On board special aircraft, Oct 23: President A P J Abdul Kalam has said that the transformation of UAE from a desert land to a prosperous place sends out the message that one needs to take a "calculated risk" to succeed. Summing up his visit to UAE and Sudan before the start of the third leg of his tour to Bulgaria, Kalam told reporters that "nobody has succeeded without taking a risk and if you want to succeed, you have to take a calculated risk".
"That is the message I got and than you see 40 years back UAE was just desert land. Sheikh Zayed had a vision and he converted the desert land into a place of what you have seen. A prosperous place and one can share this experience with them," said the President. Kalam said he chose UAE, Sudan and Bulgaria because "I wanted to see three continents and I want to see different types of people and the quality of life and where we can contribute".
On his visit to UAE, he said, "The rulers of Dubai and others are very proud of Indian people there and their contribution. Many of the Indians have become part and parcel of these countries and are contributing in a big way for the development of the country."
Elaborating on his visit to UAE, he said, "As soon as I got in Dubai I went to my interest. What is my interest? My interest is how do you desalinate because they have water problem in the country and it is not only in one country but the whole world is going to have this problem for out of six billion people less two billion have water to drink. I was interested to know how these 40 lakh people are given water to drink." The President said that the emirates is working on how to cut down costs at the plant which is providing water to the whole region.
He said during the discussion with the UAE leaders It was felt that solar power could be used to convert water into electric power and energy.
The President said there were many similarities between Sudan and India as both have abundant natural resources, human resources. Moreover, Sudan also has two large rivers - White Nile and Blue Nile.
On his visit to Bulgaria, he said, "I would like to understand their industrial status and also their cultural revolution and India can cooperate in this direction." Bureau Report