UAE Air Force & Defence Institute delegation visits Dubai eGovernment to study advanced solutions

Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim Al Disi says the Institute could benefit from
best of breed solutions implemented by Dubai eGovernment

DUBAI - October 27, 2003
A delegation from the UAE Air Force and Defence Institute, led by
Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim Al Disi, head of the Institute's Leadership
Development Section, recently paid a visit to Dubai eGovernment to study its
advanced systems and e-Solutions.

From left to right: Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim Al Disi, Anas Haddad, Content and Marketing Manager, Dubai eGovernment, Mahmoud Ahmed Al Bastaki, Business Process Re-engineering Consultant.

Colonel Al Disi, who called on Salem Al Shair, e-Services Director,
Dubai eGovernment, said Dubai eGovernment had created a model that could
bring benefits to corporations and government departments across the region.

"The progress achieved by Dubai eGovernment is a reflection of the
strides made by the UAE in different fields, driven by a vision to pursue the
highest standards in all they do," remarked Colonel Al Disi. "Initiatives like
e-learning are providing a new channel to update knowledge and acquire
new skills, something that was not thought possible until a few years
ago. The purpose of our visit is to get a closer look at the systems adopted
by Dubai eGovernment and to exchange experiences."

"The Air Force and Defence Institute gives major importance to the
deployment of technology in achieving its objectives. The students here are our
future leaders, and it is essential to provide them with the best of resources
so that they can exploit their potential to the fullest," said Colonel
Al Disi. "Dubai eGovernment has become a highly successful IT
initiative in the region and we would like to leverage its expertise to develop
our processes further through applications of the most advanced IT
systems."

"Dubai eGovernment has built a strong customer-centric system that
hinges on delivery of integrated public services through electronic channels,
all 24 hours of the day," said Salem Al Shair, e-Services Director,
Dubai eGovernment. "We are proud to say that after just two years we have
been able to set up an infrastructure that has put us on target to make
Dubai the hub of the Knowledge economy. The technology we have used can be
successfully adapted in varying degrees to other environments. We are therefore
happy to welcome Colonel Al Disi and his team and would be willing to extend
maximum cooperation to help them achieve desired objectives."

Anas Haddad, Content and Marketing Manager, Dubai eGovernment, said:
"Dubai eGovernment is driven by customer requirements in all its initiatives.
We are focused on providing a common interface to all government
customers. Having created an effective e-Services infrastructure, we have devised
marketing outreach programmes aimed at specific segments. The visit by
the Air Force and Defence Institute forms part of our larger marketing
plan to expose government institutions, community and businesses to
e-Services and the technology that is powering them".

Mahmoud Ahmed Al Bastaki, Business Process Re-engineering Consultant,
said: "We are aiming to offer synergetic services. Using business process
reengineering we are working at creating services customised to respond to the needs
of different segments. This includes the use of innovative channels
such as mDubai. Our aim is to simplify the procedures and speed up the
transactions."

Dubai e-Government is a pioneering initiative in the region to provide
online services across the spectrum of corporate and community life in
the emirate. It also has a vision to integrate

individually automated government departments under the single umbrella
of the e-government initiative, thus empowering employees across lines
of businesses and levels of government, besides facilitating the lives
of citizens and customers of the government. Dubai has taken a lead in
the region in deploying e-government applications and is among the
first few governments in the world to provide such integrated services to its
citizens. The e-Government portal (www.dubai.ae) is a single contact
point masking the complexity of the bureaucratic procedures, and guiding
access to all services in the easiest possible way. In addition, the
e-Government initiative seeks to improve and enhance procedures by maximising the
benefit from technolog , so that users from all walks of life will be able to
utilize the portal for their specific needs with considerable ease. keralamonitor.com

IFPI's regional committee meeting in Dubai joins local music industry
to step up anti-piracy efforts

Local music companies to form IFPI-affiliated bodies in the UAE &
Jordan

October 27, 2003

Leaders of the local and international record industry have gathered in
Dubai to step up the campaign for the protection of the intellectual
property rights of music producers in the Middle East. The meeting earlier this
month, brought together members of the regional committee of the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). IFPI is the
international music industry body representing 1,500 record producers in 76
countries, including the Middle East.

The meeting, which was sponsored by the Technology, e-Commerce and
Media Free Zone (TECOM), Dubai, is part of the industry's stepped up effort
to raise awareness of intellectual property rights of music producers and
strengthen support for the fight against piracy in the Middle East.
This has been evidenced by fruitful meetings between IFPI representatives
and key government officials in the UAE, Lebanon, Kuwait and Jordan in
recent months.

Following the regional committee meeting, local music companies such as
Music Master, SIDI, Vanilla, Megastar, Rotanna, Abdool studios and
Founoon, will be establishing a UAE association, affiliated to the IFPI, to
coordinate efforts towards creating a healthier music industry in the UAE. The
local industry will also establish a body to oversee the licensing industry
of recordings for broadcasting and public performance, with the objective
of earning appropriate royalties from broadcasters and other users of
recordings, such as hotels.

Trevor Pearcy, Director of Administration & Planning at the IFPI
Secretariat said "The Middle East music market has exciting growth potential, but
we are having to fight piracy levels that are among the highest in the
world. The industry is now stepping up its anti-piracy efforts in the region,
but support from governments is critical".

In October a high-level IFPI delegation met Mr Sakhr Gobash,
Undersecretary, UAE Ministry of Information & Culture, significantly boosting the music
industry's confidence in initiating steps towards enforcing the
industry's intellectual property rights.

In June 2003, the IFPI met the Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr Rafiq
Hariri, to urge him to take steps to protect the intellectual property rights
of music producers. Lebanon has the dubious distinction having one of the
region's highest music piracy levels of over 70 per cent.

IFPI had similar meetings in October with the Ministry of Information
in Kuwait and the Ministries of Information and Culture in Jordan to
lobby government support for strengthening the enforcement of intellectual
propertyrights and IFPI is optimistic about achieving concrete results due to
these high-level meetings.

Frederic Giaccardo, Chairman of the IFPI regional committee, said: "A
well protected intellectual property environment is necessary to promote the
recording industry in the region". Shuckri Bundakji, President of BMG
MENA added that: "Regional countries that support their respective local
recording industries stand to benefit greatly by creating new jobs, expanding
their economies and encouraging local cultural contributions".

Anti-Piracy campaigns in the Middle East peaked in Egypt recently when
nearly 2 million counterfeit music cassettes were seized by Egyptian
Police in what is said to be the biggest ever piracy raid in the Middle East.
The action has great significance, because Egypt has piracy levels of
around 50 per cent, among the highest in the region.

The regional companies which attended the recent IFPI meeting in the
UAE represent over 90 per cent of the Arabic music industry in the Middle
East & North Africa region. The five international companies which took part
in the meeting represent over 90 per cent of the music market globally.

The IFPI, which leads the fight against music piracy globally, is the
organisation representing the international recording industry. It has a membership
of over 1,500 record producers and distributors in 76 countries. It
also has national groups in 46 countries. IFPI's international Secretariat
is based in London and is linked to regional offices in Brussels, Hong
Kong, Miami and Moscow -keralamonitor.com