European Commission Commends Emirates’ Websites

The European Commission’s Director General for ‘Health and Consumers’ (DG SANCO), has confirmed that Emirates airline’s websites are fully compliant with all the requirements laid down in EU consumer legislation, and it further commended the airline for its commitment to consumer transparency.

In a statement, Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said: "I am delighted to confirm that contrary to some earlier reported indications, Emirates airline is fully in compliance with all the requirements laid down in EU consumer legislation that were monitored in the recent ’health check’ in relation to air ticket selling websites and therefore belongs to those companies that can serve as an example to be followed by others. I commend Emirates airline as a non-EU carrier for the observance of Community law and for the commitment to maintain these standards and to consumer protection in general demonstrated at a meeting held in Brussels on 17 June".

DG SANCO’s ‘health check’ investigation and report on airline websites published in May listed Emirates as being non-compliant. Subsequent discussions between the airline and DG SANCO confirmed that this was inaccurate.

Richard Vaughan, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide, said: “We have had a number of open and productive conversations with DG SANCO over the past weeks. Although we were disappointed with how the original investigations were conducted, we are pleased that this is now resolved, and that consumers can be absolutely satisfied that Emirates’ websites not only fully comply with EU regulations, but also demonstrate leadership in terms of transparency and inclusive pricing.

“As a responsible global airline, our commercial operations are guided by fair business practices and transparency for our customers. All Emirates’ fares include taxes and surcharges and no service fees apply when bookings are made and paid for online. We also provide a breakdown of the fare components both online and with Global Distribution Systems (GDS).”

Mr Vaughan added: "Emirates wants to see high, universal standards across our industry to ensure a level playing field for those airlines, like Emirates, who adhere to transparency and the highest possible standards versus some who continue to practice more opaque pricing and other less consumer-friendly techniques".

Dubai Customs Becomes Investor Partner Of DQG

Dubai Customs has become an Investor Partner of Dubai Quality Group (DQG), which is a highest profile membership of DQG.Mr. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs was given a certificate of partnership by Mr. Osama Al Rahma, Vice-Chairman of the Board while receiving DQG delegates yesterday Tuesday 16th June 09 at Customs main building.The DQG membership is awarded to public and private establishments having made remarkable achievements in the area of promoting quality and business excellence.Dubai Customs membership with DQG is a new phase of establishing strategic cooperation and consolidating its 10 year strong relations with DQG, reflecting continuous communication and sharing expertise with different government agencies.With this membership, Dubai Customs will have a number of benefits particularly those aiming at improving quality and services, developing employees’ expertise and capability and cooperation among members.At the beginning of the meeting Mr. Butti praised DQG role over the past 10 years in developing and inculcating concepts of quality and excellence considering it a leading establishment regionally and internationally in the domain.From their part, DQG delegates lauded Dubai Customs efforts in implementing quality standards, which made it a leading customs administration in the world confident of its clients.“Dubai Customs has strong and historical relations with DQG. We are keen to strengthen these relations in all respects over the upcoming period through exchange of expertise and business practices”, said Mr. Butti.The Director General of Dubai Customs affirmed that “Dubai Customs is fully satisfied with implementing quality and excellence standards in its core business regarding such move as a firm commitment to its employees, clients and strategic stakeholders.”“Dubai Customs commitment is clearly demonstrated through the programmes, activities that have been achieved over the past 10 years making it one of the most significant, advanced and developed customs administration worldwide,” he maintained.Mr. Butti pointed out that Dubai Customs business processes and practices have been documented in accordance with (ISO 900), (ISO 1400), (OHSAS 18000) and (ISO 10002).“The foregoing systems are automated and computerized for easy access and use by all clients”, he said.Moreover, Dubai Customs has completed the development of Mirsal (2), which provides online customs services and hence saving clients` time and effort.Dubai Customs takes a great interest in its strategic stakeholders and has a number of achievements in this respect culminating such efforts by winning the recent DGEP award of best joint project category.“Dubai Customs accession to the membership of DQG reflects our commitment to quality in customs methodologies and business plans and enhances our strategic partnership with organizations and establishments dealing with quality and excellence,” he added.“Dubai Customs continues in taking the path of creativity, quality, business processes development and customer service delivery standards improvement,” he said.The membership of DQG will provide Dubai Customs with a number of benefits including training and awareness programmes about quality and excellence, receiving DQG monthly newsletters and the nomination of 10 members enjoying the right to vote in connection with the Board resolutions.From his party, Mr. Osama Al Rahma, the Vice-Chairman of the Board at DQG underlined the importance the partnership agreement with Dubai Customs being a leading government department in developing the national economy.“The agreement affirms the extent of DQG keenness on providing support to the public and private establishments and companies in the UAE with the aim of disseminating concepts of corporate quality and excellence in a way contributing to maintain the advanced business environment in the country,” said Al Rahma.Al Rahma pointed out that DQG in collaboration with Dubai Customs would organize benchmarking programmes, disseminate best practices in customs business mechanisms, allow all customs employees to take part in DQG sub activities and use DQG library facilitations including books, periodicals and other references for benefiting from them in developing customs sector in Dubai.“DQG will contribute through its specialized and numerous services to develop the capabilities and skills of customs employees and officers and improve the quality of customs services delivery standards in Dubai as to keep Dubai as a global trade destination,” he added.DQG delegates comprised of Mr. Farid Mohammed Ahmed, the Honorary member at DQG and Dubai World Secretary General, Mr. Abdul Qader Obaid, the Honorary member at DQG, Mr. Khalid Al Jowder, DQG Secretary General, Ms. Maryam Al Thani, Board member, Ms Samiya Al Yousef, Managing Director of DQG and Ms Fatima Abdul Qader, the Business Development Executive.The meeting was attended by a number of Executive Directors and senior managers at Dubai Customs.
 

Dubai Customs Executes Two Car Parking Projects One Of Them Is Multi-Floored

Dubai Customs is in the process of implementing a project for building a multi-floor parking on a total area of 18.8 thousand square meters that will have 620 parking lots. There is also a possibility for adding a 100 extra spaces in an allocated area within the same building.

Mr. Mansoor Buosaiba, Director of Administration Affairs Department at Dubai Customs said:" This project aims to overcome the current congestion issue in the parking area designated for both the employees and clients. The new multi-floor parking will be exclusively used by the employees, leaving the existing one for clients".

Mr. Mansoor Buosaiba confirmed that under the direct guidance and constant follow-up of H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs, the Department is keen on creating a healthy work environment and increase both its employees and clients satisfaction. It also comes inline with the Dubai Customs’ strategic vision of maintaining true partnership with the clients based on understanding their requirements and providing them with the best services.

"We understand the clients’ recent complaints when they sometimes have a difficulty finding available parking spaces. At present, we are working on solving this issue through another parking project which is now in process to add 120 parking lots for clients, and 60 for employees in the two current parking spaces. This project, which will be completed during the second week of July 2009, will help in easing the congestion issue that resulted from the increasing number of clients, consignees and clearance agents who visit Dubai Customs daily,” Mr. Mansoor Buosaiba added.

He also stated that the designs for the five-floor parking have been approved and a local real estate company will be chosen to start the initial stages of the project within the next few days. An annex with the same height will be added to include extra offices, meeting rooms, and training halls. As for the current parking lots, they will be joined together, modernly redesigned, landscaped and will have extra service facilities for the clients. 

Ahmed Butti Ahmed Conducts a Sequence of Open Meetings With Dubai Customs Employees

Dubai- In alignment with sustaining the ongoing communication between the higher administration and different work categories at the Department, H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs has held an open meeting with the employees of Financial Administration and Audit and Risk Management Departments who have shared their opinions, ideas, suggestions and obstacles they may encounter while performing their duties.H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed confirmed during this friendly and open meeting that there are clear methodologies and modus operandi that govern employees and directors’ performance assessment whose basis is objectivity and achieving results and missions’ goals. In addition, the D.G. of Dubai Customs said that every employee has the right to know the content of such assessment and express his/her opinion in regard to it. He also pointed that this assessment process must be carried out throughout the year independently from directors and managers’ personal interests in order to pave the way for the promotion of distinguished employees.H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed has called on all employees:" to be creative and original and to have good time management skills as well as develop a variety of solutions and alternatives for tasks carried out by employees away from the traditional approaches and the routine of work, in order to achieve positive results for both; the employees and the Department creating a healthy work environment where the skillful and distinguished are rewarded according to their abilities".This meeting is the second in a sequence of meetings H.E. started last week with all Dubai Customs employees. The first meeting was held with the Administration Affairs department and the initiative will go on for the upcoming period to include all divisions and departments at DC. These meetings, however, are only held with employees without their managers or executive directors as they aim to strengthen internal communication ties between top management and rest of the employees listening to their complaints and work obstacles so as to work on them. They also aim to ensure the implementation of assessment methodologies adopted by the Department and whether they required to be adjusted.H.E added during the meeting that:" positive work results are only accomplished when employees’ satisfaction is achieved. Therefore, the Department is keen on creating a healthy and motivating work environment for every employee providing them with good work benefits and a rewarding scheme for those who make constructive and fruitful suggestions and to take advantage of the human resources available to Dubai Customs to the maximum. We also confirm the employees’ right to complain in any case of injustice so as to alleviate any concerns that may cripple their performance"."Healthy work environment that leads to job satisfaction is the key to the success of the Department and its strategic objectives through offering our clients the best services that meet their expectations, hopes and ambitions", H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed confirmed.H.E. has called upon all directors to establish good working relationships with their subordinates while he asked employees to master multi-tasking skills that will help avoid the gap caused by any employee’s absence. Calling for more employees’ promotions, he asked for allowing other cadres in every department to take part in work tasks and to enrich the Department’s expertise. H.E. stressed that every employee, including the Director General, has duties that must be executed and that directors and managers need to get down to work, go around the offices in order to monitor the quality of services offered to clients and to award distinguished employees. He pointed that Dubai Customs is considered a vital economic and services department within Dubai Government, and that excellence and the quality of services worldwide are measured by the level of clients’ satisfaction. Thus, Dubai Customs gives great interest to the adaptation of the best international practices while taking into account the nature of the Department and its clients. He said that updating work methods and techniques brings much pride to the Department and is well received by other departments and customs authorities locally, regionally and internationally.H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed closed the meeting by emphasizing that:" employees’ assessment must be conducted based on how well they could meet objectives and accomplish responsibilities and tasks entrusted to them in accordance with the approved executive and operational plans. Such assessment should be carried out objectively and on a monthly basis in order for the employees to receive due acknowledgement and rewards for their achievements".

UK Minister Of Homeland Security Visits Dubai Customs

Mr. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs has met with Lord West of Spithead, UK Homeland Security Minister on Monday May 8th 2009, at Dubai Customs Headquarters. He was accompanied by Her Majesty’s Consul General in Dubai Mr. Guy Warrington, and Mr. Cameron Walker, Councilor of Law Enforcement.

The purpose of the visit was to further the strategic dialogue between Dubai Customs and HM Revenue & Customs in the UK, to build bridges between both sides in various fields and to strengthen their mutual relationship in order to serve shared interests.

Moreover, the meeting included discussions about bilateral co-operation on customs related issues such as; combating illegal trade through using the latest technologies; expertise exchange between the two countries; mutual capacity building initiatives and the enforcement of restrictions and prohibitions through ’Risk Based’ Port Controls.

The British Minister praised the advanced tools and high-tech equipment used by Dubai Customs at all its ports, crossings and other facilities. He also commended the Department’s extensive expertise in various fields which can be useful and beneficial for future mutual cooperation.

Municipality Praises DP World, UAE Region for Contributions to Dubai’s Development Goals

The Dubai Municipality recently commended DP World, UAE region for its significant and long-term contribution to Dubai’s development goals:  “Through the active alignment of its growth trajectory with Dubai’s growth requirements, DP World has been a model for all Dubai companies,” said Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director of the Dubai Municipality.Eng. Lootah spoke at Jebel Ali terminal during a meeting between Municipality officials and DP World executives, headed by Mr. Mohammed Al Muallem, SVP and Managing Director, UAE Region.  The goal of the talks was to investigate additional avenues for policy coordination.Mohammed Al Muallem, SVP and Managing Director, DP World, UAE Region, said: “DP World is always ready to cooperate with Dubai Municipality. We are jointly responsible to the community and seek ways to contribute to the qualitative development of Dubai.  Such meetings are an excellent opportunity to share information and deepen coordination.  As always, we appreciate Dubai Municipality’s strong support.”Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General, Dubai Municipality, said: “DP World is doing a commendable job in integrating its development projects with the needs of this emirate.  Dubai Municipality is committed to the welfare of the people and we deeply value our close relations with DP World, UAE Region and the common interests that bind us.”

EIAST Announces 51-day Countdown to Launch of DubaiSat-1

His Excellency Mr Ahmed Al Mansoori, Director General and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, EIAST Press conference – DubaiSat-1 launch details

Your excellencies, Distinguished members of the media, good morning.Thank you your Excellency Mr Ghanim. It is official now. We are ready to launch DubaiSat-1 in 51 days.The countdown has started and on July 25, 2009, the UAE will make history as DubaiSat-1 will be launched on board the Russian Dnepr rocket among six other satellites from UK, USA and Spain. The satellite marks the UAE’s entry into a new era of innovation and scientific and technological exploration.Honored guests,
With the launch of DubaiSat-1, we are reiterating our goal to strengthen the involvement of UAE nationals in space technology research. We are investing in our National human resources in sectors that are at the cutting edge of technology.The launch of DubaiSat-1 is the effort and expertise of several young UAE nationals, who made considerable contribution to the strategic project over the past two years.We selected a team of UAE national experts of engineers and specialists to work on the project. Later another team was formed to work on the feasibility and research stages, which were the preliminary phases of DubaiSat-1.At this stage, all the requirements including scientific equipment, technology and collaboration with international companies in the field were determined. After a close scrutiny of these, the best options were considered and selected. We chose our international partners on the basis of their previous track-record, commitment to knowledge transfer and economic feasibility.We also made sure that these partners supported the training and development of UAE nationals, and I’m proud to say that the young men and women of the UAE are responsible for more than 30 percent of the project implementation over the two years.The development of a satellite is a very complicated process and we are proud to say that what we have achieved so far can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of our national engineers and scientists. DubaiSat-1 will undoubtedly be a sterling addition to the UAE’s strategic accomplishments.Honoured guests,
DubaiSat-1 will be launched under the supervision and with the authorization of the Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) through the Moscow-based International Space Company (ISC) Kosmotras. Both are internationally renowned space partners with a very sound track record. The launch process is subject to a number of factors and variables such as weather conditions and technical factors and the possibility of access to orbit – factors that we have planned for very well.DubaiSat-1 is designed for a minimum lifetime of 5 years in-orbit operation, and has been tailored for earth observation and remote sensing. The satellite is capable of high resolution imaging and is in line with internationally recognised standards in the field of remote sensing and civilian use of satellites.Images from DubaiSat-1 can be used for many applications such as urban development, scientific research, telecommunications, transportation, civil engineering & constructions, mapping and GIS.DubaiSat-1 moves in orbit around the hemisphere, allowing access to the services provided by the country it traverses. The possibility of coordination and cooperation with those countries wishing to take advantage of multiple techniques and services, offered through the satellite, is also provided.The launch of DubaiSat-1 consists of three segments; space, ground and actual launch. The ground segment comprises mission control station, image receiving and processing station, and antenna and RF subsystem.Honoured guests,
EIAST is currently focused on research in four areas: observation and forecast of fog formation; use of satellite pictures in predicting sand storms; quality of water in the Gulf region – especially the effect of waste distillation in environment and marine life surrounding the oceans existing in the UAE; and ways to improve the clarity of satellite pictures.EIAST plans similar projects in phases, especially with the launch of DubaiSat-2 and Sat-3, to be developed fully by UAE nationals in line with our strategy of achieving the UAE leadership’s vision of investing in national human capital and creating a platform for a knowledge-based economy.I thank you all for coming and we look forward to your continued support as we equip ourselves to attain a milestone for the UAE’s history in space research on the 25th of July.

Emirates Human Rights Association Praises Dubai Customs Support

The Emirates Human Rights Association has honored Dubai Customs for the support provided and assistance in the area of social activities since it has been established three years ago.

Mr. Khalid Al Housani, member of the association’s Board of Directors stated that "Dubai Customs is one of the key collaborative departments that has showed a lot of positive communication and support in all our activities, mentioning that Customs, under the directions of the Director General Mr. Ahmad Butti Ahmad, has assisted us in employing a number of its special needs as well as a number of employees who were laid off from private companies during the global financial crunch.

Al Hosni added that Dubai Customs has also demonstrated its collaboration in various other fields including sponsoring training sessions for a number of disabled whether it is a language or computer session and so forth. Al Hosni hoped to be able to preserve this constructive support and communication with Dubai Customs in the future.

During the annual closing ceremony for the association’s activities for 2008 held Wednesday 13 May 2009 at Al Boom Tourist village, Mr. Abdulghafar Hussain, Chairman of the Board of The Emirates Human Rights Association has granted Dubai Customs a certificate of appreciation and a memorial gift which were handed over to Mr. Abdulrahman Al Saleh, Senior Executive Director of Customs Corporate Affairs.

Parting return, Mr. Abdulrahman Al Saleh expressed his gratitude towards The Emirates Human Rights Association’s efforts as a non-government public utility and added that it is considered as one of the most prominent legal associations in the region where all societies need such activities.

Al Saleh added: " it is a must for us to communicate continuously with the association and this comes as part of Dubai Customs social responsibility, Customs believes that the society’s development is an ethical responsibility and not only does it devote to it a significant attention, but it also considers it as one of its strategic objectives alongside with its entrusted economic tasks.

Finally, Mr. Abdulrahman Al Saleh added that the naturalization is one of the social responsibility’s forms which Dubai Customs takes into account in addition to other various social works that Dubai Customs take care of throughout the year.

Dubai Customs Earns The ISO 10002 Certification For The Second Running Year

For the second running year, Dubai Customs has made an exceptional achievement at Customs organizations level in the Middle East and North Africa by earning the ISO 10002: 2004 certification related to Customer Complaints Handling.

This achievement comes within the series of Dubai Customs previous successes in adopting and implementing best practices related to the business procedures and systems and enhancing the satisfaction of its real business partners; its customers. The earning of the ISO certification is a proof that Dubai Customs is on the right track towards achieving its strategic plan 2007-2011 which considers "improving customers’ satisfaction" one of its key objectives.

Dubai Customs Director General, Ahmad Butti Ahmad, has been granted the certificate during a special ceremony held at Customs main building lately, 2009 in the presence of a number of Dubai Customs Executive Directors.

Dubai Customs has succeeded in earning this international certificate for the second year running and also accrue to the external audits performed by the certification body on the 2nd of April 2009 on the consistency of the procedures followed by the management in handling Dubai Customs’ customer complaints which were incredibly efficient in preventing similar or repeated complaints to be made. This can be done by auditing the system’s documents and files in both Customers Department (Customer Services Development Section) and the Strategy and Corporate Excellence Department (Quality Section) in addition to visiting the Legal Department and Valuation Department which serve as a model for the system implementation.

Commenting on this new achievement, Mr. Ahmad Butti Ahmad said: "Preserving success is not an easy task but Dubai Customs is up to this challenge thanks to its qualified employees and our commitment to our strategic plan 2007-2011 which is in conformity with Dubai Strategic plan 2015 aiming also at enhancing customers satisfaction by offering state of the art services. This is a priority for us knowing that we cannot preserve our great achievements without improving the quality of the services provided to our customers whose number exceeds 80 thousand customers, this can in no way be achieved unless we keep on communicating with them, listening to their complaints and working on resolving them through modern systems that increase their satisfaction level".

Mr. Ahmad Butti Ahmad has congratulated all Dubai Customs employees for this new achievement and extended his gratitude to all those who have contributed to it through their extra efforts and perseverance, hence promoting the level of business responsibility and reflecting organizational loyalty.

The customers complaints system at Dubai Customs has succeeded in decreasing the average of handling one complaint to just one and a half day during the first quarter of the current year. This is a great achievement compared to the 7 days period recommended by Dubai Executive Council. In addition to that, Dubai Customs has also succeeded in both handling complaints on time and increasing customers satisfaction by 100%, which is an achievement that was positively welcomed by all customers.

Dubai Customs was among the previous Customs organizations implementing the Customers Complaint System and providing various channels for receiving such complaints, among which are the Customs website, the communication center, the fax and so forth. By the end of 2007, Dubai Customs started using Dubai Government unified customer complaints system launched by the Executive Council which follows unified procedures in presenting and handling complaints. Thanks to its great experience in this field, Dubai Customs was able to convert the system into a work methodology and aimed at earning the ISO 10002: 2004 system certification related to handling customers complaints, therefore, it has established an internal team who had explored the certification specifications and could set the procedures that would ensure to bridge the gap between the business reality and the certification’s requirements. Moreover, since Dubai Customs was the first government organization in the Middle East and North Africa to earn the certification last year, the system became an important reference to learn about Dubai Customs who was able once more to earn the ISO certification a few days ago.

It is worth mentioning that this achievement was possible thanks to the great efforts of our internal team without the help of any outside consultant agency. The ISO certification for this year comes as an inauguration of the organizational approach in continuous customer services delivery improvement.

Amlak Finance Registers Net Profit Of AED 241 Million In 2008; Assets Reached AED 15.8 Billion

Amlak Finance PJSC, the largest real estate financier in the Middle East by total assets, announced its financial results for the year ending on 31 December 2008, pursuant to the clearance from the Central Bank of UAE. The company’s 2008 net profit was recorded at AED 241 million, compared to AED 301 million in 2007. Amlak Finance made a loss of AED 204 million in its Fourth Quarter of 2008 mainly as a result of a drop in revenues from the previous quarters as well as the sharp fall in income from real estate investment activities, lower new mortgage originations, significant increase in funding costs, higher general provisions on mortgage portfolio and other investments.

H.E. Nasser Bin Hassan Al-Shaikh, Director-General of Dubai Department of Finance and Chairman of Amlak Finance PJSC, announced that Amlak’s total assets as at the end of December 2008 stood at AED 15.8 billion, a growth of 67 per cent compared to AED 9.5 billion in 2007.

Meanwhile, the company’s financing portfolio increased from AED 6.2 billion to AED 10 billion during 2008 with a further AED2.8 billion of financing commitments extended to customers as at end of 2008. Amlak’s real estate investments portfolio stood at AED6bn as at the year end.

"While the last quarter of the year has been a very challenging period for the entire industry due to the challenging global financial crisis; however, the first nine months of 2008 were extremely positive for our UAE operation, as we successfully managed not only to meet our financial goals but also surpass them by a big margin," said Al-Shaikh.

He added: "Despite the ongoing economic instability, we are always optimistic and believe in the efforts and strategic plans introduced by the Dubai and Federal Governments to boost the real estate financing sector and guide us to a corrective path in these challenging economic times. I believe the formation of the Ministerial Committee by the Federal Government to identify opportunities and assess the necessary measures to revitalize the real estate market, with focus on the real estate financing sector, was a decision taken at the right moment and will drive growth once again to this vital sector in our market." Commenting on the company’s financial results for 2008, Arif Alharmi, Chief Executive Officer, Amlak Finance PJSC, said: "Despite the financial turmoil that we all experienced in the latter part of 2008, we have managed to show good operational performance. I believe 2009 is going to be a challenging year given the current economic situation on the global and regional levels; however, we have been working toward revising our operational strategies to meet our customers’ and other stakeholders’ expectations."

Alharmi added, "We are determined to continually provide our customers and stakeholders with the support necessary to sustain and stabilize the real estate sector in the UAE in 2009 and beyond. I am confident that the long term outlook for the real estate financing sector is very positive as the real estate market is maturing with a buoyant secondary mortgage market developing. We have been prudent with our provisioning and taken solid steps to optimize our strategy on operational costs, liquidity management and international operations in managing our assets to the tune of AED 15 billion. We also exerted sharp focus on rationalizing our real estate investment portfolio where necessary. Although new financing is likely to remain tight over the next few months, we are adamant on service quality and support to our existing customers."