His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the vice president, prime minister and ruler of Dubai, formed the World Happiness Council on Sunday to coincide with International Happiness Day on March 20 and send a positive message from the United Arab Emirates to the world.
The UAE was the first country in the Arab world to establish a Ministry of Happiness.
The head of state posted on Twitter that the whole world needs to adopt new approach to achieving happiness, one that is based on cooperation and unifying efforts as well as identifying common factors to boost humanity's values of positivity, which prompted him establish the council.
The council was praised by Emirati citizens and will be headed by Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, along with 12 other members.
There will be six subsections in the council: health, education, work environment, personal happiness, happy cities and happiness standards. Its target is to support international efforts to adopt happiness as a basic standard toward progressing development in countries like the Emirates.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
