Mana Saeed Al Otaiba

Mana Saeed Al Otaiba is an Emirati poet, born in Abu Dhabi on the 15th of May 1946, corresponding to the 27th night of Ramadan. He belongs to the Al-Otaibat family, one of the largest and most important families in the United Arab Emirates and the Arabian Gulf, and descended from the Al-Marar tribe affiliated with Marwan bin Al-Hakam, and it was among the tribes that formed the Bani Yas Pact.
I brought it up

His family was one of the major pearl merchants, but in 1952 the pearl market experienced a major depression after Japan discovered a new industrial method for cultivating pearls in oysters in 1947, forcing his family to move to Qatar, and there he graduated in the educational stages. The harsh conditions of life had the greatest impact on the birth of this poet; He did not grow up in a comfortable life like other poets of the modern era. Rather, he suffered and suffered until he studied and learned and reached what he had reached. It was the experience and the suffering that gave birth to a great poet referred to as stubbornness.

His education and certification

He completed secondary school in 1963, then joined a large college in Britain and spent two years there. In 1969, he graduated from the College of Economics and Political Science, University of Baghdad.

After graduation, he held the position of Head of the Petroleum Department in the Government of Abu Dhabi. In 1974, he obtained a master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science from Cairo University with a thesis entitled “OPEC.” In 1976, he obtained a doctorate from the same college with an excellent grade and first rank of honor for his thesis “Petroleum.” and the economies of the United Arab Emirates. In 2000, he obtained a degree in Arabic literature with a very good grade from the University of Mohammed bin Abdullah in Fez, Morocco, and his thesis was entitled “The Discourse of Arabism in Arabic Poetry”. He was awarded many honorary doctorate degrees from several international universities in recognition of his prominent role and tangible efforts in serving the UAE economy and the world economy, such as:

• Honorary Doctorate in International Law from Keio University, Japan.
• Honorary Doctorate in Public Law from the University of Manila in the Philippines.
• Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy of Economics from the American University of South Pillar in California.
• Honorary Doctorate in Economics from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Doctor Honoris Causa from Tor Vergata University in Rome.
• Honorary Doctorate from the University of Culture Center Sunni Islam in Kerala, India.

Positions

• In 1969, he headed the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Department.
  In 1971, he became Minister of Petroleum and Industry in the first ministry in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
  In 1972, he became Minister of Petroleum and Industry in the first ministry in the UAE.
  In 1990 he became the Special Adviser to the President of the United Arab Emirates.

His books on economics

Abu Dhabi Economics, Old and New (1971)

This book has been divided into ten chapters, where the first chapter deals with the pearl industry, which was the backbone of the old economy in Abu Dhabi, the second chapter deals with fishing, the third for grazing and livestock, the fourth, fifth and sixth are devoted to agriculture, trade and industry, and the seventh to services and other professions, and deals with Chapter eight deals with the story of oil, its agreements, and its role in Abu Dhabi’s economies and its products as the primary source of national income. Chapter nine deals with economic development and the last chapter is devoted to researching the monetary and banking systems in Abu Dhabi.

OPEC and the Petroleum Industry (1975)

This book is divided into two parts: the first section talks about OPEC, its entity, and its internal organizations, and the second section reviews OPEC’s petroleum policy, its activities, its achievements, and the role it has played since its establishment in the petroleum industry.

Petroleum and the Economics of the United Arab Emirates (1990)

This book is the subject of the author’s doctoral thesis, and it falls into five chapters: the first chapter deals with the subject of the economic structure of the Emirates before oil, the second chapter deals with the petroleum industry in the Emirates, the third chapter deals with petroleum and the development of the economic structure, and the fourth chapter studies development within the framework of economic integration. The fifth chapter deals with the future of the petroleum industry.

These books have been translated into several foreign languages, including English, French, German and Japanese. Dr. Maneh also delivered a number of economic lectures at a number of universities in different continents and revived many poetry evenings in many Arab countries.