UAE News Archives

Mohammed Bin Rashid issues decree restructuring the Board of Directors of Dubai World
WAM - 2010/12/12
Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, issued a decree today restructuring the Board of Directors of the 'Dubai World' under the chairmanship of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Higher Committee to oversee the Dubai World. More details

Mohammed Bin Rashid meets Bill Clinton
WAM - 2010/12/12
Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in the presence of the crown prince of Dubai HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, received in Dubai today, former US President Bill Clinton, who is on a visit to the UAE at the invitation of the World Forum of Leaders on diabetes in the Middle East and North Africa due to open tomorrow in Dubai under the patronage of the crown prince. More details

Abdullah bin Zayed signs two agreements in Venezuela
WAM - 2010/12/12
Visiting UAE Foreign Minister HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan held talks here today with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro over mechanisms for boosting avenues of joint cooperation in areas of investment, tourism, economy, oil, energy and food industries. The two ministers signed an agreement for joint economic cooperation. A memorandum of understanding for political consultations was also inked. More details

Mansour bin Zayed opens Golf Academy in Abu Dhabi
WAM - 2010/12/12
H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister '&' Minister of Presidential Affairs today opened the new Golf Academy at the Abu Dhabi City Golf Club (ADCGC), a coaching facility for junior golfers. More details

Majed opens DIFF
WAM - 2010/12/12
H.H. Sheikh Majed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, opened this evening the seventh edition of Dubai International Film Festival 2010 which will run through December 19. Attending the opening ceremony were HH Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade and a crowd of leaders of the Arab and international movies industry. More details

Mubadala Oil and Gas and Yemen Company for Investment in Oil and Minerals Sign MoU
WAM - 2010-12-12
Mubadala Oil and Gas and Yemen Company for Investments in Oil and Minerals (YICOM) announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the exploration and production sector of the oil and gas industry in the Republic of Yemen. The MoU provides for an exchange of technical information between the two companies and co-operation to assess opportunities to work together on new investments, field redevelopment and expansion projects and other oil and gas operations in Yemen. More details

Cabinet passes UAE-UK nuclear cooperation agreement, UAE-Pakistan extradition treaty
WAM - 2010/12/12
The Federal Cabinet today passed the agreement signed between the UAE and UK for cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear energy and an extradition treaty inked by the UAE with Pakistan. More details

Masdar Institute Hosts First Annual Career Fair
WAM - 2010/12/12
Masdar Institute will host its First Annual Career Fair on December 13th and 14th. The Career Fair will provide Masdar Institute students with the opportunity to meet and interact with prospective employers involved in the renewable energy and sustainability sectors.
The President of Masdar Institute, Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh said: "The development of human capital is central to the values of the Masdar Institute. Providing students with opportunities to meet their future employers at an early stage is part of this process. Masdar Institute is taking a leading role in developing Abu Dhabi's knowledge-based economy as evidenced by the desire of approximately 80% of our students wanting to stay and work here in the UAE" . More details

National Media Council organizes tour for foreign media representatives covering GCC summit
WAM - 2010/12/12
The National Media Council (NMC) recently organized a tour for the media representatives who covered the activities of the 31st GCC summit held here in Abu Dhabi. The delegation, which included 40 journalists representing newspapers, news agencies and magazines from Europe, Asia and Australia in addition to a number of Arab countries visited F1 Yas Marina circuit and took a tour to Ferrari world. More details

Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, pay state visit to UAE
WAM - 2010/11/24
At the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh arrive in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday 24 November to undertake their second state visit to the UAE - the first having taken place in 1979. His Highness, The Duke of York, and Foreign Secretary William Hague MP, are accompanying Her Majesty on this visit. More details

UAE global healthcare drive treats 30000 poor children
WAM - 2010/11/23
Nearly 30,000 children have received health care from a UAE global charity campaign to deliver health and medical services to one million underprivileged children. The one-million child Giving Initiative treated 30,000 children through its international humanitarian mobile hospitals in the UAE, Morocco, Haiti, Lebanon, Egypt, Bosnia, Syria, Eritrea, and Indonesia. More details

UAE discusses Air Services Agreement with Colombia
WAM - 2010/11/23
The United Arab Emirates represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) discussed on 20th November 2010 in Bogota, a pending articles of an Air Services Agreement (ASA) with the Republic of Colombia, which was initialised on 1st June 2009.
Director General of the (GCAA) Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, headed the UAE delegation to this meeting, and Santiago Castro G. Director General for Civil Aviation Authority, headed the Colombia delegation. Representatives from the two states were also attended.
Both delegations reached an agreement regarding "customs and other charges" , each Party will on the basis of reciprocity exempt a designated airline of the other Party to the fullest extent possible under its national law from import restrictions, customs duties, direct or indirect taxes, excise taxes, inspection fees and other national duties. More details

UAE and Sweden strengthen cultural ties
Al Bawaba - 2010/09/21
Sheikha Najla Mohammed Al-Qassimi, UAE Ambassador in the Kingdom of Sweden, with Saeed Al Nabooda, Acting Director-General of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), during her recent visit to the UAE. She visited an art exhibition by Emirati artists and photographers at Ibn Al Haitham Centre at Al Bastakiya in Dubai. Her Excellency met with the senior delegation from Dubai Culture and reinforced the strong cultural ties between the UAE and Sweden. The discussions included emphasis on the growing need to showcase the UAE's culture and heritage internationally by hosting activities in both countries, in addition to creating cultural tours for students, artists and organizations between the two countries. Najla Al Qassimi said: "It was an honour to be introduced to the work of UAE's talented youth. Our duty as UAE Ambassadors is to promote the culture, heritage, and ideas of Emirati's to other communities, by creating opportunities for dialogue and increasing the channels of communication between the UAE and Sweden. "The visit by Her Excellency is a significant step for initiating a vibrant cultural exchange programme between the UAE and Sweden. We are working to build closer co-operation to increase the cultural activities between the two countries and thus also promote local talent beyond the UAE," said Saeed Al Nabooda. More details

Sheikh Abdullah in UN challenge to fight global poverty
The National - 2010/09/23
The task is simple, but daunting: devise a way for mankind to have enough food, water and energy and lift the worst-off out of poverty without overstretching our strained planet. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE Foreign Minister, and 20 other leaders from governments and the private sector have little more than a year to come up with the answer. They were appointed by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, last month and had their first meeting on Sunday night as 140 heads of state and government gathered for the annual General Assembly. Calling for “vision and fresh thinking”, the UN chief warned that the global population will reach nine billion by 2050 – the year by which emissions of heat-trapping gases must be cut by half to avert the threats from climate change. “I encouraged panel members to think big, to connect the dots between poverty, energy and food, water, environmental pressure and climate change. I asked them to draft a bold but practical blueprint for how countries can develop in a sustainable manner,” Mr Ban said. Panelists will offer ideas for sustainable living and report back by the end of next year, feeding in to the negotiations towards a global climate-change treaty and before a UN development meeting in Brazil in 2012. More details

Safety, Security and Nuclear non proliferation are main pillars of UAE peaceful nuclear energy program, Dr. Anwar Gargash
WAM - 2010/09/21
The United Arab Emirates is developing its peaceful nuclear energy program to address the increasing domestic demand in electricity. The decision to commence this program was based on an extensive assessments of all available alternatives , in terms of economic, environmental feasibility, sustainability , and its contribution to economic diversity. "UAE decision to embark on this program took into account all associated regional and international obligations, with the assurance of highest standards of safety, security and nuclear non-proliferation as main pillars", said Dr. Anwar Gargash Minister of State for Foreign Affairs while addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 54th General Conference here in Vienna. More details

UAE will do its best to support MDG: says UAE Minister
WAM - 2010/09/21
The UAE has supported Millennium Declaration (MDG) based on its firm conviction that the implementation of the MDG is a main factor in the maintenance of peace, security and prosperity in the world, said UAE State Minister Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimi, here yesterday at the high level plenary meeting of the General assembly, on assessment of the Millennium Summit. "Today, we renew our support of the Declaration and affirm our intention to continue working towards achieving the MDG by the year 2015 as we pledged, she added while speaking at the High Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on Follow- up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit", she added. The UAE minister congratulated Switzerland, on behalf of the United Arab Emirates delegation, for its election as a president of the General Assembly at its 65th session. More details

Abdullah meets Secretary Clinton in Sharm El-Sheikh
WAM: Sharm El-Sheikh - 2010/09/15
Minister of Foreign Affairs H.H Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has met with U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, upon the conclusion of round 2 of the latest peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The meeting discussed regional developments and the efforts being made by the U.S and Arabs to overcome obstacles to serious talks that would eventually lead to the reinstating of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights including the right to the establishment of their independent state. More details

UAE gives $42m more aid to Palestinians
The National: Abu Dhabi - 2010/09/14
Children of the Jahalin Bedouin community attending a class at school in the West Bank near Jerusalem. Mohammed Torokman / Reuters The UAE has donated a further $42 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority, bringing the total to $10 million more than the $300 million it pledged at a donors’ conference in 2007. The funds will help to pay the salaries of thousands of workers in Palestinian government departments and ministries, the PA’s envoy to the UAE said yesterday. More details

Abu Dhabi's Invest AD and Japan's SBI Holdings setting up partnership and $100 million Africa fund
WAM: Abu Dhabi - 2010/09/13
Abu Dhabi financial services firm Invest AD and Japan's SBI Holdings Inc. (SBI) are establishing a new fund management company to invest in Africa, starting with a fund of up to $100 million. The new fund, seeded equally by Invest AD and SBI, will focus on Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. It will invest in several sectors, including banking, mining, consumer products and manufacturing, through listed equities, initial public offerings (IPOs), as well as pre-IPO and unlisted equity. The jointly-run fund management company plans to launch additional funds, which will be open to third-party investors, with strong interest expected in Asia. This is the latest in a series of partnerships formed by Tokyo-listed SBI [stock code: 8473] to invest in frontier and emerging markets, including with Singapore's Temasek Holdings, the Brunei Ministry of Finance, Russia's IFC Metropol and Brazil's Jardim Botanico Investments. More details

UAE faced a tough battle for a fair deal
The National: Abu Dhabi - 2010/09/12
The UAE is one of OPEC’s core producers, with a reputation for adhering to output quotas and remaining committed to building spare pumping capacity that can be activated in the event of a global oil crisis. But the country had to fight hard in the 1980s and 1990s to achieve its vaunted position. For much of the 1980s as oil prices rapidly dropped, the UAE was stuck with a total quota of under 1 million barrels per day (bpd), less than half its current limit. More details

RAK’s solar islands could power emirate
The National: Ras Al Khaimah - 2010/09/12
A series of floating, rotating solar islands off the coast of RAK could be the solution to the emirate’s energy woes. Heat generated from the solar panels creates steam in an underwater tank, piped to a turbine on shore. A prototype is in the testing phase and statistical results are expected in two years, with real-world applications coming afterwards. A small solar island with a diameter of 88 meters, like the prototype being tested in the RAK desert, can produce up to 1 megawatt (MW) of thermal power and would be able to cool or heat a small mall. Larger islands between 500m to 5km in diameter can produce between a tenth of a MW to several gigawatts (GW) of thermal power. More details

UAE Education Minister urges teachers, students to deliver
WAM: Abu Dhabi - 2010/09/12
More than 28000 male and female teachers and administrative staff are set to start their work on Monday for the 2010-2011 academic year at 725 public schools across the UAE while the 299000 male and female students will start their new year on Wednesday, September 15th, according to Minister of Education Humaid Obaid Al-Qattami. More details

UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs swears in Emirati diplomats
The National: Abu Dhabi - 2010/09/08
More than 100 Emirati diplomats have been sworn in by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the foreign minister, in a step towards bolstering the number of nationals staffing the country’s expanding number of missions. The 125 “young diplomats”, 73 men and 52 women, were inducted in a ceremony on Tuesday at the Fairmont Bab al Bahar hotel. Sheikh Abdullah said the ministry was determined to attract qualified Emiratis who were“capable of serving their homeland and better representing it internally or externally”, according to WAM, the state news agency. The trained diplomats, whom Sheikh Abdullah called the “mirror of the country”, are part of the UAE’s focus on training its population “to deal with modern-age requirements”. The UAE has a network of 77 embassies, and new ones are planned in Kenya, Uganda and Chile. More details

Young Emirati women aim for the stars at NASA
The National: Abu Dhabi - 2010/09/02
On June 1, Shamma al Qassim boarded a plane bound for the US as the first Emirati woman to become a Nasa intern. On Sunday, Reem Ketait will become the second. Ms al Qassim, 19, along with two other Emirati students – Hazza Bani Malek, 20, and Hamad Rajab, 21 – spent 10 weeks training alongside Nasa engineers as part of the Educational Associates programme. Until a few months ago, the scheme admitted only US citizens. But thanks to an agreement between Nasa and the RAK-based Arab Youth Venture Foundation, sponsored by Mubadala – the Abu Dhabi Government’s investment company – Emirati students may well become a regular feature at the Ames Research Centre in Silicon Valley, California. Ms Ketait, 23, is the only woman among the 10 students who will soon begin the 15-week NASA programme. With a degree in chemical engineering from the UAE University in Al Ain, her passion for discovery in the field of renewable energy “aligned exactly and perfectly” with the opportunity to train at NASA, she said. More details

UAE scientists look to frog for superbug cure
The National: Abu Dhabi - 2010/08/28
Research into combatting superbugs has taken a leap forward after UAE University scientists identified 100 new antibiotics from chemicals secreted from the skin of frogs. Biochemists are now screening secretions taken from more than 6,000 frog species worldwide, with one compound from a rare American breed raising hopes of finding a treatment for the deadly infection methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Dr Michael Conlon, a biochemist at United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, revealed the findings at the 240th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston on Thursday. He said some of the compounds could be tested on patients in clinical trials within five years. “Frog skin is an excellent potential source of such antibiotic agents,” he told the Press Association. “They’ve been around 300 million years, so they’ve had plenty of time to learn how to defend themselves against disease-causing microbes in the environment. We only actually use the frogs to get the chemical structure of the antibiotic, and then we make it in the lab.” More details

Abu Dhabi to host conference on sustainable tourism
The National: Abu Dhabi - 2010/08/26
Tourism threatens to destroy 60 per cent of the world’s ecosystems, according to the World Tourism Organisation. It may not be a topic of discussion during your next beach holiday, but for 3,000 tourism enthusiasts it is reason enough to jet to Abu Dhabi for the World Green Tourism Conference. The three-day event, which starts on November 22, will see industry and government officials as well as leading academics considering the future of sustainable travel. As a tourist destination, Abu Dhabi is committed to setting high standards, Mr Oisin Commane, the group director of event organizers Streamline Marketing Group, said. “Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority [ADTA] is taking this initiative very seriously and setting strict environmental rules in the sector,” he said. “Sustainability is not about the environment alone, it encompasses other important factors.” These factors include the effects of tourism on local culture, whether it helps to create jobs and whether it is economically viable. More details

Back