ABU DHABI, 10 April (IRIN) - United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland sees new beginnings from his visit to the Gulf region in getting local NGOs to work with UN agencies. Talking to IRIN during his first visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Egeland said that too often humanitarian aid was associated with the West, adding that Gulf countries gave 94 per cent of their assistance directly to countries needing it. "I think it will actually help for coordination and effectiveness if the Gulf governments and their various charities can join us as equals," he said.
Egeland said that he had had positive response from his talks over the weekend with senior Saudi and UAE officials. "What they have said was that they want their assistance to be part of the total coordinated global effort." Separately in a speech in Dubai Egeland said the Gulf region was among the most generous in the world, with the people of Saudi Arabia, for example, giving US$200 million to victims of the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan where dozens of Arab NGOs are working. They are "excellent at providing water and sanitation, very effective and quick."He said Qatar, Egypt and Kuwait contributed towards the US $25 million released in the past few days for the drought in the Horn of Africa, part of which will go to Somalia, a country which Egeland described as "so often neglected, so often forgotten."
"All the important work that the Gulf countries and their various charities are doing is not well enough recognized, in particular in the West," he said. Egeland told IRIN that he likens global generosity to 'a bit of a lottery, where some win and some lose." "The Tsunami victims, the Kurds in northern Iraq, the Kosovars and the people in Afghanistan might 'win'.Darfur was also very well resourced in 2005, whereas this year we now suddenly see less money for Darfur and too little money for Democratic Republic of Congo," he said.
A new fund - the Central Emergency Response Fund - has now been set up to make it easy to respond quickly to emergencies. This year, Egeland said, the new fund started well with 40 donors giving OCHA US $256 million, making humanitarian assistance more predictable."Both the Saudi and UAE governments have said they would want to contribute and I really would urge them to do so because if South Africa, Nigeria, South Korea, Grenada and Kazakhstan can give, so can they," said Egeland.
Middle East’s leading education fair, GETEX Dubai 2006 opens tomorrow
April 11, 2006 The Middle East’s largest education fair, the Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX) Dubai 2006 will be inaugurated on, Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at the hands of Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mubarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre.
Anselm Godinho, Managing Director, International Conferences and Exhibitions (IC&E), organisers of GETEX said: “We are pleased with the enthusiastic response GETEX Dubai 2006 has elicited from academicians, training providers and didactic material and learning technology providers from all over the world. As the Middle East’s most comprehensive education event today, GETEX seeks to fulfill its objective of providing the region with a window to global innovations, trends and academic options. At the same time, GETEX has evolved into a specialised forum for a healthy debate on all issues related to education, human resource development and life-long learning that will steer and contribute greatly to the development of education across the Middle East.”
This year, GETEX has brought to the Middle East, diverse specialist tools and technologies at a dedicated segment on Education Equipment and Supply. These technologies are being increasingly deployed by managements and education providers across the Middle East, as a means of enhancing student participation in learning, improving teacher performance and upgrading the quality of regional education in the competitive world of global education.
The 18th edition of GETEX has assembled more than 500 exhibitors from 41 countries, who over these three days, will showcase their academic programmes, scholarships, education consultancy services, human resource development strategies and corporate training programmes, technological products and solutions for students and parents, teaching fraternity, professionals and trainers, education managements, corporate organisations, technology manufacturers and suppliers from the UAE, other GCC states, the Indian Subcontinent, Iran and other neighbouring countries.
RTA completes Jumeirah Palm Island Road Corridor
The project costs exceeds AED 370 million which includes the construction of a number of bridges and tunnels to complement the new developments in the area
April 06, 2006 The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced the completion of the AED 370 million Jumeirah Palm Island Road Corridor and Access Project, which will aid the free flow of traffic to and from Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Sufouh Road and integrated access to TECOM (Internet City, Media City and Knowledge Village) and Palm Jumeirah which is a major tourist attraction. The new road network will also improve access to the Dubai Marina area.
The project included the development of bridges and tunnels, in addition to the widening of lanes on either side on Sheikh Zayed Road. A 420-metre-long bridge will enable free flow of traffic from TECOM to Sheikh Zayed Road, while a 390-metre-long bridge will connect Jumeirah Palm Island with Sheikh Zayed Road.
Three tunnels have been constructed to provide direct access from Sheikh Zayed Road to TECOM and the Jumeirah Palm Island. A 340-metre-long tunnel has been constructed to connect the two sides of TECOM compound while another tunnel 170 metres in length will provide access from the Jumeirah Palm Island to Al Sufouh Road. In addition, the Sheikh Zayed Road has been widened from four to five lanes for a distance of two kilometers.
Engineer Ali Al Jasem, Head of Roads Construction section-Roads Department, RTA, said, ?he timely completion of this project will benefit a large number of people as it will significantly smoothen the flow of traffic on Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Sufouh Road while also providing easy access to the Jumeirah Palm Island, which will soon be home to hundreds of families. These measures are integral to realizing RTA? vision of developing a world-class, integrated road network in Dubai.·o:p>
Some of the exits and internal lanes will not be accessible until the investors and contractors complete the projects under construction in the areas of Dubai Pearl, Palm Jumeirah and TECOM. RTA is committed to improve the traffic network in Dubai to highlight the presence of the Emirate on the world map. One of the projects in line with this is the fifth interchange on Sheikh Zayed Road which will provide more access roads to Dubai Marina and is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of next year.
The Jumeirah Palm Island Road Corridor and Access Project also included the installation of services and diversion of existing utilities and services, such as water, irrigation, sewers, electricity and telephone lines, on both sides of Sheikh Zayed Road, within the TECOM compound.
