ABU DHABI, 21st September, 2026 (WAM) — Abdullah bin Bayyah, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, called for making peace a daily priority and a sustainable institutional undertaking, stressing that peace should not be confined to an annual occasion but treated as an ethical and strategic responsibility requiring genuine and sustained investment.
In a statement marking the International Day of Peace, observed on Sept. 21 under this year’s United Nations theme, “Invest in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day,” Bin Bayyah said the theme moves peace from the margins of aspirations to the heart of priorities, and from a passing occasion to a permanent endeavour.
He highlighted the need to invest in a “peace economy” through policies, sectors and projects that make stability productive, cooperation worthwhile and prosperity shared. This can be achieved by directing public resources and private capital towards job creation, education and infrastructure, food and water security, and boosting trade.
“The peace economy does not merely seek to rebuild what war has destroyed; it also addresses the vulnerabilities that fuel conflicts and links the interests of people and states to the continuity of peace, so that peace becomes an asset for development rather than a truce on the margins of the economy,” he said.
Bin Bayyah warned of a paradox in the modern world, where enormous scientific and technological advances are accompanied by a resurgence of wars, conflicts and instability, while growing capacity for communication is met by an inability to achieve human connection.
He said the experience of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace has demonstrated that peace is not merely a noble ethical position, but an industry requiring a vision to guide it, scholarship to underpin it, institutions to carry it forward, partnerships to spread it and knowledge-based content to transmit its values to future generations.
“This enables the call for peace to move from an appeal to construction, and from an idea to impact,” he said.
Bin Bayyah said the forum has drawn inspiration from the vision of the UAE, whose foundations were laid by the late founding leader Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who made the Union a platform for development, brotherhood a path to stability, and the human being the ultimate goal of every policy.
He said this vision has continued under the leadership of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, combining authenticity with openness, peace with justice, and the preservation of values with building the future.
He added that the UAE’s philosophy brings together peace, recovery and prosperity: peace that protects people and national resources; recovery through which communities overcome the effects of crises; and prosperity that opens the doors to the future.
The UAE, he said, has provided a practical model of this vision through economic diversification, strong institutions and investment in projects that benefit people and endure.
Domestically, the model brings together investment in people and infrastructure with the promotion of moderation, tolerance, coexistence and inclusive citizenship. Internationally, it combines bridge-building with humanitarian relief, mediation and efforts to end conflicts.
Source: Emirates News Agency
