lawyer and right now she has a very important job which is focusing on her family. david: your procedure once told me you have a big comic book collection.

do you still collect comic books? and what are you going to do with them? mr. al mubarak: i fell in love with comics at a early age. i remember every time i would find a superman or batman come mechanic i gobbled them up. i ran up to my room and sat in the corner and loved the concept of creating something so imaginative and these worlds, creating these characters that are so detailed but have so much emotional weight. i love the concept of storytelling. that is what my job is about today storytelling whether curating museums or experiences in our theme parks or experiences it is storytelling. david: finish your own story. did you go to college in the united states? mr. al mubarak: yes, sir. i went it northeastern university in boston.

amazing four years of my life. david: what did you study? mr. al mubarak: i studied political science. david: you didn't study museums? mr. al mubarak: no but i was emfat-itted. david: when you went it college and said you're from abu dhabi what did they say? did they know where it was? mr. al mubarak: i was lucky. i went to a university where they had a lot of international kids so they knew about it was but they didn't have a lot of information. the funny thing is every student i went to school with have come to abu dhabi and i was with you in freshman year and sophomore year we have come here and it is amazing. david: do they ask you for pretickets to the louvre? mr. al mubarak: sometimes they don't. i don't give the professors free tickets but students i did. david: if i said i'm going to leave in an hour inform i have appear who are to visit what

should i visit? mr. al mubarak: what i believing do in an hour you being a cultural enthusiast i would probably recommend you visit the shezaid mosque. david: one of the largest in the world? mr. al mubarak: yes. stunning. you get an understanding of this beautiful space and maybe spend 20 minutes there and you have an hour and around eight it 10 minutes to the oldest standing fort in abu dhabi the center of the 21 and view of the entire city. spend 20 minutes there then you shoot out eight minutes it the louvre and we have an amazing impressionist exhibition. amazing haven't gogh. the future relies on the idea this we have to stop. we continuously evolve and be

better and cater it the need of what or future stkwraeugs wants. -- future generation wants. david: you have had so many nab preseason games. are you planning to bring nba teams here permitly or preseason? mr. al mubarak: sports brings people together. we are big on sports entertainment. we started with the form will within not just focusing on the sport but creating musical experiences, food and beverage experiences, retail all entpwufrled over a weekend and the whole city celebrates formula one. then when took it to engineering and the sports excellence bolt in the school programs and different educational programs. it is because since we started form will within to where we're

today we have a strong list of female drivers, male drivers racing in all aspects of racing in the u.e. and beyond so it is a long-term partnership story with the sport. same with ufc. we brought in facebook if you can. prior to ufc investment there was investment in jiu-jitsu. it is national sport and we have over 750,000 jiu-jitsu fighters in the u.e. that have won global medals from all over the world. i can see we are investing not in the sport but infrastructure hard and soft.

david: abu dhabi and u.a.e. is part of the gulf cooperation council which a number of countries have a fair amount of oil including sought retain, oman, kuwait, can tar and bahrain. are the other accountants jealous saying don't bring the tourists to your country because we want some. do at the ever mention this to you 1234 mr. al mubarak: on the contrary we have heard the outside press talk about competitiveness but the fracture is we all are complementary. similar to what we see in places like the u.s. or europe because of the ice size of the u.s. but

people fly to u.s. they want it go to new york, chicago, los angeles, same in europe. it is paris, london, rome, milan. when it comes to this region it is widely connected and it is in close proximity so the tourists in reality will go it dubai, abu dhabi, riyadh. doha. so we complement each other. david: let's talk about another side of your life which is building hotels or refurbishing hotels or apartment buildings, residential and so not. this area has grown so much that it has seen that some parts people of dubai say there is not enough residential people -- residential playses. is it a problem. mr. al mubarak: it is a problem it is a good problem. you look at the growth story of

a company. in 2008 we were launching two to three developments a year. fast forward to this year we've lunched 4 developments so the scale is significantly larger. our market cap has grown five-fold. david: it is possibly traded. mr. al mubarak: yes, sir. you talk about the development expect. it has grown eight-fold. from a numbers perspective you will say who is buying here. in 202111% of my portfolio was international buyers. 2024, close to 3%. these buyers are coming from all over the world predominantly southeast asia, asia, eastern europe, with respect eastern and you say why. why to me is a very easy question because they come it a place where there is a continuous pursuit for quality of life one of the safest cities

in the world. medicare is first. investment of government and education, medicare, infrastructure, public safety is always front of mind. it is a place where it is continuously evolving it create policies to cater for the needs of the investor, the buyer, homeowner. you look at all of our sovereign funds, i.h. c.i.a. d.q.'s, not only are at the investing outside but within. very person sectors. agri-tech, education, infrastructure, logistics and creating manufacture job opportunities and people are taking the opportunities. so i almost look at the u.a.e. as the land of opportunity. david: people are coming here and buying apartments. you don't have to be a citizen to buy an apartment. mr. al mubarak: no. david: when you buy an apartment can you become a citizen? how hard is it to be a citizen or you don't need to be a

citizen to live here? you don't need to be a citizen. no policies so long-term residency, golden visa for you and entire family household. short-term residential visa. david: you have no plans to do something else in government? will you stay in the private sector? what is your factor? mr. al mubarak: it lies on the idea that we have to stop. we have to tunnel evolve. we have to continuously be better. we have it cater it the needs of what our future generation wants. that is with makes the job special because you are always thinking about the future. that is what makes the u.a.e. special. what next for us. . >> suppose you want to summarize what you want the average person it know about abu dhabi. what is the mental? mr. al mubarak: seeing is believing. the fact is that we here a lot of things but in reality take a step further. do your research.

and come. because once you see what is happening here it is very special. it is place that is really a place of belonging, connectivity, a place of understanding. and everything we are doing is for the next generation and stkwraeugs after that. is, i would love for everybody to be part of that with us.

♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪

>> hill low and welcome to sao