Abu Dhabi: HSBC Bank set a new Guinness World Record for the ‘most nationalities reciting a poem’, on the eve of UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, on Wednesday.
Fifty of its employees from fifty different nationalities, all based at HSBC UAE’s headquarters in Downtown Dubai, gathered to recite a set of verses from a poem, reported the Emirates News Agency (WAM).
“Our fifty-breakers represent the fifty years since the founding of UAE as a nation, and it is a proud moment for us to announce this achievement on UAE’s Flag Day,” said Abdulfattah Sharaf, group general manager, and CEO, HSBC UAE.
This year, HSBC has chosen the theme of poetry as an artistic and cultural medium to raise awareness, for the importance of cities to adapt to climate change, by collaborating with local poets in major cities in the MENAT region.
They have recited one of the most popular poems written by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the nation. This is the second time that HSBC UAE has set a Guinness World Record after being recognized in 2019 for the “most nationalities in a fixed bicycle relay”.
Earlier on November 1, Dubai bagged a Guinness World Record for having the first 3D-printed laboratory. The government now wants to set two more world records: for the highest solar tower in the world at 262.44 meters, and for the largest concentrated solar power plant with a capacity of 700 megawatts, in the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Parking initiative.
UAE’s Golden jubilee celebrations
On October 13, UAE leaders marked the start of a 50-day countdown to the country’s landmark Golden Jubilee celebrations. UAE will celebrate 50 years of its historic unification on December 2.
In March, President Sheikh Khalifa announced that 2021 would be the ‘year of the fifties’, ensuring a year-long celebration of this great event. The celebrations for the 50th year of UAE’s formation officially started on April 6, 2021, and will last until March 31, 2022. The announcement also introduced major celebratory initiatives and activities that will take place, throughout the year.