Hassan Abbas Zaki the Egyptian contributed to building the UAE
First Bank
Hassan Abbas is an Egyptian economist. He served as the Minister of Economy at a difficult stage for the Egyptian economy during the nationalization of the Suez Canal and the tripartite aggression. He also contributed to the economic construction of the UAE in the 1970s. He founded and headed many economic entities, the Sheikh of the Shazalia Method and member of the Islamic Research Complex.
Zaki was born in 1917 in Port Said into an old family, and he is related to Imam Al-Refaie through his mother, who is related to Alsayad Al-Refaie's family in Egypt.
He began his educational journey by memorizing some parts of the Holy Quran at the age of four, then enrolled in the Islamic Charity Association, where he spent the primary school, then enrolled in the Al-Tawfikia High School in Cairo, and completed his university studies at the Faculty of Commerce, Department of Economics of Fouad I University "in Cairo now".
Hassan Abbas Zaki held a number of official positions and was Commercial Secretary in the Embassy of Egypt in Washington in 1952, Chairman of the Negotiating Committee with the English for the Liberation of Egyptian Assets after the 1956 War, and was appointed as a member of Egypt's delegation in the United Nations in 1957, and during the same year he was elected to the National Assembly until 1970.
In addition, Hassan Abbas represented Egypt at the International Conference of Parliamentary Unions, and was then appointed Minister of Treasury, Supply and Economy from 1958-1962, and then Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade from 1965-1971.
The United Arab Emirates engaged him as an adviser to the President of the United Arab Emirates and Vice President of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Arab Economic Development from 1972 to 1985, and was an adviser to the President of the Republic of Sudan.
During his lifetime, Zaki was able to achieve many achievements, most notably his success in releasing Egypt's 1959 sterling assets, which at that time amounted to approximately Pound90 million, and provided the necessary provisions for the start of television transmission on July 21, 1960.
He also succeeded in persuading President Abdelnasser to cancel interest on farmers at the Agricultural Credit Bank, with a view to alleviating interest on farmers, which was actually done on July 22, 1961.
Besides, Zaki Participated in several international and Arab committees and entities, including the Chairman of the Negotiating Committee with the English after 1956; To free up Egypt's balances with Britain, the Chairman of the Planning and Budget Committee of the People's Assembly and the Chairman of the Arab Funds Committee
Hassan Abbas Zaki spent his life searching for knowledge, leaving his private library with 20 thousand books and invested his life on searching for knowledge, and founded the World Centre for Documentation, Studies and Islamic Education to include knowledge halls and represent an intellectual forum.
He received many honours for his outstanding efforts, most notably the Order of the Arab Republic of Egypt - Class I, The Order of the Two Niles - Class I (Sudan), the Order of Yugoslavia – Class III, the Order of Congo, the Order of Romania, the Order of Greece and the Order of Somalia.
The accomplished economist Hassan Abbas Zaki left our world in 2014, at the age of 97.
