Dubai, United Arab Emirates,March 2, 2015: Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF) has unveiled Arabic summaries of three new international books under its Book in Minutes initiative that aims to strengthen the culture of reading and knowledge exchange.The new monthly series focuses on shaping the competitive identity of countries and cities, discovering personal strength, and increasing parents consciousness to empower their children.

The first book Competitive Identity: The New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and Regions by Simon Anholt points to the fact that globalisation has made the world as a single market. The book highlights the current situation where all countries and cities have to compete with each other to obtain their share of investors, tourists, consumers, athletes, thinkers and innovators. They also target to be respected and noted by the media, international organisations and other nations and countries.

Anholt says globalisation has become the main driver of competitive identity because it means the emergence of a series of regional markets, ideas, influence areas, culture, reputation, credibility and attention. As a result, the countries which have the ability to access the various global markets using clear, honest and well-planned strategic vision, will be able to compete better, the author states.

The second book, Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life by Ken Robinson Lou Aronica tries to answer questions about personal strength such as:How do I find out what my talents and passions are? What if I love something Im not good at? What if Im good at something I dont love? What if I cant make a living from my Element? How do I do help my children find their Element? The book comes at a critical time as concerns about the economy, education and the environment continue to grow. The need to connect to our personal talents and passions has never been greater.

The final book in the series, The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children by Dr. ShefaliTsabary, invites parents to become more mindful of their daily interactions with their children so that rather than seeing childrens actions as misbehaviour, parents can recognise an opportunity to be kinder and more open to them. The central premise of the book is that children provide parents with mirrors of their own subconscious issues, and parents who understand this can enter into heart-to-heart communion with their children, learning and growing alongside their children, rather than continuing habitual reactive patterns that tend to perpetuate family cycles of power, control and dominance.

In his introductory note to the new series, H.E. Jamal bin Huwaireb, Managing Director of MBRF, said: The ability to discover ourselves is not valued by many of us in our endeavours to achieve our dreams. This ability is the secret to successful and healthy relationships with others, especially our children. It is important to find our elements to keep up with the rapid scientific developments using our innate capacities and build better communications within the family, especially with the children.

H.E. Jamal bin Huwairebadded: Countries should work more to discover their identity, and develop new strategies to improve their image, taking into account the fact that competitive identity depends on six channels: tourism promotion, export brands, policy decisions, businesses audiences, cultural exchange and the citizens of the state themselves.

The Book in Minutes initiative addresses all segments of the society, including youth and families as well as intellectuals and business professionals. The initiative has gained acclaim with translated summaries of the book provided to the participants to enable them to lead positive lives.