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| A comprehensive guide
to current and future events and exhibitions in the UAE |
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Valuable concise reference source on the UAE,
covering political system, economy, business, history and heritage,
education, women, healthcare, tourism and environment. |
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Natural history of the UAE,
covering all animals and plants recorded in the Emirates. |
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Report by National US Arab Chamber of Commerce on the UAE. Vol XV, No 3, June 2007. Includes analysis of UAE economy. |
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Khalifa congratulates Zardari
posted on 07/09/2008
 President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has, in a telephone call, congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on his election as President of Pakistan.
Sheikh Khalifa wished Zardari success in serving the interests of his country and his people. He expressed the hope that Zardari's election will further enhance peace and security in Pakistan.
He also expressed UAE's keenness to boost its ties of friendship and cooperation with Pakistan for the interest of the two countries and in a way that will bolster joint Islamic action.
Sheikh Khalifa referred to the historic and growing relations between the two countries and peoples.
For his part, Zardari thanked Sheikh Khalifa and emphasized that Pakistan's relations with the UAE were considered a top priority.
"Such relations are guarded not only by mutual interests, but also by the religious and historic legacy shared by the two countries, as well as the identical views on several regional and international issues," he added.
Zardari said he was looking forward to enhance his country's relations with the UAE in all fields during his presidency term. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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UAE urges UN to tackle obstacles hindering the war against terror
posted on 07/09/2008
 The United Arab Emirates yesterday urged the international community to boost joint efforts to willfully and strongly tackle the obstacles hindering the total eradication of terror. The country also called for systematic, objective, balanced and transparent review of the definition of terrorism to facilitate international consensus on the definition of the phenomenon.
In a statement delivered by Anwar Othman Barout Saleem Al-Barout, Acting Charge d'Affairs at the UAE Mission at the UN headquarters here in New York during the 119th '&' 120th plenary meetings of the sixty-second General Assembly; Mr. Al-Barout said all countries needed to strengthen regional and international cooperation to remove obstacles to progress in fighting terrorism.
"The strategy was an important development in the global effort, but the strategy was running into problems because there was no review of the state of the phenomenon and no definition for it. States should analyze the Strategy to identify weaknesses. They should adopt institutional measures to enable them to work with the Task Force in an open and transparent manner," he stated.
He said the role of the United Nations should be enhanced and the Task Force institutionalized. Technical capacities should be built to enable states to take part in the global effort.
He pointed out that states should also take measures to ensure that they never identified terrorism with any single group in statements and they should institute legislative and other measures against hatred-related activities. Further, the United Nations must intensify its lead in efforts to reverse the conditions that lead to terrorist extremism.
"The UAE has introduced legislation and conducted educational initiatives to ensure that all possible measures were taken against extremism, including through cooperation with INTERPOL," he stated.
Following the two-day debate, the General Assembly renewed its unwavering commitment to strengthen international cooperation to prevent and combat terrorism, and, recalling its pivotal role in following up on implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, it called on member states and the organization to accelerate their efforts to implement it in all its aspects. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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UAE in top five on millionaires' list
posted on 07/09/2008
The UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are among the world's top five countries, which enjoy the densest concentration of millionaire population in the world, a new study has revealed.
"A Wealth of Opportunities in Turbulent Times report" released by The Boston Consulting Group said the wealth management opportunity in the Middle East is mainly concentrated in Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The report said Dubai and Singapore are becoming regional private banking centres offering greater competition to traditional havens such as Switzerland; offering little choice to banks, brokerages and money managers, but to expand their presence in these fast growing centres.
Switzerland had the highest concentration of millionaire households in Europe, it said.
The report said wealth managers interested in establishing a presence in the GCC market will have to pay attention to several challenges, including the need to provide customised offerings and increasingly competitive environment.
It said the total GCC market had an estimated US$1.5 trillion (Dh5.5trn) in assets under management (AuM); and the average AuM of a wealthy household was an estimated US$1 million in the region well above the global average of about US$400,000 for wealthy households.
The region shows signs of continued economic growth and diversification and GCC Government have upheld their efforts to expand economies beyond oil.
The Boston Consulting Group report said Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America were the smallest wealth markets with AuM of US$3.4trn and US$3.1trn respectively.
In the Middle East and Africa, nearly 28 per cent of wealth was held offshore.
The report found that personal wealth around the world grew five per cent to US$109.5trn. It was the sixth consecutive year of expanding wealth. Personal wealth is also increasingly concentrated among the richest, the report found. The top one per cent of all households owned 35 per cent of the world's wealth last year, it added. Meanwhile, the top 0.001 per cent, ultra-rich households holding at least US$5m in assets, commanded US$21trn a fifth of the world's wealth.
The report said the biggest jumps in 2007 came from emerging countries in Asia and Latin America. Overall, the number of millionaire households grew 11 per cent to 10.7 million last year. BCG noted that, while the rich are still rich, they have been making some adjustments as a result of the financial crisis.
The report found that assets are being shifted to more conservative investments, more money is being kept onshore in home markets and some individuals have curtailed new investment. BCG warned that the outlook for wealth markets and the banks who serve them, is dimmed by the current financial crisis.
North American personal wealth growth slowed to 3.8 per cent last year, compared with nine per cent in 2006, hit by the mortgage crisis and the credit crunch.
The report forecast that things would improve over the next five years with personal wealth growing more than three per cent annually well off the 8.5 per cent set between 2002 and 2007.
Wealth is growing at much faster rates among the rest of the world. Households in Asia, the Pacific Rim excluding Japan and Latin America saw the greatest growth, with wealth rising 14 per cent. Emirates Business
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RCA spends Dh170.2 million on external programmes in H1 of 2008
posted on 07/09/2008
 The UAE Red Crescent Authority has spent a total amount of Dh170, 283,397 on its external projects during the first half of this year. The projects include relief assistance, charity, building and development projects as well as orphan sponsorship programme.
RCA Board Chairman, Dr. Ali Abdullah Al-Ka'abi, attributed the sharp rise and the major expansion in his outfit's programmes inside and outside the UAE to the unstinting support of President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He said the UAE leadership continued to boost the country's humanitarian role through a number of initiatives for people who suffer from various forms of deprivations, in line with the tradition of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
He said the projects were being implemented under the personal follow-up of Deputy Prime Minister and RCA Chairman, who gave the directives for more expansion in the number of beneficiaries of the RCA programmes, adding that his outfit had strongly moved into action during the first half of this year, which witnessed a lot of natural disasters in various parts of the world, particularly in Africa and Asia, where the RCA reached out to people in distress. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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RCA distributes 3000 fast-breaking meals per day
posted on 07/09/2008
 Red Crescent Authority (RCA) said it is handing out over 3000 Ramadan fast-breaking meals nationwide.
A total of 90000 mini-iftar packages consisting of palm dates, milk and water will be distributed via RCA's vehicles as well as on Abu Dhabi Department of Transport's buses during the Holy Month to motorists and long-distance travellers on the country's roads and highways, according to Sultan Mohammed Al-Shehi, Director of "Hifz Al-Ne'ma" Project (Arabic for keeping Allah's grace).
Petrol stations on Abu Dhabi-Dubai, Abu Dhabi- Al Ain and Abu Dhabi-Al-Sala' highways are also being used as distribution points by the project.
The fast-breaking meals are meant to help fasting Muslims to break their fast in time and get enough food intake throughout the way to their destinations. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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Zayed Charitable Foundation builds hospital in Yemen
posted on 07/09/2008
 The Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation said it finalized the construction of the buildings of new Sheikh Zayed Maternity '&' Children's Hospital in Sana'a, Yemen, according to Director General of the Foundation's Acting Director General Salim Obaid Al-Zaheri.
Al Zaheri said the construction of the 130-bed and 7-ward hospital which cost US$6.4 million was in line with directions from the top leadership of the UAE to provide support to the people of Yemen.
Other services such as the mosque and the outdoors yard are still under construction, he said.
The Sheikh Zayed Hospital will be provided with the state-of-the-art equipment and the company awarded the furnishing contract will finish work by the end of the current year, said Al Zaheri.
He noted that a US$2 million project aimed at drilling water wells in different regions of Yemen has been added to the Foundation's agenda. Locations are being set in coordination with the Yemeni authorities. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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Abu Dhabi airport passenger growth surges 26.7 per cent
posted on 07/09/2008
 Continuing on strong passenger growth rates observed throughout 2008, Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), the owner-operator of Abu Dhabi International Airport (ADIA), has released its monthly traffic figures for July which show passenger numbers up 26.7 per cent over the same month last year.
Passenger figures for the year-to-date matched a familiar growth rate seen at the airport this year with the numbers up 36.5 per cent the airport having handled 5,092,307 arrival, departure and transit passengers from January through July.
Cargo maintained its steady growth with an increase of 15.1 per cent in July 2008 over July 2007's figures. The year-to-date statistics for cargo almost mirroring that rate having posted an overall 15.7 jump over the same seven-month period in the previous year.
Traffic figures for July also indicated that an average of 27,004 passengers per day passed through the airport; the month's peak day performance registering a total of 31,783 passengers. "Of course, we expect July to be busy due to the seasonal travel period but to increase such numbers by over a quarter for the month of July and by over a third for the year-to-date is extremely healthy and demonstrates an increasing awareness and willingness for passengers to use the airport and, indeed, airlines to operate from here, said Rudy Vercelli, CEO of ADAC.
"If you take the trailing twelvemonth periodfromJuly2007to July 2008, Abu Dhabi International Airport has already handled over 8.2 million passengers in that period. If we apply the current growth rates to the whole of 2008, we are now well on course to welcome over nine million passengers through Abu Dhabi International Airport by the end of the calendar year, added Vercelli.
Clearly bolstering the continuing growth Abu Dhabi International Airport experienced in July was the increased frequencies and new destinations that, over the last 12 months, have been launched by Etihad Airways, the National Airline of the UAE, along with an ever-increasing number of new airlines operating out of Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Abu Dhabi International Airport's Terminal 3 will be one such development that will cater to the very real and growing dem and for travel through and from the UAE capital.
The additional five million passenger capacity terminal is currently undergoing a phased introduction with some of the key operations set to be up and running by the end of the year. Terminal 3 will bring the total passenger capacity at the airport to over 12 million and will act as an intermediate facility. Khaleej Times
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RTA buses lift 47m passengers in the first half of this year
posted on 07/09/2008
 Buses operated by Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) have lifted around 47 million passengers in the first half of 2008 through more than 981 thousand trips in 70 routes, compared to 45.5 million passengers lifted in the same period last year, recording an increase in bus ridership of 1.5 million passengers, according to a press release by RTA.
Director of Buses Dep't at RTA Public Transport Agency Abdullah Yousuf Al Ali said the Agency is currently engaged in developing an integrated plan to upgrade the level of services provided by public buses. "This is envisaged in inaugurating the service of a number of new buses, such as articulated and double-deck buses imported from the best suppliers across the world, which will enable us cover 95% of Dubai urban area within less than three years. We will also be introducing state-of-the- art inter-city buses to link the emirate of Dubai with the Capital City Abu Dhabi, as well as emirates of Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain, Ras Al-Khaimah '&' Al-Fujairah. Other key cities will also be covered by this service such as Al-Ain, Al-Dhaid, Massafi and Jebel Ali," he added.
"Last year RTA put out tenders for supplying 620 buses, including 170 double-deck buses, 300 articulated buses and 150 standard buses. So far, we have received 14 double deck buses, 215 articulated buses and 150 standards buses. It is anticipated that RTA will take delivery of all buses (620 buses) in March 2009.
"Earlier this year, Public Transport Agency invited international businesses to take part in a tender for supplying 1616 new and highly advanced buses to beef up its current public bus fleet in a bid to broaden and enhance the role of mass transit in the emirate of Dubai. Consequently, 9 world-class companies have tendered their offers. We have finalized assessment of offers submitted and the financial assessment is still in progress."
It is worth-mentioning that Public Transport Agency managed to lift more than 6.5 million passengers in more than 206 thousand trips on board Inter-City buses covering 16 routes during the first half of this year. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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Dh336.7million, net foreign investment on DFM last week
posted on 07/09/2008
 Dubai Financial Market (DFM) announced yesterday that the value of shares bought by foreign investors during last week (Aug. 31 - Sept. 04) reached Dh 1.040 billion comprising 40.24 per cent of the total value of stocks traded during the period.
The value of stocks sold by foreign investors during the same period reached Dh1.377billion comprising 53.26 per cent of the total value of stocks traded during the period. Net foreign investment on the market reached Dh 336.70 million during the same period, as aggregate sell.
The value of stocks bought by institutional investors during last week reached Dh 927.77 million comprising 35.88 per cent of the total value of stocks traded during the period. The value of stocks sold by institutional investors during the period reached Dh 1.261 billion which constitutes 48.77 per cent of the total value of stocks traded during the period. Net institutional investment on the market reached Dh 333.31 million during the period as aggregate sell. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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ADFD signs US$100m loan deal with Sudan
posted on 07/09/2008
 The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) signed on Thursday US$100million loan agreement with the Government of Sudan to contribute in supporting Sudan's balance of payment.
Director General of the ADFD HE Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, signed on behalf of the ADFD, while Sudanese Finance and National Economy Minister Dr Awadh Al Jaz, who is currently visiting the country, signed on behalf of the Government of Sudan.
Al Suwaidi stressed significance of the UAE leadership's instructions to support the developmental projects in Sudan to boost the relations between the two peoples, indicating that "the loan aims at upgrading the economical situation in Sudan through supporting Sudan in balance of payment."
The two sides also inked Memorandum of Understanding on preparing feasibility study on constructing Khartoum- Port Sudan road as per world-class standard to facilitate traffic in those areas.
Al Jaz lauded the relations between the UAE and Sudan, highlighting the pivotal role played by the ADFD in the developmental process in Sudan, citing many vital projects in the country.
The ADFD has financed a number of projects worth over Dh1million. Emirates News Agency, WAM
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