UAE approves fourth mandate for President Sheikh Khalifa

The United Arab Emirates' top legislative body on Wednesday approved afourthterm in office for reclusivePresidentSheikhKhalifabin Zayed Al-Nahyan, state media reported.

"The Supreme Federal Council of the United Arab Emirates renewed its confidence in His HighnessSheikhKhalifabin Zayed Al-Nahyan... for thefourthmandateof five years, in accordance with the constitution," official news agency WAM reported.

SheikhKhalifatook over as theUAE's secondpresidentin November 2004, succeeding his father as the 16th ruler of Abu Dhabi, the federation's richest emirate.

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The 71-year-old has rarely been seen in public since 2014, when he had surgery following a stroke, although he has continued to issue rulings.

His brother, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, has been seen as the de facto ruler of theUAEin recent years.

ButSheikhKhalifawas at the helm of theUAEas it began its global rise, with services-oriented Dubai emerging as a global tourism and trade hub and Abu Dhabi pumping around 90 per cent of the OPEC member's crude.

His rule has also seen theUAEextend its regional influence as far as Yemen, the Horn of Africa and Libya while taking a particularly hostile stance on the Arab Spring uprisings.

He was ranked by Forbes as 37th on its list of "the world's most powerful people" in 2015.