Qatar Today December 2012

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c o n t e n t s D E C E m b E r 2 0 1 2

442012 – a year rememberedHow was it for you? Did you fulfill the resolutions you made last December? Seeing the year through to the end is the most fundamental of resolutions and is anticipated by all but, unfortunately, our ability to do this is often taken out of our hands. Qatar Today looks back on a year which brought more devastation and tragedy.

36muted expectations at cop18The 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serv-ing as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol opened on November 26 at the Qatar National Convention Centre. Sindhu Nair talks to some experts about what we should expect from the conference.

32changing the face ofeducationAbigail Mathias talks to this year’s World Inno-vation Summit for Education (WISE) Prize win-ner, Dr Madhav Chavan, who is changing the face of education with inspiring innovations.

published by oryx advertising co. wll, all rights reserved. qatar today is published monthly by oac, po box no. 3272, doha, qatar. subscription rate qr240 per year. address all subscription correspondence to qatar today, oryx advertising co. wll, po box 3272, al hilal area, doha, state of qatar. for single copies call us on +974 44672139 or mail [email protected]. material in this publication must not be stored or reproduced in any form without permission. request for permission should be directed to [email protected]. reprint requests should be directed to [email protected]. qatar today is a registered trademark of oryx advertising co. wll

december 2012volume 38issue 12

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64a big believer in smallSmall and medium-sized enterprises are the real engine of any economy. Rory Coen talks to co-CEO Bill McDermott about how SAP is helping to increase their profitability.

60fighting forinclusive growthLord Michael Hastings – KPMG’s Global Head of Citizenship – talks to Sindhu Nair about the merits of giving all children the potential to learn.

96arab spring freesexpressionFrom a story about Arab hip hop to one about an Egyptian delivery boy, Ola Diab looks at three “Made in Qatar” films screened at the DTFF 2012 that tell strong and emotional stories about the Arab Spring.

30are you engaging with sustainability?Sustainability risks and opportunities feature on many corporate agendas, and nowadays Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are engag-ing with these issues more as they relate to finance functions and overall business strategies. Deloitte experts analyse a 2012 Sustainability CFO survey.

n e w s b i t e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 o & g o v e r v i e w . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 b a n k n o t e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8r e a l t y c h e c k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2a r a b s n i p p e t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4w e l l n e s s w a r r i o r s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6t e c h t a l k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 0a u t o n e w s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 0m a r k e t w a t c h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 9d o h a d i a r y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 4

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74app or web?Businesses need to prepare and make a decision on how to boost their presence on the mobile web. Kapil Bhatia looks at how people are accessing their important information through mobile apps or mobile web.

86msheireb feelsa thai breezeDoha is about to be blown over by its first authentic Thai hotel when the Amari Doha, Qatar opens its doors later this month. Rory Coen talks to its General Manager, Damian Ball.

88luxury to the hiltRory Coen meets the President of Hilton Worldwide, Middle East and Africa (MEA), Rudi Jagersbacker to learn more about the opening of the new Hilton Hotel in West Bay.


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published by oryx advertising co wll, all rights reserved. qatar today is published monthly by oac, po box no. 3272, doha, qatar. subscription rate for qr. 180 per year. address for all subscription cor-respondence to qatar today, oryx advertising co wll, po box 3272, al hilal area, doha, state of qatar. for single copies call us on + 974 44672139 or mail to [email protected]. material in this publi-cation must not be stored or reproduced in any form without permission. request for permission should be directed to [email protected]. reprint requests should be directed to the [email protected]. qatar today is registered trademark of oryx advertising co wll reprint re-quests should be directed to the [email protected]. qatar today is registered trademark of oryx advertising co wll reprint requests should be directed to the [email protected].

Qatar today invites readers’ feedback

share your views on the magazine or any issue connected to Qatar. one lucky reader will win an exQuisite mont blanc writing instrument.

qatar today reserves the right to edit and publish the correspondence. views and opinions expressed in the published letters may not necessarily be the publication’s views and opinions.

write to: the editor, qatar today, po box 3272, doha.

fax: (+974) 44550982, email: [email protected]

publisher & editor-in-chief yousuf Jassem al darwish

chief executive sandeep sehgal

executive vice president alpana roy

vice president ravi raman

editor sindhu nair

senior correspondents rory coen

ezdhar ibrahim

abigail mathias

correspondent ola diab

senior art director venkat reddy

deputy art director hanan abu saiam

assistant art director ayush indraJith

senior graphic designer maheshwar reddy

photographer robert f altimirano

senior manager – marketing zulfikar Jiffry

assistant managers – marketing chaturka karandana

thomas Jose

senior media consultant hassan rekkab

marketing research and

support executive emily landry

senior accountant pratap chandran

sr. distribution executive bikram shrestha

distribution support arJun timilsina

bhimal rai

basanta pokhrel

v o l u m e 3 8 i s s u e 1 2 d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2


t h e c o p 1 8 c l i m at e c h a n g e c o n f e r e n c e i s i n d e e d o n e o f t h e b i g g es t c o n f e r e n c es t h at w i l l e v e r c o m e to Q ata r . c lo s e to 1 3 , 0 0 0 v i s i to r s at t h e l as t c o u n t – w i t h 6 , 0 0 0

d e l e g at es , 5 , 7 0 0 n g o r e p r es e n tat i v es a n d o b s e r v e r s a n d 8 0 0 m e d i a p r o f ess i o n a l s f r o m a r o u n d t h e wo r l d t e l l s i ts ow n s to ry. t h e fac i l i t i es p u t u p by t h e o r g a n i s i n g c o m m i t t e e h av e b e e n c lo s e to f l aw l ess : lo c a l ly- p r o d u c e d g t l- f u e l l e d b u s es t r a n s p o rt i n g at t e n d e es , z e r o -to l e r a n c e f o r pa p e r w h i l e d e ta i l s a r e p o s t e d o n l i n e p r o m p t ly a n d n o p l as t i c b ot t l es v i s i b l e a n y w h e r e at t h e v e n u e .

Thus COP18 became a reminder of other events held here when profusion was the paradigm. As climate change negotiators debate the most prudent path to take – whether the Kyoto Protocol should indeed include more commitments from the developing world and more funding from the developed world – Qatar should go back to basics and change its habits, not only during the conference but even after it, to make a bigger impact on climate change.

December is that time of the year when we ponder on the year gone by. To sum it up, in 2012, for every step forward in technology and progress, nature and even mankind have pulled us back. Nature has been at its worst, and conflict between countries in the Arab region has resulted in the senseless deaths of common men, women and children.

But lodged between these depressing stories is the story of a Malala who defied oppo-sition in her quest for education for other girls in her society and of a WISE winner for Education, Dr Madhav Chavan who reaches out to the poor.

It is these stories that we bring you in this issue of Qatar Today. The stories of hope (our interview with the WISE winner on page 33), change (the COP18 interviewees who speak of the small steps that make huge impact), convictions ( we meet SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott on page 64 and the KPMG’s Global Head of Citizenship, Lord Michael Hastings on page 60) and dreams (woven by talented filmmakers in the “Made in Qatar” segment at DTFF 2012 in page 96 ) for a better tomorrow…

s i n d h u n a i r

f r o m t h e d e s kD E C E m b E r 2 0 1 2


l e t t e r s

Celebrate, not regulate!

It’s sad when regulation is seen as the most divisive topic of discussion when trying to up-grade a national health system. Instead of discussing how more lives can be saved and more patients cured from critical illnesses using this new technology, we are left to discuss who has the right to access personal medical records and how these can be exported when a patient travels abroad.

k. nasser

let’s get this party started

I’m excited about what the Arab world can produce in a creative sense in the coming years. I feel it’s like a child prodigy – it is young in terms of modernisation and has so many young latent talents that it just needs to be tapped in the right places to realise its full potential. Joe Khalil explained in Ola Diab’s article that the region was moving away from copying westerns ideas and instead focusing on creating its own. This is a tangible step in the right direction.

khalid yamani

teaCh the horse why he should drink

Very interesting article on the Qatari men avoiding higher education. It’s easy to talk and say they should be more focused on getting properly schooled, but when they get ev-erything falling into their laps, it’s difficult to have the required motivation. Most 16-and 17-year-old boys just don’t see the point in putting themselves through the system and it’s hard to blame them. You have to educate them about being educated – or teach the horse why he should drink, if you like.

brad Jeffreys

[email protected]

Make a real differenCe, pleasei don’t think qatar will ever be ready to stage an event which is trying to promote clean

energy. everywhere you look on our roads, these huge over-sized vehicles are being pa-

raded and shown-off. and for what? qatar is a small country, where the vast maJority

of people are based in a relatively small urbanisation. if qatar wanted to make a real

difference, it would ban these vehicles and mandate “clean city cars” which burn very

little fuel.

ulla hynes

s m s a n s w e r s to + 9 74 3 3 0 7 2 5 24a lu c k y w i n n e r w i l l w i n a n o k i a c 5 - 0 3

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qatar today reserves the right to edit and publish the correspondence. views and opinions expressed in the published letters may not necessarily be the publication’s views and opinions.

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t h e w i n n i n g n u m b e r o f t h el as t Q t p o l l i s 2 5 76 4 9 9

Qatar today invites readers’ feedback

share your views on the magazine or any issue connected to Qatar. one lucky reader will win an exQuisite montblanc writing instrument.

write to: the editor, qatar today, po box 3272, doha.

fax: (+974) 44550982, email: [email protected]

check out all articles of Qatar today onwww.Qatartodayonline.comwww.issuu.com/oryxmags/Qatartoday

follow us onwww.facebook.com/Qatartodaywww.twitter.com/Qatartodaywww.Qatartoday.tumblr.com

is Qatar doing enough to reduce its co2 emissions?

24%y e s

are Qatari males right to abandon their plans for higher education?

Qt poll – december


news bites

wise prize winner inspiring educators 32

educate a child is launched at wisehe World Innovation Sum-mit for Education (WISE) was the perfect platform for HH Sheikha Moza bint Nass-er to launch a global initia-

tive to help the world’s impoverished chil-dren. With 61 million children worldwide still deprived of their fundamental right to education, the Educate A Child (EAC) ini-tiative is partnering with the world’s expert organisations to bring high-quality learn-ing to children affected by extreme poverty, conflict, natural disaster, prejudice, or any other factors that can make them hard to reach by conventional means.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative at the Qatar National Convention Centre last month, HH Sheikha Moza said: “Educate A Child will reignite the world’s commitment to the hardest-to-reach children, the for-gotten children. Our mission is to turn at-tention back to the disadvantaged children of today who could become confident adults tomorrow, able to fulfil their potential, if we just give them the opportunity.”

Educate A Child is already supporting 25 projects in countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, usually on a match-ing funding basis. At the time of its launch,

there are already some 500,000 children in EAC-funded projects. The initiative is seeking further partnerships to help many more. Fostering innovation and creativity, it aims to share solutions that can be scaled up to reach millions of children and deliver

sustainable education over the long term.Projects range from low-cost one-room

schools in Indian urban slums that provide flexible learning hours in line with children’s working needs, to floating boat schools in flood-ridden areas in Bangladesh.

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arnegie Mellon University’s Professor of Computer Sci-ence and Robotics, Dr Raj Reddy delivered a lecture entitled, “Computing tech-

nology in service of society” last month in which he explained how information tech-nology can be used to address problems in society. Reddy is a pioneer in research on robotics and intelligent systems and how this has had an impact on society, bringing the benefits of information technologies to some of the world’s poorest people.

“Computer technology has transformed

the way we live, learn, work and interact with each other and will continue to do so,” Reddy said. “However, there are currently five billion people worldwide at the bottom of the pyramid who do not have access to devices or networks.”

Reddy discussed the possible solutions that, through IT, could improve the lives of these individuals. IT can resolve basic hu-man needs, such as providing access to edu-cation, health care and entertainment, as well as being used in disaster rescue, help-ing an ageing population and eliminating auto-related deaths.

cit to address problems in society

D E C E m b E r 2 0 1 2 Qatar today 17

n e w s b i t e s

Qnrf awards research grants

H Sheikha Moza bint Nass-er, the Chairperson of Qa-tar Foundation, launched a national library at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, in

the presence of the Qatar National Library (QNL) project team last month.

Designed by the world-famous architect Rem Koolhaas, the new QNL will officially open in late 2014 and will instantly become one of the most important and iconic land-marks in Qatar. Its singular design will help readers feel relaxed, creating a perfect at-mosphere for studying and learning.

QNL will provide innovative facilities for exploring interaction between devices and human beings to promote new ways of learning. QNL will operate a Qatar Ref-erence Service and provide access to over 60 online databases and websites and will have over 300 public computers, Wi-Fi and multi-media production studios. QNL will partner with the British Library to digi-tise 500,000 records relating to Qatar. An “eHub” will make millions of electronic books and documents highly accessible as the archive will be accessible remotely through handheld devices.

Science.com has acquired a valuable new tool which will provide its users with comprehensive information related to research articles.

In partnership with Altmetric.com, the QScience.com platform will offer useful in-dicators that can measure and track the im-pact of research through page views, news mentions, and social shares.

QScience.com will join a growing num-ber of publishers who are making the usage data of individual articles, often referred to as article-level metrics or altmetrics, freely available to users. By combining all online discussions about a specific paper, scien-tists will be better able to gauge what their peers find interesting and worth sharing. Authors and research funders who publish with QScience.com can monitor the level

of attention that their articles are receiving from many sources.

QScience, Technical Systems Director, Paul Coyne said: “The discovery and shar-ing of research papers has moved to the online environment and I believe that we have a duty of care to our authors and their funders to measure, as comprehensively as possible, the impact of the papers that we publish on their behalf.

Qatar to have a national library

Qscience to track impact of research

doha prepares for inaugural world gtlcongress

he inaugural World Gas-To-Liquids Conference will witness one of the indus-try’s largest ever assemblies of international experts and

government representatives when it takes place next January. Organised by IQPC (the International Quality and Productiv-ity Centre), with Qatar Petroleum support-ing the three-day gathering as the host or-ganisation, the congress will take place at a time when GTL is poised to become the fuel of the future. Furthermore, the event will underline Qatar’s place at the helm of the global GTL industry.

The congress will feature a world-class line up of international GTL visionaries who will showcase technological innova-tions and offer solutions to the challenges facing the region’s GTL industry.

cop18– opportunity lost? 56

atar National Research Fund (QNRF) announced the results of the third cycle of its research funding pro-gramme for junior scientists.

QNRF’s Junior Scientists Research Experi-ence Programme (JSREP) aims to develop critical thinking skills and foster a vibrant research culture in Qatar by supporting junior scientists, both Qatari nationals and other residents, in all disciplines. A total of 16 junior scientists have previously partici-pated in the programme. This year, grants

worth a total of $1.78 million have been awarded to nine winning projects from four academic and research institutions.

Four of the research grants were awarded to Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, and two each to Qatar University and Texas A&M University at Qatar. Aspetar – Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital – received the final JSREP grant, the first of its kind for research in the field of sport and fitness sciences. The project will study the regulation of prolonged self-paced exercise in hot climatic conditions.

Dr Khalid Al-Quradaghi, Director of Pro-grammes at QNRF, said: “This research pro-gramme is an integral part of QNRF’s strat-egy to support a scientific research culture and develop a qualified generation of junior scientists.”

The majority of this year’s submitted projects were in the field of medical and health sciences, with 16 proposals received and five projects awarded in this category. The remaining grants were given to two projects in the field of natural science and two in engineering and technology.

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second case of sars detected in Qatar

he Supreme Council of Health (SCH) con-firmed last month that a second case of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syn-drome) – like coronavirus had been detect-ed in Qatar. The World Health Orgaisation

(WHO) reported it had registered four new cases, three in Saudi Arabia (including one death) and one in Qatar, taking the recent number of recent victims to six.

The UN health agency warned the world last September that a virus previously unknown in humans had infected a 49-year-old Qatari who had travelled to Saudi Arabia, where another man with the same virus had died. The SCH said in a statement that the laboratory diagnosis for the new case was conducted last month and the patient was ad-mitted to the Hamad General Hospital last October, where he was treated and his condition gradually improved. The SCH said that the WHO was officially informed about the second case late last month and it added that it was monitoring the suspected cases and sending samples for examination.

The WHO is still trying to work out where the infection came from. Studies show that the virus is closely related to one found in some species of bats. It said in a statement: “Until more information is available, it is prudent to con-sider that the virus is likely to be more widely distributed than just the two countries which have identified cases.”

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses ranging from the common cold to the SARS virus. They infect a wide range of animals.

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Qatar chamber creating enthusiasms part of its transformation over the past year, Qatar Chamber recently nomi-nated its first winner of a new corporate initiative,

“Employee of the Month”. The in-house award is aimed at making Qatar Chamber a robust organisation fuelled by its diverse staff as it surges to a leading role in realis-ing the ambitious goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.

Ihab M. Rashad Ahmed, in charge of Certificate of Origin, was recognised in a ceremony led by Qatar Chamber Director General Remy Rowhani and Deputy Direc-tor General Saleh Al Sharqi, for his ability to exhibit a superior level of work-related attitude, clear vision, creativeness and use of resources.

“As one of the oldest institutions in Qatar, Qatar Chamber recognises the importance of empowering its staff. The hard work of these employees placed Qatar Chamber

central to one of the most favourable econ-omies in the world,” said Director General Remy Rowhani. “I congratulate the first

winner of the “Employee of the Month” award, hoping that the winner’s enthusiasm will be contagious.”

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a Jubilant ihab m. rashad ahmed shows his certificate of appreciation as ceo remy rowhani (right) and deputy ceo saleh al sharqi (left) look on.

Qlc candidatescomplete their training

andidates from the Qatar Leadership Centre (QLC) com-pleted the Leaders Teaching Leaders session of the Current and Future Leaders programme last month. The candidates met with Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft Interna-tional, Ali Faramawy and also attended a local study trip to

ictQatar hosted by Secretary-General Dr. Hessa Al Jaber.The meeting and study trip offered participants the opportunity to meet

leading figures from a variety of industries as well as an understanding of how different organisations in Qatar operate and are contributing to the Qa-tar National Vision 2030. As part of the programme, candidates met industry leaders from oil and gas, education, government, healthcare, telecoms and the ICT community.

cmu-Q hosts isocnternet enthusiasts gathered at Carnagie Mellon University to discuss the “Rise of the Arab Information Society” last month. iNET Qatar explored a number of issues such as “Arab businesses on the Internet Development of Online Arabic con-tent”, “The State of the Internet in the Arab World”, “Trends

of Arab Internet users” and “Internet Governance in the Arab World”.It was the first iNET conference that the Internet Society (ISOC) has run

in the region, following recent events like INET Madrid, INET Tallinn and INET Bangalore. Speakers included ictQATAR’s Secretary General, Dr. Hessa Al Jaber; Professor William Dutton from Oxford University; Senior Econo-mist at the OECD, Taylor Reynolds; Vice President of Global Technology Policy, Cisco, Dr. Robert Pepper; Deputy Chairman of Kuwait Information Technology, Qusai Al-Shatti; and Chairman and CEO of the Telecommunica-tion Regulatory Authority in Lebanon, Dr Imad Hoballah.

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he 2012 Injaz Al-Arab Young Entrepreneurs Awards ceremony was held on November 6, at the Museum of Islamic Art. The Young Entrepreneurs Competi-tion, now in its sixth year hosted participants from 13 countries in the MENA region competing for

highly coveted prizes. The awards were judged by a panel of high-profile Pan-Arab business leaders.

An emotional Soraya Salti, Regional Director of Injaz Al-Arab said she was proud of the contestants and happy to see their deter-mination to beat the odds that had brought them this far.

Operating in 15 countries across the Middle East and North Af-rica (MENA) region, Injaz Al-Arab is a confederation of national operations collaborating with corporate volunteers and ministries of education to provide experiential education and training to Arab youth in work readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneur-ship. Since its inception in 2004, INJAZ Al-Arab programmes have reached over one million students and engaged 21,000 volunteers.

Judging criteria included a review of financial and management reports created by the students on the real-life challenges of run-ning a business, in addition to a presentation on their product in-novation. In total, students competed for five accolades including the highly coveted Best Company of the Year award. ALGreenIA, which hopes to foster green development in Algeria, and Creative Generation from Yemen which deals with tackling solar energy walked away with the “Best Company of the Year”.

Other awards include the 2012 Barwa Bank Award for Best Mar-keting Plan, the 2012 Nasser Bin Khaled Award for Company with the Best Social Impact, the 2012 HSBC Award for Most Innovative Product, and the 2012 FedEx Access Award.

Salti added, “We believe in the boundless potential of Arab youth, and this competition shows us just how much talent there is. Our job – the private sector, educators and the government – is to help

them unleash it.”The competition is the culmination of six months of inspiration-

al work, dedication and passion in which corporate mentors work hand in hand with young Arab leaders.

Earlier this year, each of the contending countries held its own individual National Company Programme Competition where stu-dents spent four months training on entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness. The winning team from each country then represented its nation in Qatar. Teams from all over the region appeared at the ceremony dressed in their national attire.

“The Injaz Al-Arab Young Arab Entrepreneurs competition of-fers an unusual opportunity for young Arabs to collaborate with each other and with professional business people to improve their entrepreneurial skills while learning about the cultures and mar-kets of their region.” said HE Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, President of Hamad Bin Khalifa University and Vice President, Education, QF.

inJaz awards our young entrepreneurs

tthe inJaz al-arab young entrepreneurs awards winners

o & g overview

leading by example 66

new petrochemical facility openedatar Petrochemical Com-pany’s new QR2.3 billion state-of-the-art petrochem-ical facility was officially launched by the Emir, HH

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani on November 20. QAPCO considers the LDPE 3 facility as another step in the company’s role towards fulfilling the economic diver-sification goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030. While the country is blessed with am-ple hydrocarbon resources, the added value lays in the refined product.

Low Density Polyethylene, or LDPE, is the raw material required to manufacture most thermoplastic-based products. This includes items such as packaging films, agri-cultural film, extrusion and coating lamina-tion film, high clarity film, injection mold-ing, pipes, cables, wires, and other related products.

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shale gas no challenge for Qatarhe Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum, HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh

Al-Sada, said Qatar is quite capable of re-sponding to any market challenges posed by the global expansion of shale gas.

The international expansion of the shale revolution will take some time be-fore it significantly impacts global LNG deals. Qatar is capable of strategically responding to any possible market chal-lenges posed by the expansion of shale gas, the minister said in an interview that appeared in international energy publica-tion The Oil & Gas Year.

Dr Al-Sada said: “When we embarked on the massive expansion of our LNG business 10 years ago, a key objective was to ensure we could respond to changes in the market. The rise of shale gas was not

anticipated to be on such a scale. How-ever, due to the built-in flexibility of our involvement in the total value chain of the LNG business, we could address and deal with the change in LNG demand in differ-ent regions, and we prepared ourselves to respond to these changes.”

The minister said Qatar will continue to look at options to expand its upstream business all over the globe in terms of portfolio gaps and opportunities, prefer-ably with its long-term international oil partners. Qatar has plenty of opportuni-ties to expand the country’s downstream business.

The Organisation of Petroleum Ex-porting Countries’ (OPEC) “World Oil Outlook 2012” noted that shale gas de-velopment is in its infancy, and there are considerable uncertainties about the size of the resources and their potential con-tribution to future supply.

pioneers in flare reduction

atar Petroleum and Maersk Oil received an “Excellence in Flar-ing Reduction” award from the World Bank-led Global Gas Flar-ing Reduction public-private

partnership (GGFR) in October.The award recognises the successful efforts of

the two companies to reduce flaring within Qa-tar’s Al Shaheen offshore oil field development.

“This award both reaffirms the significance of our commitment to minimising flaring in Qatar and recognises our determined efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our oil and gas operations,” said the Minister of Energy and In-dustry and Chairman and Managing Director of QP, HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada.

“Together with QP we have successfully mini-mised gas flaring from the Al Shaheen field – a rare accomplishment and one to be proud of,” said Deputy Managing Director of Maersk Oil Qatar, Sheikh Faisal bin Fahad Al Thani.

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bank notes

believing in small businesses 64

atar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) has gone live with its Misys Payment Manager. The bank selected Misys to support its transi-

tion onto Qatar’s Automated Clearing House (ACH) network and will now be able to make simple, secure and reliable payments through this network.

The ACH project’s scope was to connect Qatar Central Bank with all banks in the country in order to deploy direct debit and direct credit payment transactions, which provides a simple, secure and reliable means for banks to make payments via electronic transfer. QIIB has implemented Misys Pay-ment Manager to provide comprehensive support for direct debits, thereby helping to reduce the volume of cheques received. The bank can now process any type of payment regardless of size, complexity or structure. It has improved efficiency through compliance with the ISO 20022 standard format for pay-ments and process automation, enabling it

to comply with local regulations and main-tain its high standard of customer service.

“Customer service is key to us remaining ahead of our competitors and at the fore-front of the industry,” comments Ali Al-Mesaifri, Chief Operations Officer at QIIB. “With that as a continuing goal coupled with the challenge of complying with the local regulations, Misys’ solution offers a quick and low-risk way to innovate our payments infrastructure. The solution includes func-tionality that extends visibility and control of both outbound and inbound payments through the complete payment life-cycle, from initiation to settlement. We have worked closely with Misys for many years now and are pleased to extend this partner-ship to enable us to strengthen our business and maintain our competitive edge.”

“Misys is recognised as a global expert in terms of helping banks to integrate their ex-isting systems with new payment networks,” said Maruf Majed, Managing Director, Mid-dle East for Misys.

Qiib goes live withach network

Q

Qnb announces completion ofits bond issue

banks’ record low npl ratio

NB Group announced the successful completion of a bond issuance under its Euro Medium-Term Note (EMTN) programme in the

international capital markets. Under this programme, a $1 billion (QR3.64 billion) tranche was issued on November 7 that ma-tures in February 2018 with a coupon rate of 2.125%. This rate is the lowest in the history of bonds issued by financial institutions in the region. The Reg S issue attracted strong interest from investors around the world. The highly successful issue reflected strong interest and participation by key global in-vestors that led to the issuance being several times oversubscribed. The proceeds of this issue will be utilised for general banking purposes.The issue was arranged and of-fered through a syndicate of joint lead man-agers that included Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International, QNB Capital and Standard Chartered Bank.

he ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) to total loans in Qatar was 1.7% in 2011, down from 2% in 2010. But NPLs in the country’s bank-

ing system have increased slightly following the financial crisis, as in most countries.

QNB’s “Qatar Economic Insight 2012” reported that provisions for loan losses as a percentage of total NPLs remain above 80% and are rising. The QCB requires banks to set aside risk reserves of 1.5% of total private sector credit and specific reserves of 20% for loans that are 90 days overdue, 50% for loans that are 180 days overdue and 100% for loans that are 365 days overdue.

Q

sir John MaJor (extreme left), former prime minister of the united kingdom, chaired a roundtable discussion attended by leading qatari businessmen and investment advisors at the st regis hotel last month. the panel of speakers included emeritus senior minister and former prime minister of singapore, goh Chok tong; chairman of the housing development finance corporation of india deepak s. parekh; and president dt-global business consulting dr daniel thorniley.

t


1. Underestimating the cost of cakeNot literally, but expatriate living isn’t cheap. Most job offers include a cost of living allow-ance (COLA) which helps to ensure that the lifestyle you enjoyed at home is matched in the new location. However, expatriates often make the mistake of assuming all costs are covered. They are not. The allowance is gen-erally based on a standard basket of goods and services, but often does not include housing costs, taxes and education. Other big spending areas you need to ensure your sal-ary can cope with include healthcare and lei-sure costs. So do your homework thoroughly on the costs involved if you want to have your cake and eat it!

2. Dropping the currency ballExpats generally have to juggle at least two currencies at once. This includes your salary or retirement income, local currency spend-ing needs plus any financial liabilities back in your home country. Currency changes can be fast-moving and transfers can become expensive. So keep your currency balls safely in the air by making sure you understand any exchange rate charges involved and consider

fixing the rate for longstanding exchange rate transactions. Also, explore foreign currency accounts that allow you to save in a variety of different currencies more efficiently.

3. Tax free syndromeWhile your stay in Qatar is relatively tax-free, this benefit is not universal and there may also be local taxes to consider. No tax author-ity in the world will accept, “I didn’t know I owed any” as a legitimate excuse for not pay-ing taxes. It is incumbent upon every individ-ual to know what taxes apply to them and to which authority they are due. For example, you may find you have a liability when mov-ing to another country for work or returning to the UK. Pay particular attention to bring-ing any savings and investments parked in offshore centres back onshore. Remember, timing is generally crucial when it comes to maximising any tax reliefs and incentives.

4. Financial planning trapsThere are many, but complacency is probably the worst trap of all for expats under the spell of new surroundings and a tax-free salary. It is essential to get into the regular practice of

checking your savings are earning as much interest as possible and that investments are not languishing in loss-leading funds or portfolios. Similarly, check over health and medical policies and other regular com-mitments to make sure premiums haven’t risen without you being aware and the in-surance cover is adequate for your changing circumstances.

5. Shark attackFar too many expats have fallen prey to the promise of high returns, or that sure-fire tip over dinner. Never, ever, discuss your finan-cial affairs with anyone who is not regulated by an authority of repute. Always take the time to check for yourself with the relevant authority that the person or organisation you are entrusting your money to is regu-lated, and don’t take any one else’s word for it, even if you are told by a family member or friend. Dealing with regulated financial advisers with the right expertise not only gives your savings and investments the best chance of growing, it also gives you the best chance of redress and compensation should anything go wrong.

we all make mistakes. but while most of our errors in life end up amusing fellow dinner party guests, making mistakes with our money is never amusing. nor do we ever want to broadcast how we have lost out financially simply because, as expats, we never considered that managing money abroad would be any different from back home.

AvoiDing thE mistAkEs thAt CAn Cost you

to help you avoid becoming Just another anecdote, here is a list of five of the worst money mistakes that repeatedly cause expats losses.

b a n k n o t e s

[email protected]

BY david russellSenior executive officer, Guardian Wealth ManaGeMent

david russell Joined guardian wealth management in geneva, helping from inception to establish an office which is now regarded as one of the leading providers of independent financial advice

to the employees of many international organisations.with the expansion of the company into the middle east, david was elected to take over the reins

as the senior executive officer for qatar. he brings a wealth of experience to the qatar office as well as a sound legal background, which stands him in very good stead in ensuring the team

bring the best in financial advice to their many expatriate clients.


if you are looking to add some diversity to your portfolio, then turkey might be the answer to your call. fitch awarded it investment grade status last month, which had a very positive impact on the domestic market. the other agencies are now looking to follow its lead and give investors the confidence they need.

b a n k n o t e s

Turkey has been nicknamed one of the “New Tigers” of the world econ-omy. Currently the world’s 17th largest economy, it is emerging as a new economic power. After the boom-and-bust cycles of the

1990s, Turkey’s last economic crisis, in 2001, opened the way to a decade of economic reform and political stability, during which the economy grew at an average of 6% per annum until it was inter-rupted by the 2008 financial crisis. The country recovered quickly from the global crisis, enjoying growth rates of 9% in 2010 and 8.1% in 2011. GDP growth is expected to slow to 2-3% in 2012, as the im-pact of the global slowdown takes hold.

The country is blessed with very favourable demographics. At 72 million, its population is the third largest in Europe, but with an average age of 28. While other nations struggle with the burden of an ageing workforce, only 15% of Turkey’s population is forecast to be over 60 in 2025. A young, well-educated workforce represents a great competitive advantage.

Standing at the crossroads of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, Turkey is developing into a major energy corridor connecting East with West. Its central location also makes it a natural trading hub, with easy access to markets in Europe, Eur-asia, the Middle East and Africa. The country has a robust bank-ing system, as tight regulations have prevented banks from taking excessive risks.

Political stability during the 2000s has allowed the government to implement necessary structural reforms which had been de-

layed for decades. The ruling AKP party has enjoyed increasing electoratal support since 2002, winning two local and three gen-eral elections. More than a decade of disciplined budget policy has reduced Turkey’s debt-to-GDP ratio sharply. The strong period of growth has resulted, however, in a high current account deficit, which remains a concern.

The Central Bank of Turkey has implemented a flexible mon-etary policy to manage the macro-economic rebalancing process. The bank has coped with managing the effect of slowing growth without allowing the lira to appreciate too much. The “soft land-ing” slowdown is welcomed, as it should help to tame inflation and have a positive effect on the current account deficit.

As an acknowledgement of its recent economic record, Fitch Ratings awarded Turkey investment grade status in November 2012, the first time the country had reached this status for almost 20 years. Fitch cited the “...combination of an easing in near-term macro-financial risks as the economy heads for a soft landing and underlying credit strengths”. The other ratings agencies have yet to follow suit.

On news of the upgrade to investment grade, the Istanbul stock exchange reached a record high. The exchange is one of the most liquid in the region, with 394 stocks. Market capitalisation is ex-pected to grow in 2013, with new public offerings planned. Local investors are under-represented in the market, but this is expected to change as mutual and pension funds increase their equity allo-cations. Potentially high growth rates for Turkish companies, as well as the long-term attractions of the country, are likely to con-tinue to draw in overseas investors.

is turkEy thE nExtinvEstors’ pArADisE?

issued by hsbc bank middle east limited, po box 57, doha, qatar, which is licensed and regulated by qatar central bank and Jersey financial services commission. qcoms cmp 12044

by kris wernerhead of retail banking and

wealth management, hsbc

[email protected]


realt y check

a first class fantasy on 787 dreamliner 102

atar is expected to have its first energy-efficient “passive house” early next year, with the Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC)

partnering with Barwa Real Estate Com-pany and Kahramaa to launch this ground-breaking experiment.

A passive house (Passivhaus in German) boasts an ultra-low-energy, airtight build-ing design that requires little energy for space cooling, reducing its environmental footprint.

The three partners jointly announced “Baytna” (Our House in Arabic), the first Passivhaus project in the country. An MoU was also signed to develop the Qatar Case Study Passivhaus project.

Two houses will be built side by side near Barwa Village in Mesaimeer under the proj-ect – a Passivhaus villa and a conventional villa – to compare their energy usage and environmental footprint.

The conventional villa will be built to a one-star rating of the Global Sustainability

Assessment System (GSAS) developed in Qatar, while the country’s first Passivhaus will have all the comforts of a modern dwell-ing but consume at least 50% less energy, water and operational carbon dioxide. Con-struction of the 225-sq. m villas is expected to be completed by January 2013, and the two houses will be occupied by similarly-sized families, with at least one child.

“The project aims at educating the pub-lic about the concept of a Passivhaus. It will foster discussions about green living and sustainable practices for the public to implement in their daily lives, and raise Qatar’s profile in the field of sustainable and green building,” said Ahmad Abdullah, Deputy Group CEO, Barwa Real Estate, presenting the project.

“QGBC is extending great support to this initiative, which is a main pillar of the energy-saving campaign in Qatar, along with a number of other consultancy firms, researchers and contractors without whom we wouldn’t have been able to achieve current progress,” he added.

sports master plan revealed

he Qatar Sports Venue Master Plan (QSVMP) was presented to the public for the first time during Aspire Build, the last of three fo-

rums held during the recent Aspirt4Sport congress. Two years in the making, the plan audited 62 existing sports venues for usabil-ity and proposed 11 new ones, in addition to eight venues originally planned by the Qatar Olympic Committee.

The plan was introduced by HE Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Secre-tary-General of the QOC, and presented by Abdul Rahman Al-Malki, Director of Engineering at the QOC.

“Our focus since the beginning of this project has been legacy and ensuring that we avoid white elephants,” said Sheikh Saoud. “We have watched countries build large venues and struggle later with what to do with them. Our team has worked backwards, thinking first about how these venues can be of use in the future before planning their use during major sporting events.”

The new venues planned are distributed over five zones around Lusail City, Qatar Foundation, Aspire Zone, Old Airport Area, and Qatar University.

“We spent a lot of time meeting with these entities and their engineers to find out what their plans are and ensure that we were aligned,” said Al-Malki, referring to major stadia and other sports facilities already in the plans of Qatar Foundation and Lusail.

“We’ve also mapped out a way – in col-laboration with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs – to integrate all our sports venues with the transportation network that Qatar is preparing,” he added.

The cost of building a permanent new venue amounts to QR12 billion. He also said that the plan was put into place “with the 2024 Olympics in mind”. The Qatar Foun-dation stadium will be the first arena to be constructed in advance of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.

tpassive housing next year

Q

issa al-Mohannadi, chairman, qatar green building council; essa hilal al-kuwari, president, kahramaa; and abdulla abdulaziz t. al-subaie, ceo, barwa real estate, signing a memorandum of understanding to develop the qatar case study passivhaus proJect at the four seasons hotel.


arab snippets

2012 – the year remembered 44

cease-fire agreement went into effect in battle-scarred Gaza on November 21. Af-ter a week of heavy bomb-ing raids and missile attacks

by the Israeli armed forces that killed more than 160 Palestinians and wounded over 1,000, mainly civilians, Israel and the elected Hamas government of Gaza agreed to end hostilities. The government of Egypt, with the participation of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, brokered the agreement.

He the Prime Minister and Foreign Minis-ter, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, who is also head of the Arab Peace Ini-tiative Committee, called on Arab coutries to honour their pledges of economic support to the Palestinian people. He also urged the Arab nations to do more than just releasing statements of condemnation and denounce-ment. He was speaking at the opening of an extraordinary Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo. He called for a review of the pan-Arab body’s handling of the Palestinian issue.

espite the gloomy global economic outlook, the GCC region is “insulated” from potential shocks.

“The outlook for the glob-al economy remains gloomy with some key risks: a looming fiscal crisis in the US, poten-tial for further disruption from Eurozone sovereign debt and a potential slowdown in the Chinese economy,” a QNB report says.

Slower growth in the US, Europe and Chi-na would have knock-on effects in the GCC, mainly through weaker demand for oil and

the impact on oil prices. The IMF estimates that 1% lower real GDP in either the US or Europe would lead to 0.4% lower GDP in the GCC a year later, while a 1% fall in China’s growth would lead to a 0.1% fall in the GCC. Over 20% of GCC exports are to China, the EU and the US, so a simultaneous demand shock in these countries could have a signifi-cant impact on demand for GCC exports.

However, the regional macroeconomic environment is stronger than it was in 2009, which should help insulate the GCC from global economic shocks.

is the cease-fire efective?

gcc economy stable

g a z a

g c c

a nation Celebratesoman, muscat: oman’s sultan qaboos bin said salutes during a military parade in the capital, muscat, marking the sultanate’s 42nd national day, on november 18, 2012.afp photo/mohammed mahJoub

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betunia: a palestinian student from birzeit university pushes a burning tyre with his foot during clashes with israeli soldiers, in protest against the ongoing israeli offensive on the gaza strip, in the west bank town of betunia on november 18. israel’s foreign minister avigdor lieberman said that israel would not negotiate a truce with the gaza strip’s hamas rulers as long as rocket fire continued from the palestinian enclave.

business optimism rising

audi businessmen and en-trepreneurs remain bull-ish about prospects in the fourth quarter of this year, as revealed by the latest

Business Optimism Index survey conduct-ed by the National Commercial Bank in as-sociation with Dun and Bradstreet.

The survey showed that Saudi Arabia’s hydrocarbon sector optimism has im-proved in Q4 2012, gaining 2 points to reach 25 from 23 in the third quarter of 2012. Though two out of three parameters have retreated from Q3 levels, a strong rebound in the profitability outlook has helped the composite index to log an uptrend. The pa-rameter score for net profits has spiked by 25 points to 48 in Q4 2012 from 23 in the previous quarter. The level of selling price expectations of industry players moder-ated by 3 points to 5 in Q4 2012. The BOI for number of employees, too, has lowered to 40 in Q4 2012 from 53 in the third quar-ter of 2012.

sau d i a r a b i a

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afp photo/abbas moman


v i e w p o i n t

Acrossthe GCC, health systems are experiencing similar quality, capacity and cost challenges af-fecting developed healthcare systems. The quality problem stems from limited infrastruc-

ture and expertise, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Most healthcare systems in the region rely heavily on an expatriate workforce from a multitude of educational backgrounds who are generally transient. This is compounded by a limited offering of local medical education facilities to train GCC nationals, a scar-city of local standards of care, and weak institutionalisation of medical practices.

The region is also suffering from capacity constraints. For in-stance, the misalignment between supply and demand has led to long waiting times and in some cases, inappropriate use of exist-ing facilities, which has forced many patients, locals and expats alike, to seek treatment abroad. In fact, our research indicates that thousands of Saudi Arabia and UAE residents leave their countries for care overseas every year. Another example of ca-

pacity constraints is the systematic lack of long-term and reha-bilitation beds across the region. This has led to long-term care patients, who need specialised but non-urgent care, occupying high-cost acute care beds - further exacerbating the limited avail-ability of acute beds, increasing costs, and putting patients in set-tings where they may not get the appropriate quality of care.

High costs have also affected the region’s healthcare systems. Healthcare systems have become inefficient because of service duplication, limited management capabilities, fragmentation of services, limited staff productivity, high salary costs (often to at-tract and retain expert expatriates) and inability to achieve econ-omies of scale, as well as inappropriate usage of capacity.

Most of the GCC is tackling these issues through significant initiatives in medical education and healthcare capacity. Qatar has been graduating doctors from the Weill Cornell Medical Col-lege in Doha since 2008. Saudi Arabia plans to have 27 medical schools training doctors within just a few years. Investment, private and public, is also pouring into new facilities, such as the forthcoming Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

While many of these projects will have a significant impact on

national healthcare systems in the gcc have improved tremendously in recent decades as the bloc has achieved standards of living eQuivalent to those western countries. with these advances, however, have come developed-country healthcare problems.

thE kEy to nAtionAl hEAlthCArECApACity plAnning


v i e w p o i n t

the region’s healthcare systems, they are mostly driven in a re-active and disjointed manner. This could result in situations of gross over- or under-capacity in certain services or specialties as planning efforts lack a holistic view of healthcare needs. The impact of these projects would be drastically greater if they were guided by national healthcare plans that pinpoint gaps (services, human capital and infrastructure) in the system based on current and projected capacity. Moreover, through national healthcare planning, projects will operate with increased coherence and coordination, allowing them to complement each other, which in turn reduces duplication and capacity issues.

Essentially, national capacity planning is about determining the future needs of the healthcare system in terms of services, expertise and facilities through a de-tailed understanding of the current and projected population disease profile. By understanding a country’s burden of dis-ease, and its evolution over time, the fu-ture services required by the population can be planned as well as the resources and facilities necessary to deliver them. For example, knowing the forecast exper-tise requirement will help the planning of education and training investments or even shape compensation and motivation schemes to retain experts.

An organised approach to planning the evolution of healthcare systems, rather than disjointed expansion, will help nar-row quality, capacity and cost gaps within GCC healthcare systems. National capac-ity plans can bring vast improvements to the region’s healthcare systems by estab-lishing a common view of the current system’s capabilities and shortcomings as well as future needs across public and private players.

Healthcare authorities across the region can develop national capacity plans in three sequential steps, starting with a compre-hensive study of current and projected demand. This should be followed by a detailed assessment of current and forecast supply. Finally, a national action plan is drawn up based on identified gaps and requirements in terms of services and resources.

The demand forecast enables the projection of healthcare needs based on current utilisation and prevalence, taking into consideration causality factors such as predisposition to chronic

diseases or demographic drivers. For example, the future inci-dence of cases of diabetes and obesity can be forecasted based on current numbers and factoring trends such as limited physi-cal activity and unhealthy eating habits. Once needs are forecast, the expected incidence of each disease is then translated into de-mand for services and then into utilisation patterns for coming years.

Translating disease patterns into healthcare demand is impor-tant, given continuous technological innovations. For instance, chronic diabetes patients who need regular blood sugar measure-ments and medication dose adjustments require laboratory tests and outpatient visits today. In the future, patients may instead use home-based blood glucose monitors and a remote monitor-

ing system that will test and guide them to adjust medication doses autonomously, hence reducing visits to health facilities.

Estimating and forecasting supply seeks to capture what is currently avail-able in terms of supply and planned in-vestments in physical and human capital (along with a probability of realisation of future projects). Finally, the demand and supply forecasts are used to identify gaps, which are the foundation of a plan. The forecasts will identify the investment needed to ensure a balanced healthcare system. For example, the plan might limit investment at the facility or service line level to limit duplication and ensure qual-ity of care.

Developing national capacity plans re-quires a solid base of information, with the analysis level at the service line ide-

ally. However, perhaps more important than data is the involve-ment and participation of all stakeholders to ensure alignment and buy-in.

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has developed such a national ca-pacity plan, and other governments in the region can replicate this initiative to determine their healthcare needs of today and tomorrow and ultimately work toward focusing on relevant service lines for their populations. With a systematic approach to planning that aims to match resources to health needs, GCC countries can make strides towards attaining the complex health-care trinity of improved accessibility and high quality care at an affordable cost.

visit www.booz.com and www.booz.com/me

by gabriel Chahine, partner, Jad bitar, principal, and dr nikhil idnani, senior

associate, with booz & company

about booz & CoMpany:booz & company is a leading global management consulting firm, helping the world’s top businesses, government ministries and organisations. our founder, edwin booz, defined the profession when he

established the first management consulting firm in 1914. today, with more than 3,300 people in 60 offices around the world, we bring foresight and knowledge, deep functional expertise, and a practical

approach to building capabilities and delivering real impact. we work closely with our clients to create and deliver essential advantage.

translating disease patterns into healthcare demand is

important, given continuous technological innovations.

for instance, chronic diabetes patients who need regular

blood sugar measurements and medication dose adJustments reQuire laboratory tests and

outpatient visits today.


v i e w p o i n t

with an average rainfall of Just 80mm per year, and largely desert conditions, Qatar has long relied on food imports to meet the bulk of domestic demand. indeed, according to the world bank, the state now imports 90% of its food. not only is this extremely costly, it also offers Qatar little by way of food security, putting it at the mercy of price fluctuations.

in recent years, the burden of expen-sive food imports has grown, and it looks set to continue along that upward trajec-

tory. According to the Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP), Qatar spent about QR3.5 billion ($961 million) on food imports in 2012. However, that figure is set to rise by some 15% in 2013, not only due to rising costs of staple foodstuffs but also as a result of a fast-growing population, which now stands at 1.8 mil-lion, and is forecast to rise to 2.5 million by 2020, according to the Qatar Statistics Authority. This figure includes a large number of foreign workers brought in to oversee the large state-funded infra-structure building programme, much of which focuses on the 2022 World Cup. Factor in gradually declining oil and gas revenues over the long term, and one begins to see that this is a scenario the au-thorities are understandably keen to address.

Currently just 1.6 % of Qatar is arable land, and agriculture contributes only 0.1% to gross national product, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN. However, just as Qatar’s transport and infrastructure sectors are due to be upgraded in preparation for 2022, the primary sector too is set for an overhaul.

As part of a new drive to raise domestic production capacities, the state is now targeting a reduction in its food imports by some 60% over the next 12 years. The QNFSP – established with the spe-cific aim of revitalising the domestic agricultural sector – plans to more than double the number of farms in Qatar from the current 1,400 to 3,000, covering an total area of 45,000 hectares (ha) as part of its strategy to achieve greater self-sufficiency in food pro-duction.

Of course, the challenge of developing fertile farmland is sig-nificant, with soaring summer temperatures, water scarcity and high soil salinity all impediments. However, increased funding and

agricultural technology are enabling the authorities to look afresh at the prospects for the sector.

The food security programme is set to be implemented over a period of 10 years from 2014. Banks are being asked to provide easy and soft loans to Qatari nationals to set up agricultural and irriga-tion, as well as food processing, projects. So far, QR1.1 billion ($300 million) has been invested in the project, but the final amount is likely to run into the billions of dollars, with roughly 50% of fund-ing coming from the government and the rest from the private sector.

Vegetable and livestock production are two areas being tar-geted for development. Hydroponics – technology that uses small amounts of water in production – is being investigated as a key way to stimulate the market. Qatar’s aquifers are already severely depleted, but the QNFSP plans to obtain agricultural water from seawater desalination using solar parks, and keep aquifers only as strategic water reserves. According to Mahmoud Refaat Shamard-al, agriculture sector manager at Al Sulaiteen Agricultural and In-dustrial Complex (a prototype farm), a combination of open-field agriculture, greenhouse production and artificial soil technology are now being advanced, yielding up to 10 times the amount of crop grown from conventional methods.

Meat consumption is also on the rise in Qatar, and livestock de-velopment plans are being rolled out that intend to see imports de-creased, fodder levels increased, and investments in overseas agri-culture that will lead to the export of livestock back to Qatar. The poultry sector, for example, will gain 30 sq. km of land, set aside for modern poultry farms and related facilities, where some 17 million chickens and 90 million eggs could be hatched every year, according to QNFSP targets.

It is too early to say whether Qatar will succeed in achieving its goal of 70% self-sufficiency in food by 2023. Certainly, the scale of the operation in Qatar is considerable. Yet, if successful, the mea-sures being implemented now could help avoid future crises, and pave the way for markedly reduced dependence on food imports.

FooD For thE FuturE

Moreover,

by oliver CornoCkthe author is the regional editor

of oxford business group

onlinewww.qatartodayonline.com


v i e w p o i n t

The 250 CFOs who were surveyed represent companies with more than $1 billion in revenue each, across 14 countries on five continents. They express a clear view that CFO attitudes and roles concerning sustain-ability are in transition. Some 53% of CFO participants say their in-volvement in sustainability issues has become more pronounced in the last year, and 61% expect their role to at least increase in the next

two years. Some of the other trends include: A growing perception among CFOs of the link between sustainability performance

and financial performance; Increased authority being given to CFOs for sustainability strategy and

management; and Greater attention being paid to the financial benefits of investments in energy-effi-

cient and other sustainability-promoting technologies.

So what is “sustainability”? Sustainability is a state in which people are achieving equitable gains in lifestyle qual-ity and well-being, while also preserving natural resources and ecosystems for the fu-ture. For businesses, helping to bring about a state of sustainability is likely to require profound transformations.

sustainability risks and opportunities feature on many corporate agendas, and nowadays chief financial officers (cfos) are engaging with these issues more as they relate to finance functions and overall business strategies. this was a key finding of the 2012 sustainability cfo survey

globAl CFos ArE EngAgingWith sustAinAbility:

ArE you?


v i e w p o i n t

Why is sustainability becoming a priority? Several factors matter, but perhaps the most compelling one, seen by 49% of the CFOs surveyed, is the strong link between sustainability performance and financial performance. This rep-resents a marked increase from Deloitte’s 2011 survey of CFOs, in which many respondents emphasised their priorities.

In a period of high cash balances and careful investing, CFOs have recognised the benefits of sustainability initiatives, which often require little capital and offer two- to three-year payback periods. And as they strive to maintain margins in a low-growth environment, they are pursuing more savings: Some 56% of CFO respondents in the 2012 survey plan investments in telepresence and video-conferencing equipment in the next two years, 55% plan purchases of energy-efficient equipment and 52% cite plans to invest in data center efficiency equipment.

The sustainability agenda is also having a broad influence on business strategy and management. According to the survey, more than a third of companies have implemented an organisa-tional transformation in response to sustainability risks and an-other 22% plan to do so in the next two years. And more and more CFOs are being called upon to lead such transformations. For in-stance, the proportion of CFOs who hold authority for sustain-ability increased from 17% last year to 26% in 2012. In addition, 66% said they were “always” or “frequently” involved in driving the execution of their companies’ sustainability strategies, and 65% are involved in forming those strategies.

Focus on the Middle EastA closer look at the responses from CFOs based in the Middle East reveals some interesting attitudes and circumstances.

None of the Middle East CFOs report that they are accountable to the board for their company’s sustainability strategy. Only 9% say that they are always involved in the execution of that strat-egy; 27% are frequently involved. However, this might change before long: 45% of surveyed CFOs say their role in sustainability strategy has increased or slightly increased over the past year, and 55% say they expect to increase or slightly increase over the next two years. One CFO commented: “As far as sustainability is concerned, it is a new process [...] It is necessary for me to get in-volved in all the aspects to keep a balance between expenses and benefits.”

CFOs in the Middle East are seeing the effects of sustainabil-ity priorities on their financial management efforts. Some 72% of those surveyed expect sustainability to impact capital-raising at

least slightly over the next two years. Another 63% expect it to af-fect financial reporting. The Middle East CFOs in the survey say their companies plan capital investments related to sustainabili-ty during the next two years such as data centre energy-efficiency equipment (73% of CFOs), industrial emissions reduction equip-ment (55%), and telepresence or videoconferencing equipment (45%).

How can CFOs leverage sustainability for success?Given the overall strategic importance of sustainability in busi-ness, CFOs should consider sustainability in their finance pro-grammes if they haven’t already done so. A successful sustain-ability programme depends on the following actions:

Gathering high-quality sustainability information. Among CFOs surveyed globally, 12% say they have “excellent” sustain-ability information, compared with 27% in the Middle East alone. CFOs should examine data sources and information systems to make sure the right analysis is being performed and articulated to internal and external audiences.

Evaluating resource use and a full array of solutions. Energy management seems to have become normal business practice, with fewer CFOs in the global survey naming it “challenging” or “very challenging” this year than in 2011. Scrutiny of emerg-ing issues such as water can reveal new opportunities. Clean-tech solutions to resource problems can be game-changing, which may help explain why 26% of CFOs in the global survey rated investment in cleantech products a “very important” initiative.

Harnessing the enthusiasm of employees. Sustainability transformations are felt throughout companies and enabled, to a critical degree, by employee engagement. CFOs recognise this: 39% of global survey respondents, and 55% of those in the Middle East, believe it is “very important” to communicate about sustainability to employees. CFOs stand to benefit from having their employees engaged, and can do a great deal to pro-mote this engagement with internal reporting.

The sooner the betterOverall, based on the survey results, it is fair to conclude that sustainability is becoming more important every day and that CFOs, as well as the wider business community, appear to recognise the benefits of engaging in such activities. The sooner we engage in sustainability, the sooner we reap the benefits and gain the edge.

by deClan hayes, renewable energy and cleantech leader, middle east, andMilhan baig, renewable energy and

cleantech assistant director, qatar

deloitte is a leader in the renewable energy and clean technology sector. we focus on the entire spectrum of renewable energy and clean technology, from individual components to the wider ecosystem (e.g. smart cities). deloitte’s renewable energy and cleantech team is based in

the middle east and has unprecedented access to specialists across the globe.deloitte refers to one or more of deloitte touche tohmatsu limited, a uk private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member

firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. deloitte is the first arab professional services firm established in the middle east region with an uninterrupted presence for over 85 years. deloitte is among the region’s leading professional services firms, pro-

viding audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through 26 offices in 15 countries, with over 2,500 partners, directors and staff who are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.

eMail:[email protected], [email protected]


l i s t e n i n g p o s t



Changing the faCe of eduCationIf you are lookIng for InspIratIon, look no further. thIs year’s World InnovatIon summIt for educatIon (WIse) prIze, WhIch Was held In doha last month, Was aWarded to dr madhav chavan, a former chemIstry lecturer Who devIsed a sImple formula to brIng educatIon and lIteracy to mIllIons at mInImum cost.

Madhav Chavan is the co-founder and CEO of Pratham, a non-profit organisation that reaches three million primary school-age children in India every year. He also started the “Read India” campaign, which aims to teach basic reading, writing and arithmetic to underprivileged children across India.

Dr. Chavan was born and raised in India. He completed his post-graduate studies in the US and returned to India in 1986 to teach Chemistry at the University of Mum-bai. He was struck by the plight of the city’s poor, and he applied his scientific training to creating a solution. Dr Chavan saw that education was the main barrier to India’s development and that action was required for rapid results. Leveraging the power of collaboration from the outset, he joined

forces with UNICEF and the government to work towards the goal of “every child in school and learning well”.

Using his passion for social justice as a catalyst, he launched a mission to create large-scale impact at low cost. The reaction produced by combining the primary ele-ments of government infrastructure, cor-porate resources and citizen volunteerism had striking results in bringing literacy to Mumbai’s slum children. The formula easi-ly passed the scientific tests of scale and was replicated and spread rapidly across the country. Today the mission has expanded to 17 of India’s 28 states, making Pratham the largest non-governmental provider of basic literacy and numeracy for underprivileged children in India.

Its programmes now address pre-school education, learning support to both in-school and out-of- school children, comput-er literacy, vocational training and special programmes for vulnerable and working children.

With the WISE prize, the laureate re-ceived an award of QR1,820,000 ($500,000)

and a specially minted gold medal. Dr Cha-van said: “Twenty-five years ago I saw that a new approach was needed to improve the lives of the millions of underprivileged in my country. Many individuals and or-ganisations have contributed to what has been achieved, and I share this tribute with them. WISE is pursuing a similar mission on a global scale, and I applaud its bold vi-sion and inclusive approach. This prize is a major landmark that reminds me how much more remains to be done. It is an enormous honour for me to be recognised by this unique community of innovators.”

A change of teaching methodologyIndependent studies have shown that chil-dren who have attended Pratham’s pro-grammes are much more likely to learn effectively in primary school than other children in their age group, and that they perform at a higher level than their class-mates. He explains, “As far as India goes, there are a huge proportion of children that are not even learning the basics of read-ing and writing. Our curriculum is aimed

drB y A B i g A i l M A t h i A s



high and is often beyond what the chil-dren can comprehend. We need to focus on learning of basic skills. At the moment the knowledge-imparting is done by a very rote method. Learning needs to be more skill-focused.”

Dr Chavan’s scientific method includes monitoring and evaluation. Thanks to a nationwide voluntary effort, Pratham’s An-nual Status of Education Report (ASER) measures quantitative and qualitative pa-rameters including enrolment, facilities and learning outcomes. The model has now been replicated in a number of countries in Asia and Africa. He says passionately, “If you don’t teach the children who are lagging be-hind, they feel dejected and may drop out of school. Though it won’t happen overnight, once you give them the tools, that child will fly. This is something that you can univer-salise. You don’t necessarily have to become the greatest person in the world. You are a human being and you have dignity. That is important.”

Dr Chavan believes that when it comes to learning, nothing can replace human in-teraction. “There is a saying that if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Today we have so much informa-tion that everyone starts thinking only in terms of hardware and software. There are so many regions of the world where if there is no human interface or know-how to deal with children, it won’t work. The tools don’t achieve success. You can’t hand over a lap-top and think your job is done. Information technology is about random access to infor-mation, whereas for the past two centuries we have been on an assembly line system, you learn a particular subject in standard one and something else in standard two.”

He explains: “Our goal has been to im-prove the productivity of the schooling pro-cess. Children often reach the fifth grade but they can’t do basic arithmetic prob-lem solving. What we do is, we work after school for a couple of hours or, if the school agrees, we work inside the school. We re-cently started a method of learning camps. We found through scientific research that when children are grouped according to their academic ability and you conduct ac-tivities with them with a focus on learning certain things, they learn very quickly.”

The learning camps are held in villages for seven or eight days so that all the chil-dren can participate. These camps return after two or three months to reinitiate the process. He explains,“By doing this you economise on manpower and you don’t make it monotonous as it is not held

every day. These are different methods and you can work only incorporate these with a school being there. One trained person brings together three to five volunteers who learn on the job how to teach. The beauty of it is that we are working 70,000 volunteers every year who will in turn become better parents. They will not be afraid of teaching their own child. What’s more, they don’t have to be specialised teachers.”

He adds: “The African proverb says it takes a whole village to educate a child. We cannot lay the stress only on schools. Par-ents and the community at large have a very definite role to play. Education is too impor-tant to leave to the government alone. We have to educate our children. If it was your child, would you wait or would you roll up your sleeves and see what you could do?”

There is a certain mindset that is a stum-bling-block with such initiatives. “We some-times don’t believe that all children have equal potential. That there can be geniuses coming out of any population. You start with the misconception that these children are not going to learn that much. With this we are throwing away a lot of Einsteins.”

Dr Chavan has also anchored television

shows and written songs about human rights and women’s rights. He enjoys work-ing out creative ways to educate or train children and youth. He finds time to work on the challenges of teaching despite his duties as the CEO of a large organisation.

He explains: “I learnt a wonderful tool from the children since they write on the floor with chalk. They want to share this with others and this leads to a huge amount of interaction. Learning is not just an indi-vidual activity. It is important that you are part of a social group. What’s more. this par-ticular kind of learning is eco-friendly too.”

He jokes that thanks to this award, his friends are now calling him a “wise guy”. “This is an ongoing process which may not be easy. But even if a child is 16 years old you can’t give up, you must create avenues for people to learn. We often have volunteers who were not very good in school but have the potential to teach.

He concludes: “When I started people asked me, “Why are you reinventing the wheel?” I didn’t know how to answer that question but I knew it had to be done. After 18 years I am convinced that everyone has to reinvent their own wheel.”


atar is more confident than before and on its way to reduce emissions substantially, concluded HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al-At-tiyah, President of the 18th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Conven-tion on Climate Change (COP18) and the 8th Congress of the Parties (CMP8) to the Kyoto Protocol, at the opening session.

“I am more confident than before that Qatar is on the right track to reduce its emissions because we have started the process a long time ago, and ensuring car-

bon footprint reduction is on top of our agenda in the oil and gas sector present-ly,” Al-Attiyah noted while speaking at a press conference held on the side-lines of the Qatar Sustainability Expo, which was launched at the Doha Exhibition Center on November 16.

“Qatar is a small country and we can’t compare our emissions with other small countries such as Singapore, for instance, and say we have the biggest per capita carbon emission. I believe the figures are

SeCondCommitment on Climate Change by January 2013

Q

which countries will stick to commitments and which will not? the biggest climate change conference in the world brought negotiators to doha to decide on issues that will rewrite the future of our children, while observers note the irony of holding cop18 in Qatar, the world’s biggest per-capita carbon emitter. on the other hand Qatar’s strong determination to create a sustainable future is also brought into focus through the unfccc cop18 meetings.

cop18-cMp8


misleading,” he maintained.However, the official admitted that the

country’s emission rate was still high and noted the country had already initiated efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

“We realise the huge impact carbon emis-sions have on the climate and our environ-ment and we know that there are going to be serious problems if we don’t do any-thing, but I am confident that the country is now committed more than before,” he stated adding that the country only needed to implement its energy policy for quicker results.

Reacting to questions on whether the world’s big emitters such as the US and China will ratify the second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, said: “The governments of the world have already decided that there will be a second commitment by January 2013. Right now, it is clear that some countries such as the US (which did not ratify the first commitment), Russia, Canada and Japan have said they will not be taking part in the

protocol this time.”She also said that just recently New Zea-

land had said it would not take part in the second commitment but would apply its mechanisms once it goes into force.

However, she said that countries like Australia, the European Union and Swit-zerland have all agreed to adopt the new Kyoto Protocol.

The first commitment period of the Kyo-to Protocol, which was adopted on Decem-ber 11, 1997 in Japan, and entered into force on February 16, 2005, ends on December 31

this year.Al Attiyah, who is also the President of

COP18/CMP8, inaugurated the Qatar Sus-tainability Expo with a ribbon cutting cer-emony. Christiana Figueres, was also pres-ent and took a tour through the exhibition together with other authorities and VIP guests.

With this expo the Qatari government aims to let the world know about the range of sustainable initiatives undertaken, both by various public departments and by local and international organisations.

Coinciding with the grand opening of the expo, the Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum, HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, presented an official copy of the Energy and Industry Sustainability Report to the President of COP18.

The Minister of Energy talked about Qa-tar’s sustainable development programmes, referring also to the country’s approach to climate change. “In a short amount of time, many companies are working on sustainability and promoting sustainable programmes,” Dr Al Sada said.

paper-sMart Cop18in a pioneering initiative, cop18/cmp8

doha is the first cop conference to

be “paper-smart”. while the negotia-

tions and meetings that take place

during these annual conferences are

critical to developing climate change

policy, an unfortunate side-effect is

the quantity of documents that often

need to be printed and circulated

among delegates.

to make cop18/cmp8 doha as green as

possible, a paper-smart initiative is in-

troduced. the scheme, which is already

being used in the new york headquar-

ters of the un, has until now never

been transported to a cop meeting. it

is part of a directive by ban ki-moon,

the un secretary-general, to make the

un a paperless organisation by 2015. by

making cop18/cmp8 paper smart rather

than paper less, delegates can man-

age their own use of paper resources

by printing only the documents that

they need.

green buses a fleet of “green” buses will be run-

ning throughout cop18/cmp8 to ensure

that the event minimises the impact on

the environment.

to cut down on traffic pollution, a

fleet of buses will take delegates

and other participants from hotels

to the qatar national convention cen-

tre, where the conference is held, the

doha exhibition centre, venue for the

sustainability expo, and some of the

city’s top tourist attractions.

a total of 100 buses will run on gas-

to-liquids (gtl) fuel, a cleaner form

of fuel.

cop18/cmp8, head of accommodation,

transport and volunteers, alanoud

al-meghaisib said: “this is diesel made

from natural gas and is an ordinary

diesel, so these buses will emit fewer

pollutants into the atmosphere, which

will have significant benefits for lo-

cal air quality.”

Qu reveals work on biofuelqatar university (qu) revealed a

groundbreaking line of research into

the development of sustainable bio-

fuels to the president of the council

of the international civil aviation

organisation(icao) roberto gonzalez.

the state-backed qr45.5 million biofuel

proJect is the only one of its kind in

the region. the team publicly detailed

its latest progress for the first time,

on the eve of the un climate change

conference.

qu’s proJect, in collaboration with

qatar airways and qatar science and

technology park (qstp) is now into its

third year.

the aim of the proJect is to find a way

of producing affordable, sustainable

biofuels which do not rely on the use

of valuable arable land and which

can be produced efficiently in the

punishing climate of qatar. these fuels

should provide an alternative source

of energy, specifically for use by the

airline industry.

dr yousef al horr of gord explaining green initiatives to hh al attiyah, he al sada and figueres, at the qatar sustainable expo


Who’Spolluting

Who?yvo de boer, a climate change expert tells sindhu nair that it is time we reinterpreted the definition of the term “polluting country”.

hat picture does the country project to the many negotiators who have come in to this oil-and gas-producing country (the “pol-luter”) for the climate change conference COP18?

The first impression of the country doesn’t look very sustainable, agrees Yvo de Boer, KPMG’s Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability, who was here ahead of the COP18 conference. But on a positive note, says de Boer, there is a general consensus among leaders that change needs to happen and the country needs to move towards a different model of

economic development.De Boer says it is a challenge for Qatar to

be sustainable, in the sense that the econo-my is highly dependent on an intrinsic part of climate change.

“It is also the most challenging part of the world to build a modern country, given its dry and hot climate conditions,” he says.

De Boer has an interesting angle to coun-ter Qatar’s increasing carbon footprint, which is due to its oil-and gas-exporting status.

“Consider this situation: If you are a food producer and I am a food consumer and I

W

cop18-cMp8


eat too much food and get fat, then are you as the food producer responsible for my condition? Well, Qatar’s condition is much the same. If Qatar, in order to shrink its climate change effect, stops its oil and gas production tomorrow, the oil and gas would still come from somewhere else. So I think the responsibility is largely on the sides of countries that have economies that are very reliant on fossil fuels.”

Europe outsourced its industrial activi-ties to Asia because of lower costs and is now importing what is actually made in Asia, while complaining of higher emissions in Asia, says de Boer. When you look at this side of the argument, it seems unfair that Qatar and other “oil-producing countries” are always on the receiving end from the climate change pundits.

“I do not think the solution is to keep the oil and gas under the ground, from an eco-nomic and political point of view nor that there should be a dramatic change in the pricing model. I do think the solution lies in diversification and enhanced efficiency of the economy. But these actions take time. Just as it is not realistic to ask a fishing na-tion to stop fishing, so is it impractical to ask an oil-producing country to stop producing oil,” says de Boer.

Climate change scare is for realRising food prices, shrinking ice bodies, a spate of floods and droughts – the effects of climate change are quite vivid, but which of these threats is the most crucial?

It is difficult to pick any one, says de Boer as he sees an intimate relationship between climate change, energy, food and water against the backdrop of population growth.

The global population is going to touch 10 billion people by the end of the century.

“These people will be living in urban centres; they will be wealthier than they are today and creating greater demand. To feed those people we will need to produce 70% more food on agricultural land that we don’t have using water that we don’t have. Both land and water will be severely con-strained due to climate change. So for me it is a nexus of issues that is driving the planet in a very unsustainable direction.”

In terms of the impacts of all of this, de Boer feels that there will be two very severe ones.

“If we fail to get climate change under control, one of the two severe impacts would be sea level rise, since a very significant por-tion of the global population lives in urban centres on coast lines threatened by rising sea levels. The next big threat would be to

food and water,” he says.

Developing countries and emissionsDe Boer was a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environ-ment and Development and the Bureau of the Environment Policy Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and he is aware of the steps taken by the developing countries in reducing emissions.

“People have the impression that de-veloping countries have no commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. That is not true. They might not have emission reduction

targets, but they do have obligations to take actions to limit their emissions. There is real awareness in countries like China and India that climate change has an impact and that they need to act to safeguard an economic and social future. In a number of countries like China they have the recog-nition that the current economic model is unsustainable,” he says.

China is the largest investor in wind, solar and battery technology.

“This diversification helps widen the energy mix and it helps China to be-come less dependent on fossil fuels as it acts on climate change. It also helps in


stabilising prices for the investment-heavy technology” he says.

“I see similar things happening in India,” says de Boer, “like Suzlon in India focusing on wind technology and others even on bat-tery technology. “

COP18 challengesDe Boer has been involved in climate change policies since 1994. He helped to prepare the position of the European Union in the lead-up to the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol, assisted in the design of the internal burden-sharing of the European Union and has since led delegations to the UNFCCC negotiations.

The main agenda of the COP18, accord-ing to de Boer, is to have a common under-standing of what it is that we are working towards.

“At the moment we know that we are working towards an approach that is agree-able by all countries, which is good. We do know that different countries need to take different responsibilities according to their economic status, but we do not know of an agreement that will capture this respon-sibility. If COP18 can help to create more clarity on what it is that we are working to-wards and also formulate that in legal terms it can perhaps lay the foundation for a deci-sion that can be taken next year,” he says.

Three main issues on the agenda ac-cording to de Boer, will be vital at this conference.

“One is that there is a general onus on the industrialised countries to show greater ambitions in reducing their emissions. The second is that there are demands from de-veloping countries for significant financial assistance to limit their emissions, and thirdly there is the future of Kyoto Protocol. which more and more countries are turning their backs on,” he says.

If you look at the number of countries that are committed, then it is not enough

“to keep climate change under control, and global tempertures will rise more than the two degrees estimated by the UN. That ac-tion needs to come from industrialised countries, which have more economic and moral responsibility, “says de Boer categorically.

But that again is a difficult situation because the euro crisis makes it difficult for industrialised countries to make the commitment.

De Boer says that the industrialised coun-tries also expect the developing countries to make some sort of commitments on climate change.

Japan, Russia, Canada and lastly New Zealand (during the COP18) have not agreed to sign the Kyoto Protocol for the second term. The US (the second-largest polluter after China) has never signed it so that just leaves the EU and Australia in the

industrialised basket of countries to make all the commitments.

“So what’s the point?” asks de Boer, which more or less indicates the futility of climate change conferences.

Carbon marketDe Boer is also the Board Member of the Carbon Markets International Association and an expert on carbon markets as well.

“The idea is that atmosphere basically doesn’t care where you reduce the emis-sions from. So if the atmosphere doesn’t care, you may as well reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost in places where it is cheaper to do so. So you can use the capi-tal from industrialised countries to invest in reducing emissions in developing coun-tries, and those industrialised countries get carbon credits for reducing emissions,” he says. This is not a sustainable direction go-ing forward, agrees de Boer, but it is one of the easier paths to follow.

“The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) has been telling us for 15 years that we can reduce the global emis-sions by somewhere between 20 and 30% by actions that will pay themselves back in two to three years. These cheap actions would be the easier way to reduce the emis-sions,” he says.

And by cheap options he means energy efficiency, new sources of energy and new technologies. Individual initiatives do mat-ter, says de Boer, but in the end it is govern-ments and the policies to push the right in-centives that make sustainability work.

De Boer feels that in the end we have a very flawed concept of a polluter.

“A polluter is not someone who produces the most emissions. It is the consumer who consumes most of the cause of the pollution who is the actual polluter,” he says.

This is one definition that all the oil ma-jors extracting oil and gas from the North Field in Qatar will nod their heads to.

inspiring initiativesproducing gas from waste –

innovations in waste is a truly signifi-

cant advancement.

recentralised renewable energy,

especially in areas with no access to

energy.

green Countries bhutan has a concept that is laughed

at by others, that was called gross

domestic happiness which focuses on

well-being rather than on wealth.

you get a good quality of life, not

opulence, a different concept of

well-being but a highly sustainable

one, with zero emissions due to less

industrialisation.

scandinavian countries have set them-

selves the target of becoming carbon-

neutral countries.

china is also trying numerous new

technologies that make use of

renewable energy sources.

“one issue is that there is a general onus on the industrialised countries to show greater ambitions in reducing their emissions. the second is that there are

demands from developing countries for significant financial assistance to limit their emissions, and

thirdly there is the future of the kyoto protocol which more and more countries are turning their backs on.”

cop18-cMp8


hat the World Bank report by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics was released just weeks before COP18 could be either a coincidence or a wakeup call. Either way, it does not reduce the shockwave.

The report spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by four degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are al-most unanimously predicting by the end of the century, if there are no serious policy changes.

The four degree scenarios are devastat-ing: the inundation of coastal cities; in-creasing risks for food production, poten-tially leading to higher malnutrition rates; many dry regions becoming dryer and wet regions wetter; unprecedented heat waves in many regions; substantially exacerbated water scarcity in many regions; increased frequency of high-intensity tropical cy-clones; and irreversible loss of biodiversity, including coral reef systems.

And most importantly, a four degrees hotter world is so different from the cur-rent one that it comes with high uncertain-ty and new risks that threaten our ability to anticipate and plan for future adaptation needs.

According to Dr Jim Yong Kim, the

fourdegreeS to deprivationwael hmaidan, director of climate action network international and former executive director of indyact gives sindhu nair a middle east perspective on climate change.

t


President of the World Bank in his fore-word to the report: “It is a stark reminder that climate change affects everything. The solutions don’t lie only in climate finance or climate projects. The solutions lie in ef-fective risk management and ensuring all our work, all our thinking, is designed with the threat of a four degrees hotter world in mind. The World Bank Group will step up to the challenge.”

It was this same report that Wael Hmaid-an, who was here well before the COP18 proceedings, touched on as he spoke about the importance of climate change for the Middle East region specifically.

In a world rapidly warming toward four degrees higher temperatures, the most adverse impacts on water availability are likely to occur in association with grow-ing water demand as the world population increases. Some estimates indicate that a four degree warming would significantly exacerbate existing water scarcity in many regions, particularly northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, while additional countries in Africa would be newly confronted with water scarcity on a national scale due to population growth.

“The situation is scary. Climate change could lead to the collapse of human civiliza-tion. Unfortunately, the action by govern-ments is not enough and we need to increase our commitments to reduce greenhouse emissions to help see any change in the cli-mate change scenario.”

This is especially challenging for the Middle East as economies are dependent on fossil fuels, he says adding that there is no choice in this matter if we want to ensure the survival of our children and have them enjoy the resources we enjoy.

“It is a decision we have to make. But this should not be seen as a threat but as an opportunity, as we can then prolong the life of fossil fuels and benefit from the rich resources that the country also enjoys in terms of alternative energy like the solar energy and wind energy. Building an alter-native economy based on renewable re-sources is very important,” he says.

The Middle East is the most heavily-im-

pacted region globally by climate change “as we are heavily reliant on food imports. Food security will be heavily threatened. Sea level rise is another factor which direct-ly affects Qatar as it is a low-lying land and most of the development is along its coast-line,” according to Hmaidan.

The countries of the region, specially Qatar, needs to show leadership on climate change in international committees by pledging a numerical target to reduce green gas emissions, says Hmaidan.

“Sadly, there is no political agenda that says the developing countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia should make a pledge be-cause they have the economic clout to make it happen,” he says.

As the host of COP18, Qatar should have made a voluntary pledge. That should have been the first step. This should have been done by now and sadly, notes Hmaidan, nothing has been done yet.

“Qatar is very ambitious and can play a very political role by making a commit-ment,” he says.

But isn’t the country already committed to extracting solar energy?

“To pledge, the country has to submit a meaningful target. A meaningful target is something that is adequate to the capability of Qatar. Qatar is a rich country with a lot

of emissions. There is a lot of capacity for change,” he says.

If the country does come up with a pledge, it will help its image and also remove the title of a “polluter” that it now carries.

“We have delivered the message and we know that the authorities are mulling over it. But it is difficult to come up with a figure that is ambitious enough while keeping to a figure that can be attained,” he says.

Going back to De Boer’s comment on oil producing countries taking the blame for greenhouse emissions, Hmaidan counters that no one is asking them to stop produc-ing oil or gas, but to make commitments to reduce, and also not to obstruct others from reducing emissions.

“Saudi Arabia is considered a menace by countries who want to see change on cli-mate change, as it blocks consensus on re-ducing emissions,” he says.

This has to change, as the region as a whole is known for its attitude of disinter-est on climate change. The UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia are countries with the resources to come forward and pledge changes. Even Lebanon and Egypt could do their bit like India and make international pledges and keep to them, feels Hmaidan.

Globally too there is a political will which is increasing, there are a smattering of change, he says, but not enough to make an impact or alter the course of catastrophic climate change. Hmaidan, who has attended five COP meetings to date, feels that “coun-tries should not only do what they promise but they should do more.”

The European Union countries and Nor-way, he says, are countries that have kept to their promises. There are also cases of countries that have done more they have promised.

“Germany, UK and even developing countries like China, India, South Africa and South Korea, that are not obliged to have commitments, have still delivered,” says Hmaidan. “The US is the elephant in the room. Civil societies criticise the US for this lack of responsible action as it throws water on the efforts made by the rest of the world.”

hMaidan’s green list denmark has already reached 50%

of its commitment to being carbon

neutral by 2050.

maldive islands have committed to

being carbon-neutral in ten years.

this is very ambitious but attainable.

why Countries in the Middle east are not Making CoMMit-Ments on CliMate Change lack of awareness

they do not take climate change

seriously

a cultural awakening is needed to

make people come forward and

push for change

the need to rebuild the economy on

renewable energy

the need for a legislation to tackle

climate change

“it is a decision we have to make. but this should not be seen as a threat but as an opportunity, as we can then prolong the life of fossil fuels, and

we can benefit from the rich resources that the country also enJoys in terms of alternative energy like the solar energy and wind energy,”

cop18-cMp8


as 2012 WInds up, Qatar today looks back on a year WhIch hasn’t really resolved any Incumbent Issues.the uncompromIsIng vIolence In syrIa looks set to contInue Well Into a thIrd year, and perhaps beyond. the european sovereIgn debt crIsIs forced many eu countrIes to push through harsh austerIty programmes WhIch choked theIr cItIzens fInancIally and forced many Into acts of vIolence and self-harm. hoWever dIfferent natIonalItIes and cultures converged to celebrate sport at the london olympIcs – a gatherIng WhIch contInues to gIve us hope for the future.

the yearremembered

2012

C o M p i l e d B y r o r y C o e n


January

Closing tiMestrait of hormuz: iranian military personnel place a national flag on a submarine during ten-day “velayat 90” navy exercises in the strait of hormuz.afp photo/JameJamonline/ebrahim noroozi

researCh Center for islaMiC legislationqatar, doha: under the patronage of hh sheikha moza bint nasser, the research centre for islamic legislation and ethics (cile) was launched on January 15.

Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz – a strategically crucial waterway connect-ing the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, where about a fifth of the world’s daily oil trade traverses every day – should economic sanctions limit, or cut off, its oil exports. American administration officials said publicly that Iran would cross a “red line” if it followed through on these threats to close the strait. On January 23, the European Union imposed severe sanc-tions on Iran in a show of determination to increase peaceful, legitimate pressure on Iran to return to negotiations regarding its nuclear programme. The sanctions froze the assets of Iran’s central bank in European Union nations and banned the importation of Iranian oil to those countries. However, Iran’s continued threats to close the strait throughout the year never became reality despite the continued sanctions.

Qtel fibre now liveafter months of preparations, qtel fibre went live on January 22. by 2014, qtel will cover the whole of qatar, promised officials.

The cruise ship Costa Concordia partially sank after hitting a reef off the Italian coast and running aground at Isola del Giglio, requiring the rescue of over 4,000 people on board. Thirty people are known to have died while two others remained missing, presumed dead. After the event, the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, was arrested on preliminary charges of multiple manslaughter in connection with causing a shipwreck, failing to assist 300 pas-sengers, and failing to be the last to leave the wreck. He was subsequently also charged with failing to describe to maritime authorities the scope of the disaster and with abandoning in-capacitated passengers.

MaritiMe farCeitaly, isola del giglio: a seagull flies over the partially-submerged costa concordia cruise ship.

13.01.2012 afp photo / andreas solar

03.01.2012


february

palestinian agreeMent in dohaqatar, doha: qatari emir sheikh hamad bin khalifa al thani (c), palestinian president mahmoud abbas (l) and hamas leader khaled meshaal attend a signing ceremony in doha, on february 6. abbas was to head an interim national consensus government under a deal signed in qatar between abbas and meshaal, ending a long-running disagreement that had stalled palestinian reconciliation.afp photo/str

whitney houston ends her lifeunited states, newark: members of the public gather on the streets near the new hope baptist church as a private funeral for singer whitney houston is held. houston, who ruled as pop music’s queen until her maJestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behaviour and a tumultuous marriage to singer bobby brown, died on february 11. she was 48.afp photo/stan honda

Celebrating sports

february 13: qatar decided to stage a national

sports day on the second tuesday of february. several

ministries and organisations lined

up public events to encourage

employees to engage enthusiastically in

sports activities.

egyptian football stadiuM tragedyegypt, port said: egypt’s al-ahly football players run away from clashes between rival football fans after their football match against al-masry in port said on february 1. at least 79 people were killed and hundreds inJured when rival fans clashed after the football match.afp photo/str

01.02.2012


marCh

down under wateraustralia, wagga wagga: this general aerial view shows flooding in north wagga wagga during a helicopter tour by australian prime minister Julia gillard as she reviewed the disaster zone.afp photo/pool/andrew meares

app store delivers 25 billion downloads

after announcing that the app store

had reached 25 billion downloads,

apple said it had awarded chunli fu

of qingdao, china a $10,000 itunes gift

card for downloading the app that

put the marketplace over the mark.

according to apple, fu downloaded

“where’s my water? free”, a disney

game. stock traded above the $700 a

share milestone on september 18 on

the back on the release of the iphone

5, but it depreciated to $535 a share by

mid-november.

Mali Coup d’etat mali, bamako: mutinying malian soldiers, displeased with the management of the tuareg rebellion, attacked several locations in the malian capital on march 23, including the presidential palace, state television and military barracks. malian president amadou toumani toure, who was forced to flee his palace during an overnight coup, escaped without inJury and later formally resigned his position.afp photo/habibou kouyate

06.03.2012Vast areas of Australia’s east and south-east faced devastating flooding after weeks of heavy rain. Most of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, was either under water or at risk of go-ing under, after 16 river systems flood-ed. Southeast Queensland and north-ern Victoria also faced serious threats of flooding. Thousands of people had to evacuate their homes and return to devastation and huge financial loss.The huge amount of rainfall was at-tributed to the La Nina phenomenon where the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean falls lower than normal by three to five degrees Celsius.


april16.04.2012Sudan’s parliament met and voted unanimous-ly to declare that “South Sudan is an enemy of all Sudanese state agencies”. The parliamen-tary speaker called for Sudan to mobilise all its resources to fight South Sudan and topple its government. Rabie Abdelaty, a spokesman for the Khartoum government, ruled out peace talks with the south, saying it would hurt na-tional pride if Sudan did not take back the dis-puted Heglig area by force. On April 18, a new front opened up in the conflict, 160 kms west of Heglig, resulting in seven South Sudanese soldiers and 15 Sudanese soldiers being killed. In March, Sudan had claimed that South Su-dan attacked the Heglig oilfield, located in the Sudanese state of South Kordofan, while South Sudan claims it was acting in self-defence after an attack on its territory.

A news broadcast on Myanmar’s state-run MRTV, reading the announcements of the country’s Union Election Commission, confirmed that Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), had won 43 of the 45 contested seats in a by-election, officially making Suu Kyi the leader of the opposition in the lower house.

NLD MPs-elect, including Suu Kyi took their oaths-of-office, without the word-ing having been changed to adhere to their principles. However, according to the Los Angeles Times, “Suu Kyi and her colleagues decided they could do more by joining as lawmakers than maintaining their boy-cott on principle”. On July 9, she attended parliament for the first time as a lawmaker.

sudan’s split leaves legaCy issues sudan, el obeid: sudanese president omar al-bashir waves to the crowd during his visit to the north kordofan town of el obeid to address a rally of freshly-trained paramilitary troops.

spiCy MexiCanmexico, santiago xalitzintla: ash and smoke spew from the popocatepetl mountain as seen from santiago xalitzintla town, in the mexican central state of puebla, on april 24, 2012. residents at its foot had not slept soundly since the towering mountain roared back into action a week earlier, spewing out a hail of rocks, steam and ashes. the volcano, mexico’s second highest peak at 5,452 metres, started rumbling and spurting high clouds of ash and steam on april 13, provoking the authorities to raise the alert to level five on a seven-point scale.afp photo/ronaldo schemidt

myanmar, rangoon: myanmar opposition leader aung san suu kyi (c) waves to the crowd as she leaves national league for democracy (nld) headquarters after addressing Journalists and supporters in yangon.afp photo/christophe archambault

01.04.2012suu kyi so good

afp photo/ebrahim hamid


tragedy strikes villaggio Mall

may

viva hollandefrance, paris: a supporter of france’s newly-elected president, the socialist party’s francois hollande waves the national flag at the bastille square in paris following the announcement of the results of the french presidential final round.afp photo/mehdi fedouach

faCebook goes even More publiCunited states, new york: a facebook logo is seen through the windows of the nasdaq stock exchange as people walk by on times square in new york, may 17. the stock opened on may 18 at $38 a share, but despite speculation that it could rise by 50% it never regained its initial market value and dropped to $23-a-share in november.afp photo/emmanuel dunand

nuClear shutdown in JapanJapan, tokyo: people gather at an anti-nuclear demonstration on the children’s day national holiday, calling for a safer future for younger generations at a park in tokyo on may 5, 2012. the last working reactor in Japan was switched off on may 5 leaving the country without nuclear power Just over a year after the world’s worst atomic accident in a quarter of a century.afp photo / kazuhiro nogi

Qia buys shell stakesa shell spokeswoman confirmed the purchase of shell stocks by the qatar investment authority while declining to detail its size but the middle east economic survey (mees) reported that qatar’s sovereign wealth fund was looking at a 3-5% stake.

06.05.2012

Tragedy struck Doha when 19 people – in-cluding 13 toddlers – were killed in a fire at a creche in Villaggio Mall. Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes, two-year-old triplets from New Zealand, were among the toddlers who perished after they became trapped when a staircase leading up to the first-floor nurs-ery collapsed. Firefighters smashed their way through the roof of the building to try to rescue those inside, but they were too late to save the victims. A hearing into the tragedy, where the owners of the nursery are facing charges, was postponed four times due to the absence of the defendants.

29.05.2012

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June24.06.2012Mursi beCoMesegyptian president

Although he was not their first choice as presidential candidate, Egypt’s pow-erful Muslim Brotherhood threw its weight behind the chairman of its Free-dom and Justice Party (FJP), Mohamed Mursi. The 60-year-old engineer took 24% of the vote in the first round of the election in May, with second place going to Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force chief who served briefly as former President Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister. In the run-off, Mursi claimed victory with 51.73% of the vote.

Mursi immediately promised to bring “stability, security, justice and prosperity” to the country after a year of political upheaval. He has said that it is time to put into practice the Brother-hood’s famous slogan, “Islam is the so-lution”, but described its policy plans as having “a moderate Islamic reference”.

Mursi handed in his nomination papers for the presidential race on the last possible day after it emerged that Khairat Al-Shater, a millionaire businessman and deputy leader of the Brotherhood, might be prevented from running.

polska, bialoCzerwonipoland, wroclaw: a polish football fan cheers her team before the euro 2012 football match between the czech republic and poland on June 16 at the municipal stadium. the tournament was co-hosted by poland and the ukraine for four weeks in June and July. spain eventually beat italy in the championship final in kiev, ukraine. “polska, bialoczerwoni” (poland, the red and white)became a well-rehearsed chant across poland for the month.afp photo / fabrice coffrini

nigeria suffers aviation tragedynigeria, lagos: a part of the flight that crashed in nigeria’s largest city of lagos, killing all of the 153 people on board, is removed from the site of the crash, in the densely populated toyin area. dual engine failure was cited for the cause of the crash. nigeria’s accident investigation board report explained that the crew of the dana air flight first experienced problems with their throttles, while one of the aircraft’s black boxes melted. the commercial aircraft was flying from the nigerian capital, abuJa to lagos when it crashed into a printing works and residential buildings in iJu, a busy suburb north of the airport, and burst into flames. all 153 people on board and 10 on the ground died, aib’s preliminary report into the accident said.afp photo / emmanuel arewa

egypt, cairo: muslim brotherhood presidential candidate mohamed morsi speaks during a press conference in cairo.afp photo/str.


July

Women’s rights activists marched in Kabul to protest the videotaped execution of a young woman, apparently by the Taliban. Protesters said the killing shows the Taliban have not changed, and is a harbinger of what’s to come if they return to power.

In a grainy video that shocked viewers around the world, the young woman, shrouded in a grey shawl, sits alone on a hillside surrounded by men with guns and waits to be executed. Afghan activists decided to speak out in solidarity with the murdered young woman to press their government to take violence against women far more seriously.

Najiba was married to a member of a hard-line Taliban militant group and was accused of adultery with a Taliban commander. She was executed in late June 2012 after she was found guilty and sentenced to death, Parwan provincial spokeswoman Roshna Khalid told AFP on July 8.

Qatari iCon the shard offi-Cially opens in londonJuly 5: irvine sellar, who developed

the building with financing from qa-

tar, called it a “global building” that

would leave a legacy for “centuries

to come”.

the 310-metre-tall skyscraper was

opened by the prime minister of qatar,

sheikh hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al

thani, london mayor boris Johnson

and britain’s prince william. the cost

of the building and developing the

surrounding area next to london

bridge station was approximately £1.5

billion (qr8.65 billion). it is the tallest

building in western europe.

qatar has invested an estimated £20

billion (qr115 billion) in the uk over

the past few years and is a maJor

shareholder in scandal-hit bank

barclays. however, sheikh hamad said

qatar is planning further investment

in the uk.

higgs boson disCoveryswitzerland, meyrin: a handout graphic distributed by the european organisation for nuclear research (cern) in geneva shows a representation of traces of a proton-proton collision measured in the compact muon solenoid (cms) experiment in the search for the higgs boson.

CERN scientists reporting from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) claimed the discovery of a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson. The particle had been the subject of a 45-year hunt to explain how matter attains its mass. Both of the Higgs boson-hunting experiments at the LHC see a level of certainty in their data worthy of a “discovery”. Peter Higgs, after whom the particle is named, said it was incredible that this had happened in his lifetime.

barbariC killing stunsthe worldafghanistan, qol village: this frame grab was handed over by a qol villager to the parwan provincial government and shows a man firing an ak-47 rifle at a 22-year-old woman named as naJiba as she lies at the edge of a ditch in qol village, parwan province, north of kabul.afp photo

dark night in Coloradounited states, centennial: James holmes, 24, appears in court at the arapahoe county Justice centre on July 23. holmes was accused of shooting dead 12 people and wounding 58 others at a cinema in aurora, outside denver, as young moviegoers packed the midnight screening of the batman film the dark knight rises. his preliminary hearing is set for January 2013.afp photo/pool/rJ sangosti

04.07.2012

11.07.2012

afp photo/cern


16.08.2012Miners MassaCre

Members of the South African Police Service, from an elite special unit, opened fire on a group of striking min-ers at a mine in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa. Thirty-four people were killed and at least 78 were wounded.

It was reported that the incident was the single most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since the Sharpeville mas-sacre during the apartheid era. The shootings were described as a massacre in the South African media. Contro-versy emerged after it was discovered that most of the victims were shot in the back and many victims were shot far from police lines. On September 18, a mediator announced a resolu-tion to the conflict, stating that the striing miners had accepted new conditions.

auguSt

libya takes another baby steplibya, tripoli: libya’s ruling national assembly picked mohamed al-megaryef (c), leader of the national front party, as its president on august 9 in a vote carried out a day after it took power from the outgoing national transitional council.afp photo/mahmud turkia

sheikha Mayassa onforbes powerful woMen listhh sheikha mayassa bint hamad al thani was named on the forbes 2012 list of 100 most powerful women in the world. only three arabs are on the list and all hail from the gcc countries.

Qatar sCoops two olyMpiC Medals the qatar olympic committee honoured the country’s olympic stars, shooter nasser al-attiyah and high-Jumper mutaz essa barshim. sheikh saoud bin abdulrahman al thani, secretary-general, qoc, presented the two bronze-winning athletes with certificates and shields at a ceremony attended by top sports officials of the country. al-attiyah, 41, won bronze in the men’s skeet shooting final while barshim, 21, was one of three bronze-winning athletes in the men’s high Jump final at the olympic stadium on august 7.


September

The film Innocence of Muslims sparked violent demonstrations and protests around the world, not just in traditional Islamic regions but also in places such as Australia, Brazil and Germany. The low-budget movie had very poor production values and attracted only a small attendance at its opening night at a small cinema in Hollywood at the end of June. However, a 14-minute trailer later posted on YouTube tripped mass global hysteria.The worldwide protests led to hundreds of injuries and over 75 deaths. The film sparked de-bates about freedom of speech and internet censorship.

global hysteria follows anti-islaM filMmalaysia, kuala lumpur: malaysian muslim demonstrators march towards the us embassy after a mass friday prayer against an anti-islam film, innocence of MusliMs, and the publication of caricatures of the prophet muhammad by a french magazine.

the kiss of viCtoryunited states, san francisco : Journalists and attendees line up outside of yerba buena center for the arts in san francisco to attend apple’s special media event to introduce the iphone 5 on september 12, 2012 in california

the spaCe shuttle endeavourunited states, los angeles : the space shuttle endeavour arrives at the united hangar at los angeles international airport in los angeles, california. after it’s cross country trip from florida on september 21, 2012. the retired space shuttle will be moved to its permanent home at the california science center in octoberafp photo / pool / anne cusack

afp photo/kimihiro hoshino

21.09.2012

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iphone 5 is hereunited states, new york : andy murray of great britain kisses the us open trophy after his win over novak dJokovic of serbia after their men’s singles final match at the 2012 us open tennis tournament september 10, 2012 in new york.

10.09.2012

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oCtober29.10.2012sandy loCks downaMeriCan east Coast

Hurricane Sandy, which battered much of the Carib-bean and the eastern coast of the US, was recorded as the most brutal Atlantic storm in history. Sandy was estimated in early calcula-tions to have caused dam-age of at least $20 billion (QR73 billion). Preliminary estimates of losses that included business interrup-tion exceeded $50 billion (QR182 billion). At least 191 people were killed along the path of the storm in Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rica, Cuba, the Bahamas and the US.

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home from school In the days immediately following the attack she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later improved enough for her to be sent to a UK hos-pital for intensive rehabilitation. On October 12, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated their intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin. Yousafzai became a child celebrity in Pakistan after she was nomi-nated for the International Children’s Peace Prize. Her public profile rose even further when she was awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize two months later in December.

Malala survives assassination atteMptpakistan, mingora: pakistani hospital workers carry inJured 14-year-old malala yousafzai on a stretcher at a hospital following an attack by gunmen

arMstrong’s reputation in tattersswitzerland, geneva: international cycling union (uci) president pat mcquaid arrives to give a press conference to announce the decision about the fate of us cyclist lance armstrong on october 22 in geneva. armstrong was banned by the uci as the world cycling body upheld an earlier doping sanction handed to the seven-time tour de france champion. mcquaid said the uci would strip armstrong of all of his tour de france titles, adding: “lance armstrong has no place in cycling.”

09.10.2012

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17.11.2012Movie dazzle

The red carpet was out to welcome Hollywood veteran Robert De Nero and movie stars of the Arab world as the Doha Film Institute’s The Reluctant Fundamental-ist opened the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. The movie is directed by Mira Nair, which aims to shatter stereotypes and spark dia-logue about the cultural divide between the East and the West since the terror attacks on the US in 2001.

november

qatar, doha: egyptian actress yosra, director of the reluctant fundaMentalist mira nair and pakistani actress meesha shafi at the doha tribeca film festival that was staged from november 17-24.

China in your handchina, beiJing: chinese vice-president xi Jinping emerges as head of the newly-reshuffled seven-member communist party of china politburo standing committee, the nation’s top decision-making body, at the great hall of the people in beiJing on november 15. xi Jinping was appointed china’s new leader at the helm of a revamped top power circle that will face the tricky task of setting the planet’s second-largest economy on a new course.

obaMa returns for seCond terMunited states, chicago: us president barack obama waves to supporters on election night, november 7 in chicago, illinois. obama promised the american people that the “the best is yet to come” as he accepted a second term in the white house after easily beating off the challenge from his republican rival, mitt romney.with a second chance to fulfil some of the expectations that greeted his election in 2008, obama used his soaring victory speech at a rally in chicago – by far his best of the entire campaign – to press for a bipartisan approach to politics and returned once again to his theme of “hope”. the address was the finale to a night that had begun with many of the swing states too close to call but ended with an overwhelming victory as obama held seven of the nine battlegrounds upon which his presidency had been founded.

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b o t t o m l i n e

Create aWinning Office EnvironmentoffIce envIronments have a tall order to fulfIll to maIntaIn the hIgh productIvIty of employees: as Well as beIng functIonal, they also have to be practIcal, comfortable and InspIrIng.

an average person spends almost two thirds of the day at work (in most cases indoors), multi-national employers and SMEs alike are increas-ingly giving office interiors the attention they deserve. In many cases these employers’ efforts are being rewarded with improved employee morale and productivity, as well as being recog-nised by international institutions such as Great Place to Work.

Statistics from Bayt.com’s recent “Absentee-ism in the Workplace in the Middle East and North Africa” (July 2012) poll reveal that al-most a third of professionals rate the working environment in their company as “fair to poor”. The same poll showed that almost a quarter of employees feel that the absenteeism in their organisation is high.

Great office environments also communicate a lot about the corporate vision, values, leader-ship and culture. At Bayt.com for example, the value of “openness of communication” is re-

flected by transparent and open management offices – one of the several reasons the company was rated one of the “Top Ten Places to Work in the UAE” for two consecutive years.

Considering that there is more to a great of-fice than desirable physical attributes (the human element is also important), Bayt.com recommends these tips to turn uninspiring clinical spaces into hotbeds of creativity and productivity.

1. Cubicles –vs– open-plan offices: While cubicles were a staple of most office space de-signs during the 20th century, the 21st century workplace thrives on information sharing and collaboration. The new “groupthink” model is increasingly being favoured by employers. But the open-plan setting also brings with it the cons, i.e. lack of boundaries means more inter-ruptions. A comfortable “middle ground” can be found in the form of semi-enclosed spaces (also favoured at all 11 Bayt.com regional offices) which, while providing a private corner, do not completely cut employees off from one another.

2. Flexibility: Workplaces in the modern sense of the word need not be confined to a cer-tain location. With flexitime and work-life bal-

Since


b o t t o m l i n e

bookMarkwww.issuu.com/oryxmags

about bayt.CoM:bayt.com is the #1 Job site in the middle east, with more than 40,000 employers and

over 9,200,000 registered Job seekers from across the middle east, north africa and the globe, representing all industries, nationalities and career levels. post a Job or

find Jobs on www.bayt.com today and access the leading resource for Job seekers and employers in the region.

ance increasingly becoming part of modern day HR parlance, today’s workplaces need to be technologically integrative and flex-ible. This means giving employees access to technology that makes video-conferencing and online file-sharing possible.

3. Colour: Colours have long been rec-ognised by psychologists for their mood-al-tering properties. Apart from being a quick and cheap interior design tool, they also add instant pizzazz to the space. For example, the colour blue is identified by psycholo-gists as the most productive colour, making it attractive for office spaces. Other posi-tive colours include orange for warmth and excitement and green to boost tranquillity and health. However, it’s important not to go overboard with bold colours, and to bal-ance them with optimal white spaces.

4. Let ideation flow: The “thought mirror” is an integral part of the pantry at Bayt.com HQ, and serves as a blank canvas for employees to share their ideas, unleash their creativity and voice their opinions.

5. Online shared spaces: Offices rarely operate as isolated units. Online commu-nication and virtual collaboration are an integral part of current-day work culture, as most companies have far-flung regional/international offices. In such a situation, having an online space to share the posi-tive and informal vibe is important. Such a space could be created, as in the case of Bayt.com’s online “Love Wall”, where em-ployees can award “love touches” based on the Bayt.com values to colleagues, or you could use free online services such as Yammer.

6. Congratulate publicly: While ca-maraderie can be built virtually, there is no substitute for in-person interaction. At Bayt.com these get-togethers take the form of month-end Fiestas where top perform-ers are given “Star” awards and personal milestones of “Baytheads” are celebrated.

Building amazing workplaces is all about balancing great physical spaces with the right human factor. As demonstrated above, the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating winning office environments, and they need not require large expendi-tures. With collaborative efforts and the right intent this is very much achievable.


b o t t o m l i n e

Health risk factors include hidden fats and sugars in processed foods, as well as cigarettes and alcohol. When consumed in ex-cess, they can cause diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart prob-lems and chronic respiratory problems, which are responsible for more than half of deaths worldwide. To fight against this in-creasing phenomenon, public policy-makers are trying out new approaches to modify lifestyle habits. A new type of measure has emerged,which seeks to take into account how people actu-ally behave, and not how they are expected to behave as rational agents. A growing number of studies show that human beings do not always act in a way that maximises their interests, making de-cisions, for example, that lead to short-term pleasure but do not take into account long-term negative effects.

The gentle nudgeThe “nudge” approach is based on findings in behavioral research, which draws on economics, psychology, anthropology and sociol-ogy. It aims to gently encourage (nudge) individuals to make bet-ter decisions while maintaining their freedom of choice. As such, managers take advantage of patterns of irrationality to shape the context and decision-making process to influence choices. This can mean, for example, presenting food in a cafeteria so that

people choose salad, fruit and vegetables rather than foods with poor nutritional quality. This form of governance, which is based on “choice architecture”, is still in the experimental phase. The Conservative-led government in the UK is the only one to date to have created an administration to implement the approach.

The fight against smokingThe nudge method holds promise for the fight against smoking. Many countries worldwide have gradually established regulation that is now universally accepted. But smoking remains the lead-ing cause of avoidable deaths in both the developed world and in emerging countries. The nudge approach could help to work out the contradictions of traditional methods whereby states encour-age citizens to stop smoking by multiplying publicity campaigns and by increasing taxes, while at the same time organising the of-ficial sale of tobacco and financing a good portion of their bud-get through taxation. When it comes to tobacco, the traditional “command and control” method is necessary to restrict access to the product, by banning smoking in public places, for example. The first objective is to reject smoking as normal, acceptable be-haviour, and to make it a quasi-deviant behaviour; as a second step, the nudge reinforces changes to the social norm. While a nudge modifies behaviours in a predictable way, it should not exclude any options, nor does it need to change economic incen-tives. For example, some governments are studying new radical measures, like the standardisation of neutral cigarette packag-ing with no logo, and the prohibition of branded products on the

Encouraging people to have a healthier lifestyleto fight against health problems like obesity and smoking, governments are experimenting with new ways of regulating lifestyles. these methods, or incentives, usually involve a “nudge” that takes advantage of the irrational patterns in human behaviour to encourage people to make the least harmful choices for their health, as alberto alemanno explains.

Health


b o t t o m l i n e

shelves of tobacco shops with the purpose of countering industry marketing efforts and reducing the visual impact of their brands. The product itself, however, remains perfectly legal.

Can the method be extended to food?The debate today is on whether or not a similar approach, of “en-abling while discouraging”, can be extended to other areas such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise. The legitimacy of state intervention is more problematic for food and alcohol. Tobacco, unlike food, is not a vital need. And what further complicates the regulation of unhealthy food is that consumption patterns are just one factor among several others – physiological, genetic and even socio-economic – which, according to scientists, promote obesity. In Western societies, it is generally agreed that indi-viduals should be free to choose their own lifestyle, even if they decide to make high-risk choices. The argument is particularly strong when it comes to alcohol and foods high in fat and sugar,

which have associations with celebrations and other social ritu-als deeply rooted in Western culture. In the case of tobacco, the problem was resolved by shifting the debate from the rights of smokers to the rights of non-smokers who were being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Is it right to manipulate people?Nudges and traditional interventions usually combine forces, making it difficult to measure the impact of either on a particular policy. Empirically, we see a decline in consumption, but how do you know if it is due to this or that nudge or to an increase in taxes on tobacco? Moreover, if nudges are transparent they may fail, as people do not like to feel they are being manipulated, even if it is for their own good. Or what about the risk of the “tyranny of health”? Obsessed by the need to adopt a healthy lifestyle, indi-viduals risk stressing out so much when they miss their gym class or daily jog that it cancels out the benefits obtained.

nudge literally, “to nudge” means “to push someone with an elbow”

or “to prod someone to do something”. in their authoritative

book nudge [yale university press, april 2008], richard thaler

and cass sunstein explain the concept in terms of paternal

libertarianism: “a relatively moderate, flexible, and non-inva-

sive version of paternalism which does not prohibit anything,

nor does it limit an individual’s options; it is a philosophical

approach to public or private governance which aims to help

people make decisions that improve their lives without af-

fecting the freedom of others.”

what are the iMpliCations for leaders?it is in the areas where the need to regulate is largely accept-

ed, like smoking and obesity, that these kinds of policies get

the best results. other examples could be the environment

(recycling), or even the fight against tax evasion. experience

shows that it is more effective to combine nudges with tra-

ditional regulations. alemanno also stresses that it is “cru-

cial to work with the private sector, to convince companies

to change their habits”. the latter “do not have a choice,” he

says, citing the restrictions on ads directed at children and

the use of trans fatty acids. the public now seem to be aware

of the downside of Junk food: the olympics in london marked

the first time the sponsorship of sporting events by compa-

nies like mcdonald’s and coca-cola was heavily criticised.

bookMarkwww.issuu.com/oryxmags

alberto alemanno has been a professor at hec paris since 2009. he teaches eu law and risk regulation. he is also editor-in-chief of the review european Journal of risk regulation. he holds degrees from harvard law school

and the college of europe in bruges, and a phd in international law and economics from bocconi university.

by alberto aleManno


t a g t h i s

the world to finally experience “inclusive growth” it is necessary for both genders, in every continent of the world, to get the education they need. For generations, girls have been disadvantaged but now it is time to draw a line under this longtime suffer-ing by making sure they are able to take an active role in societies where girls have the ability to thrive.

“Sound early education, right from pri-mary to secondary school, is the fundamen-tal right of everyone,” says Hastings. “For genuine inclusive growth, women must be in a position of equal education, equal re-munerations and equal potential to men. That is not to say that there should be en-forced jobs or enforced privileges, because you cannot achieve that simply by forcing people to make decisions that they are not qualified to make.

“Inclusive growth means that by giving women, and particularly young girls, the potential to learn, it will give them the dig-nity to define how and when they they work, whom they relate to and if they wish to, how and when they have families and how they can secure health and security prospects of their own kids,” he adds.

There are now vivid and strong examples of women and even girls standing up for the right to education. The right to education, says Hastings, is a fundamental right laid down by the UN way back in the post-sec-ond World war period, and 70 years on, still not enacted.

“There has to be a campaign for education rights by nations with influence, wealth and capacity,” says Hastings. “Qatar is one of the countries with women in leadership posi-tions and they should take a strong stand

fighting forinCluSive groWth

for

a few days before lord michael hastings took to the stage at the international businesswomen forum in doha, the world was shaken by the attempted assassination of a young pakistani girl who dared to fight for education rights of girls. a prolific speaker, hastings is kpmg’s global head of citizenship, and it was no surprise that he highlighted the story of malala yousfzai’s plight to enforce the importance of inclusive growth.

B y s i n d h u n A i r


t a g t h i s

in these areas and help spread the message globally.”

Country perspectiveAs a first time visitor to the country, Hast-ings gives his take on a country that has its own version of non-inclusive growth, looking at the migrant population and their issues.

“This is indeed my first visit to Qatar, and it is extremely comforting to see that, as a country, Qatar is focusing on its long term development plans, and has a very holistic approach to the way they are engaging the various stakeholders within the country,” says Hastings. “The country clearly has its share of strengths and challenges. Its access to natural gas as a resource gives it enormous strength in terms of the econo-my, but its lack of water poses a huge chal-lenge in terms of its development. I’ve had the good fortune to have some very enlight-ening conversations with some key people driving the development plan within Qatar, and can confidently say that they are well aware of the areas of development, and I’m sure they will see the Vision 2030 through to success. In terms of the issues around the migrant population, the country seems to have been dealing with this issue since the early 1970s, and is in fact looking at engaging all parts of the population, i.e. na-tional and migrant to help in implement-ing its development plans. The one impact they will indeed need to consciously work on is the cultural element, but this already seems to be a key focus area in the develop-ment process.”

Lord Hastings also focuses on an increas-ingly widening gap between haves and have-nots. On how this is played out even more intensely in Qatar, he says: “The country is one of the most progressive and aggres-sive countries in the Middle East with a

“it is extremely comforting to see that as a country, Qatar is focusing on its long term development plans,

and has a very holistic approach to the way they are engaging the various stakeholders within the country,”


t a g t h i s

leadership that is already investing in edu-cation and a sustainable environment. With its position on the world stage, this small country with its small population but enor-mous mineral richnesshas the potential to instigate solutions in global matters and take a stance that will help steer action.”

The richest two percent own more than half the household wealth in the world. The richest 10% hold 85% of total global assets. And the bottom half of humanity owns less than one percent of the wealth in the world. The three richest men in the world have more money than the poorest forty-eight countries.

“More than before, people are watching the opulence,” says Hastings. “People are feeling the divide between this small per-centage of rich people and the rest of the population while they are also seeing chil-dren dying due to malnutrition, due to lack of access to clean sanitation, medicines and water. This can’t be appropriate, at least not now when there is so much development in other fields.”

Hastings had earlier been quoted as say-ing that the greatest way to change the world is by overcoming cynicism. How do you change that to fit the Arab region?

“Cynicism is a condition driven by afflu-ence and indifference. People become fo-cused on the difficulty of the problem and not the opportunity of the solution. Sig-nificantly, cynicism stops engagement and ownership of the actions necessary to move forward. For the new emerging democra-cies and new political arrangements in the North African and Arab countries, this is an opportunity to build not the affluent soci-ety but the generous and committed soci-ety, and I hope that countries in the Arab region grab the opportunity to lead from affluence,” he says.

Diversity at KPMGTalking about the role of diversity in organ-isations and Hastings’ role in building that, he says, “My role in KPMG is to lead our thinking towards how we as a global busi-

ness can lead on solving some of the world’s most complex problems, and how we de-velop successful partnerships with all our stakeholders to help make this is a reality in our operations.”

“At KPMG our approach to corporate citizenship is founded on the belief that business has a distinct and vital role to play in helping solve the world’s most complex problems,” he says.

Responsible business practices, which are at the heart of corporate citizenship, help build trust and contribute to the de-velopment and sustainability of the capital

markets. But Hastings is pragmatic when he says

that this by itself is not enough to address the challenges facing our world today.

“We are committed to doing more – mov-ing beyond good governance, compliance, ethical behaviours and philanthropy to work with governments, societies, and non-governmental organisations to tackle global social and environmental issues,” he says.

“Through our commitment to our people,

our values, embracing diversity and our re-sponsibility to our communities, we aim to create an environment in which our people are proud to work - and to foster a rich pool of talents to support our clients’ business. After all, our member firms’ reputations are founded on our exceptional people. With over 145,000 people across 152 countries, KPMG is globally diverse by its very nature. But there are always ways to enhance our performance, to ensure that we create an environment of inclusiveness and respect for all our people,” he says.

On removing barriers in the work places, Hastings says, “Embracing differences of culture, race, colour, ethnic or national heritage, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, marital or parental status, age, disability, faith or religion – is good for business. Removing any barriers that are irrelevant to our people’s ability to do their work, will make the business more successful.

Arab Spring legacyThe issues around the Arab Spring and the tensions in the region are not something that is region-specific says Hastings.

“The global economy is going through a dramatic transition, and issues around disparity, poverty, hunger, ethics, unem-ployment are all being challenged across the world. The advent of technology and innovation has made it easier for the com-mon man to express their opinions, and es-sentially gain a voice through the power of virtual media.

“This means that not only governments, but also businesses need to rethink the way they operate. People across the world, who are also consumers / stakeholders for busi-nesses are going to challenge irresponsibil-ity in the way governments and businesses operate. This is an opportunity for public/ private sector organisations to understand the force of the voice of the people, and take this new opportunity to redefine the way they operate to ensure that they have a sus-tainable future,” he says

“people are feeling the divide between this small percentage of rich and the rest of the population while they are also seeing children

dying due to malnutrition, due to lack of access to clean sanitation, medicines and water. this can’t be appropriate at least not now when

there is so much development in other fields.”

prior to kpmg hastings had spent over

a decade with the british broadcast-

ing corporation (bbc). he worked for

over 12 years for the bbc, first as a

Journalist, then as the head of public

affairs leading government and

political relations. he has also set up

the csr team within the bbc and spent

his last three years with them in lead-

ing their work towards corporate

responsibility. hastings came to kpmg

by invitation of the then chairman, sir

mikael rake. in 2005, hastings received

the unicef award for his outstanding

contribution to understanding and

effecting solutions for

africa’s children.


t a g t h i s

a business started is both a stressful and a financially challenging exercise. Even if one does get venture capital to ease the burden of finance, the chances of it being a success are less than 30%. In such a scenario, the most prudent thing to do is to be conservative – test the waters and get a sense of the market before blowing every dirham of your savings on a business that was doomed before it was even conceived.

There are of course many reasons why a business falls flat in its early stages: the tim-ing was wrong, finances dried up, lack of ex-perience, the wrong market. Statistics show that entrepreneurs often choose the markets in which businesses are most likely to go un-der; they fail to take the actions that research shows help businesses to survive. Academic research shows that putting in place careful financial controls, emphasising marketing plans and writing a business plan increase the odds that a new business will survive, yet many founders fail on all three counts.The Power of Small

Bill McDermott, the Co-CEO of German enterprise software provider SAP, spoke to Qatar Today about start-ups and small- to medium-sized enterprises, and whether his organisation was only after the big fish or also had a special focus on the tadpoles. He believes he knows how small businesses can have a better chance of survival.

“We are a big believer in the power and value of ‘small’,” said McDermott. “Sixty-five percent of our customers are small. These businesses are the economic engine of the world – it’s where intellectual property ex-ists and it’s where jobs will be created. But one of the learnings we heard at the [World Economic Forum Annual Meeting] in Davos earlier this year was that the number one root cause of small businesses not scaling and ultimately not succeeding is that they enter into the market without systems that can support their business model.

“We have come up with a break-through solution for SMEs called Business One, which runs on our proprietary platform

HANA. It can also be provisioned to a cloud environment, so it can be up and running in a matter of hours. It’s extremely easy to install and it’s very low-cost. Many of our custom-ers might have only a half-dozen employees and they are running this piece of software,” he added.

If SAP is innovating for small businesses with applications like Business One, then it is certainly collaborating with others to do the same. The winners of “The Power of Small: Entrepreneurs Strengthening Local Economies”, a global competition jointly sponsored by SAP and NGO Ashoka, were announced last month. The competition at-tracted 370 entries from 69 countries.

The four winning entries, selected by the Changemakers online community, repre-sent the most innovative strategies to help emerging entrepreneurs and small busi-nesses grow and thrive in underserved com-munities. The winners received a compre-hensive capital, technology and promotion package from SAP – including a cash prize of $10,000 (QR36,400) and a technology dona-tion to optimise performance and scale up operations.

One of the winners, MySoft, said that small businesses need IT just as much as the big ones. For the price of a meal at McDon-

a bigbelieverin Smallhow many dedicated, not-for-profit agencies are failing to develop functional schemes to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into revenue-generating businesses? maybe that’s their problem – they’re not in it to make money. however, some corporations are investing billions to provide sustainable solutions for these businesses. the co-ceo of sap, bill mcdermott, explains how these small businesses are playing a big part in its core strategy.

B y r o r y C o e n

getting


t a g t h i s

ald’s, micro-entrepreneurs in Brazil (such as street-market salesmen, curtain fitters, car washers, confectioners and day labourers) can subscribe to MySoft and get apps to run their businesses better. In just three years, this development collaborative has trained approximately 10,000 young people to create cloud-based smartphone and laptop apps. There’s market potential to reach 27 million small service providers.

Under the hoodSapphire Now – the twice-annual gathering of SAP developers, users and partners – was held in Madrid last month, and McDermott reiterated SAP’s loyalty to its “five-category strategy” which has been so influential in the huge turnover figures it has been churning out in the last couple of years in particular. HANA, the powerful in-memory database that can run real-time analytics, is the ring-leader, while applications, business analyt-ics, cloud and mobility make up the quintet.

“We just did an amazing quarter,” said McDermott. “We accumulated nearly four billion dollars in software revenue, and that’s double-digit growth. Software and software-related services – which is the most impor-tant benchmark for the capital markets – was up 19% to $3.21 billion (QR11.7 billion). Our software itself, which is often regarded as the greatest predictor of future demand, came in at over ¤1 billion (QR4.6 billion) for the first time ever, which is an increase of 17%.”

McDermott intimated that we can now look forward to the “next-generation total customer experience”, which will be even more mobile, social and cloud-based. But he stressed that the most dynamic change will be in the real-time application of data.

“There seems to be this insane bias for having real-time enterprise software now, and the latency in legacy systems and disk-orientated databases will not satisfy the modern customer any more,” he said. “They want to have instant customer satisfaction on the mobile device with no waiting. So whether it’s Samsung, Lenovo, Google on the Android device, Apple with the iPhone and iPad, you’re going to see them standardising on SAP’s unwired platform so they can run business applications in a secure way.

“The CEO of a well-known fashion com-pany in Milan was quite stunned by the fact that he could not only have a completely digital relationship with his consumers, but because they interact with the Internet he could understand their preferences; he could make predictive decisions on what they are likely to want next, based on their purchas-ing history; he could revert them to the right store to suit their travel needs. We’re in a

whole new world here where we’re digitising the total customer experience, bringing it to a new level,” said McDermott.

Regional importanceWith its obvious global growth, how impor-tant is the MENA region for SAP? What is it doing to develop its strategy in this region?

“We made a strong statement that we were investing $500 million (QR1.8 billion) in MENA by 2015, and we are keeping that promise,” said McDermott. “Our growth is

doubling there year on year, so it’s really one of the jewels in our crown.

“I have been to the region many times and I see a tremendous opportunity for young people to work in our ecosystem, whether that’s to work for SAP, our partners or our customers. We’re working with the gov-ernments in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE to really create opportunities for the young folks to get the skills and tools they need to compete in the modern economy,” he said

bill MCderMott, co-ceo of sap


w e l l n e s s w a r r i o r s

leading by example

TeCHTalK

Qatar today continues its health and living series where the top echelons answer the hard Questions about sustaining a work-life balance and issue some healthy living guidelines of their own. last month we featured a banker, this month a hotelier.

B y n i C o l e v A n h A t t e M


Garry Friend is engaging, energetic and successful in an industry that requires long hours, strong competition and constant people interaction. As a General Manager of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, a five-star hotel property, how does this leader maintain the balance, positive attitude and energy levels required to sustain success?

What health or lifestyle changes have you made in the last one to two years?My weight has changed tremendously. I put on 13 kgs when I came to Qatar and now I’m back to my original weight.

What was the key to your success in re-gaining a healthy weight?I exercise three or four times a week for 60 minutes each time. I swim in the sea and use the personal trainers at the Grand Hyatt – they are amazing!

How does exercising regularly help you to manage stress? Exercise is key to maintaining healthy stress levels, and the fitter I am, the more productive I become.

Working long hours, being surrounded by delicious food all the time and enter-taining constantly provides many oppor-tunities to overeat or to choose the wrong foods. How do you cope with this?Managing my food choices is also essential. I make it a point to not eat while I am doing other things such as working on the comput-er or in meetings. When I eat I choose high quality foods, and I enjoy healthy foods such as green apples, walnuts, honey, green tea, leafy greens, and spices such as chillies.

What do you eat (on most days) for:Breakfast l Yogurt with fruit and nutsl Lunch l Tuna and salad

Dinnerl Fish, chicken or salad unless I am enter-

taining hotel clients, when I have bigger meals

Snacksl Selection of mixed nuts, green apple,

green tea with honey

Stress is a normal part of everyday life, however too much stress can be detri-mental to health and performance. How do you manage stress in your work and life?If my stress levels are too high for too long I notice it in my shoulders and back, where it causes pain. So I go for a stress relief massage every week.

I also make sure that I monitor my thought

patterns. I look for the positive side of every-one I meet and if I’m faced with a very chal-lenging situation, I think of the worst thing that can happen and quickly switch to think about all the possible solutions.

Spending quality time with a variety of friends is also a great way to release stress.

I really enjoy what I do and I surround myself with positive people.

How do you see your personal approach to health and work-life balance reflected in the rest of the hotel staff?I find that people who do not balance work and life tend to burn out very easily, become emotional and negative and can swing from engaging to disengaging.

Fit and healthy employees are key to delivering consistent and high levels of customer service and business performance.

Hyatt has stress management programmes and encourages its executive members and department heads to access the gym.

On a weekly basis, the department heads and I do a physical workout session together to start the day and build the team.

Our healthy approach extends into the staff restaurant, where we offer lots of raw salads without dressing, and whole fruits. We are also renovating the pool at the staff accommodation to provide a lap pool.

As a leader in the community and the workplace, setting an example for others to follow, what would you say are your top 10 tips for:Managing stress

l Enjoy your jobl Make sure that fun is in your daily

routinel Eat sensiblyl Stay away from junk food, soft drinks,

sugar l Take regular exercisel Have a good mix of friendsl Target short-and-long-term goalsl Keep a sense of humourl Practise positive thinkingl Overcome fear and move forward

nicole van hattem is the founder and director of the art of abundant living – the only corporate wellness and health coaching company in qatar.

email: [email protected]

by niCole van hatteM

follow

twitter @aalnicole

your top 10 tips for Maintain-ing your professional per-forManCe at a senior level in business? keep healthy

enJoy your work environment

understand your company goals

and targets

know how your boss ticks

keep a high profile in your company

work with the local community

employ well educated staff

keep learning

mentor the young staff in your

company

ensure you go on holidays twice a

year


he winner of the GPS “Eco-school of the Year” was Al Shaima Girls Independent School, while Doha Modern Indian School won the “Best Student Participation” award and Ali Bin Taleb Independent School won the “School for Best Innovation” award.

All participating schools received rec-ognition for their valuable contribution and support towards the successful imple-mentation of the environmental campaign for 2011-2012. The winners were selected based on the results of the evaluation ses-sion that was held on October 9 at Msheir-eb Enrichment Centre, where schools gave a presentation to the GPS Steering Com-mittee about the green initiatives they have been involved in since June last year. Mis-sion 20 volunteers were also recognised for their role as activation partners.

Members of the GPS Steering Com-mittee include Nawal Al-Kowari, Com-munications Officer, Supreme Education

al Shaima girlS WinS gpS eCo-SChool ofthe yearthe green programme for schools (gps) presented awards to participating schools that showed outstanding commitment to the environmental campaign at a ceremony at hafsa independent school on november 6. numerous schools around the country have been putting in great efforts to promote greener ways of going about our day-to-day routines, but as always, there can only be one overall winner. however, there were some other awards also handed out on the day.

to know More about gps,

contact 44550983to know More about the prograMMe,

visit the gps page at http://www.facebook.com/gpsqatar.

tCouncil (SEC); Jamal Mohamed Al-Jaber, Education Coordinator, Qatar Green Build-ing Council (QGBC); Eng. Mohamed Jaber, Head of Education Committee, QGBC; and Ravi Raman, Vice-President, Oryx Adver-tising Co. WLL.

Proud achievements“We support and encourage the GPS be-cause our mandate at SEC is to encourage sustainable living. We hope the school and student participation will increase next year , ” said the SEC’S Nawal Kuwari.

“The award ceremony and recognition of the Eco-School of Year is indeed a proud achievement for us and all the participating schools. GPS is a unique initiative which involved students right from inception – from branding of the schools to monitoring their electricity and water usage; the young people took charge and showed enthusi-asm, interest and responsibility. We look forward to the next edition, where we are inducting 30 more schools,” said Ravi Ra-man, Vice President of Oryx Advertising Company WLL.

g r e e n s c e n e


he Logitech Washable Key-board K310 is designed to be very easy to clean. It can even be submerged in up to 30 cm of water and

it will still work like new, thanks to drainage holes on the back.The letters and numbers are laser-printed and UV-coated, ensuring that they won’t be damaged no matter how many times you clean or wash it. Only one warning – don’t put it in the dishwasher; it’s only meant to be hand-washed.

wash your messy keyboard

he next flagship Samsung smartphone is ex-pected to be the first with a flexible screen.Rumours suggest that the substitution of plastic for glass in its displays will make the South Ko-rean company’s phones bendable and possibly extremely difficult to break.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the first such devices should be ready before July 2013. The report also adds weight to rumours circulating that Samsung is set to unveil a 14 cm OLED display at January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – the tech world’s flagship event, where every major player in the industry lines up to dazzle the crowds with its latest prototypes and newest products. Unlike traditional LCD screens, which have to be lit by a bulb behind or around the perimeter of the dis-play, OLED (or Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays generate their own light source. This makes them thinner and lighter than traditional screens (because they don’t have to house a light) and, due to this in-built luminosity, don’t require glass in their construction. A screen can just as easily be made from polymer plastic or even metallic foil.

TeCHTalKbringing the newest gadgets and globaltech stories each month…

samsung to make bendable phones?

t

t


ccording to a note to investors from Apple analyst Gene Munster, Apple plans to build a sub-$200 (QR720) handset to build its market share in India and China, where network carriers are not prepared to subsi-dise handset costs in order to tie potential customers into long-term contracts.

The latest smartphone sales figures from Gartner show that Android currently accounts for over 70% of the world smartphone market, while Apple has less than a 15% share.Meanwhile, data from Canalys show that the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 53% of worldwide smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2012, and that in China alone local manufacturers, using older forms of the Android operating system on their handsets, are quickly catching up with Samsung, currently the most popular manufacturer in the region.All of Apple’s devices sell at a premium, and so it cannot and will not compete in terms of price with its competitors, only in terms of quality. This approach to business leads many in the industry to assume that a low-cost phone from the brand would not simply be an older or discounted iPhone, but a handset developed and designed specifically for the territories in which it would be sold.

entry-level iphone foremerging-market customers: analyst

a

oogle has announced the launch of the programme “Arabic Web Days” to en-rich digital Arabic content, through a series of activities and initiatives to be imple-

mented by a group of prominent international bodies and regional shows in the Middle East and North Africa over a month.Google has partnered with Vinelab, Taghree-dat and Wamda to shape the programme, which will also see involvement of Twitter, Wikipedia, TED, SoundCloud and YouTube. The programme will be supported by local expertise from the Media Zone Authority in Abu Dhabi, twofour54 and Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI).The motivation to start the programme came from the fact that despite Arabic being one of the fastest-growing languages on the Web it only represents 3% of the total digital con-tent.Google’s Communications Officer in the Mid-dle East and North Africa, Maha Abouelenein said: “The programme primarily seeks to en-hance the participation of users who want to contribute to the availability of digital Arabic content to suit the needs and aspirations of the Arab user.”

g

fb statistics

Currently, there are 695,600 Facebook users in Qatar,which makes it #93 in the ranking of Facebook users by country.

google announcesarabic web days

695,600

totalfaCebook

users

93position

in the list

$0.32

averageCost per

CliCk

$0.06

averageCost per

iMpression

82.72%

internet penetration

ofpopulation

159.54%

penetrationof online

population

25-34years

18-24years

35-44years

45-54years

16-17years

55-64years

65-100years

user age distribution on

facebook in Qatar13-15

years

courtesy: socialbakers.com


he Nokia Lumia 920 release in Dubai had all the elements to make its launch catch the radars of the press, the tech bloggers and all those closely follow-ing the smartphone market. The launch was funky, creative and loaded with fun. Well, almost like the

like the smartphone itself.Which begs the question, what would you look for in a smartphone? Ease of use and a good, fast-working platform; add a trendy look and you almost have a winner. But not when you have a Samsung or an iPhone on the horizon, with most users already having chosen one of the two. Nokia therefore had to make a bigger impact and with the Lumia 920 it seems to have done just that, delivering the basics and in some features going beyond that.Commenting at the launch event, Nokia Middle East Vice-President, Tom Farrell said: “We are now proud to stand here and present to you the most innovative device in the history of Nokia, embodying the height of technology, design and user experience.“The Middle East is one of the top key markets for Nokia, and the com-pany continues to be strongly committed to this region. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are among the six top markets for Nokia to introduce the new Lumia range with Arabic-language capabilities and strong opera-tor offerings and retail presence. The availability of a user interface in the local language combined with strong operator offerings are two key elements in satisfying the demands of consumers from the region. We are confident that this innovative smartphone, the Lumia 920, will be a milestone for the company as a whole,” he added.

Here’s looking at some of the features that will hopefully make it one of the most coveted smartphones.

pureview teChnology:

Blurred and low-light mobile photography becomes history. Using ad-vanced floating lens technology, the camera in the Nokia Lumia 920 is able to take in five times more light than competing smartphones without using flash, making it possible to capture clear, bright pictures and video indoors and at night.

City lens:

The start of a new augmented-reality experience. By pointing the cam-era at a city street, City Lens overlays information about restaurants, shops, hotels and more on the surfaces of buildings, for the most intui-tive way to explore your surroundings. Nokia City Lens also enhances Nokia Maps, making it possible to move between maps view and aug-mented-reality view to help check direction and surroundings.

powered by windows phone 8Windows Phone 8 provides a more personal smartphone experience, with a Start screen that can be more easily rearranged to reflect individual priorities, and new animated Live Tiles for real-time updates on the things that matter most. The ability to sync content between Windows Phone 8 smartphones, Windows 8-based PCs and tablets or Xboxes means files, music, pictures and video can be accessed in whichever way is most convenient, with Internet Explorer 10 for faster, safer browsing and Microsoft Office apps built into the platform.

TeCHTalK

nokia’s game-changer: coming to doha soon

t

(reviewed by sindhu nair)


usinesses need to prepare and take a decision on how to boost their presence on the mobile web. The decision-making authority, i.e. the people with budgets at senior levels may be clueless on what is better for their custom-er when it comes to mobile apps versus a mobile website.

Decisions are driven by the whims and fancies of a senior person who thinks that having a mobile app is a “cool” thing. The more important question is why you want to have a presence on the mobile platform. The answer is that the customer is looking to ac-cess your content/service via mobile.

You need to give them the required access in the form of a website or app. Mobile apps are becoming popular with Internet users. Mobile apps are faster, interactive and can be integrated with phone features. How-ever, an app must be installed on the phone to experience the features. On the other hand, a mobile website can be navigated on an impulse.

A matter of choiceTwo years ago you could hire an external agency to develop an iOS app and deliver the mobile experience. With the influx of so many other devices and tabs it is difficult to keep up with every platform.

The answer to what should be developed first depends on what type of service you are looking to provide. According to research done by an ad agency called MDG, internet users prefer mobile browsers for shopping, searching and entertainment (Amazon, e-Bay, Google). But they prefer mobile apps for managing data, navigation and connecting with others (Facebook, Twitter).

Let’s take the example of a bank. Mobile banking usage is on the rise. Many banks are in a race to have a portfolio of apps devel-oped on various platforms, which is an ex-pensive affair. Most of the customers want to see their balances and conduct transactions on mobile. A bank could develop a mobile website with transaction capability rather than having an app on Android, BlackBerry, Apple etc.

Once you have assessed the use of mobile web, your second step could be to venture into the world of apps.

Big media publishers like the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times prefer to offer a mobile website as an add-on to their exist-ing subscribers, since it can be more easily integrated with their standard web content without having to customise individual na-tive apps. These big publishing houses can afford to manage multiple platforms.

Mobile apps are preferred by many

hoW do you aCCeSS information?

B y K A p i l B h A t i A

wise internet observers know by now that more and more users will continue to access online content via mobile. people will own multiple mobile devices from smartphones to tablets and will use them alternately. but how will they be accessing their important information?

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t a g t h i s


n e w s b i t e s

kapil bhatia is an e-business manager, working in the financial services industry for the past 10 years. his work ranges across digital marketing,

e-channels and development of marketing strategies, with a sound information technology base.

tfour.me is an up-and-coming technology blog in the middle east, which will feature talk about tech entertainment, social networks and digital trends

and also list Jobs. it will offer insightful analysis about big data and the internet industry and will feature start-ups in the middle east region.

by kapil bhatiafollow

www.twitter.com @kapilkb blog @ iwep.blogspot.com amateur photographer @earsplease.blogspot.com

developers over mobile web, as heavier apps can run efficiently from the device’s internal memory, thanks to the for pay-per-download model over app stores that has encouraged many to take a plunge into this industry.

Businesses can always look into building hybrid apps. These apps utilise both web (HTML5) and native app technology, e.g. mobile banking applications can be hybrid as they typically store some content locally and some on the web. Hybrid apps vary techni-cally, but for a user it is just a normal app that they may need to download from a store.

Employ a CMOA piece of research conducted by Forrester says that companies should create a posi-tion called Chief Mobile Officer if they want the business to focus on mobile initiatives. Mobile is not simply another device for IT to support, it is a medium of broader engage-ment with your company’s products and services.

If your company ever wants to go mobile then remember that you will have to man-age several platforms, depending on your

budgets, strategy and customer needs. You may need to manage a mobile website

for smartphones and tablets. You will also need to develop apps for

platforms like iOS, BlackBerry, Android and Windows.

It is important to recognise that we are in-

creasingly moving towards a “multi screen” world where businesses may want to reach out to their users across various media plat-forms. There is no right or wrong strategy on mobile; it depends on how you want to en-gage your customers. So when are you plan-ning to hire your Chief Mobile Officer?

t a g t h i s

a Quick comparison between mobile websites and mobile apps:Mobile website

accessed through web browser

requires internet connection

static in nature

development costs are reasonable

fast

doesn’t need to be uploaded on app

store

updates can be done on the fly

Mobile app

accessed through app after being

installed

can be used offline

interactive

development costs are high

very fast

some platforms like apple need develop-

ers to upload their app on the store

updates need an approval from the store

e.g. apple

brakingnews


f you were unlucky enough to be on Lusail Road on the morning of November 5 and saw a cavalcade of Lambo-rghinis doing some incon-

sistent speeds, then here’s an explanation. Al Wajba Motors, the exclusive dealer for

the Lamborghini brand in Qatar, gave some very lucky people an opportunity to test-drive the new Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2, Coupe and Spyder models. We de-parted the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and headed towards the Lusail Circuit – which we didn’t circle – before heading back. I took the trip out and my Egyptian passenger took the wheel on the return leg. I knew whatever speed I could manage, this guy would try to beat it.

Such was the comfort I experienced in the driver’s seat, it felt like I had poured myself in and my body had set itself against its immediate surroundings. I was far from catatonic, however, and all the controls were well within my grasp. I immediately recounted how, in my own private car, I had a remote control for my car stereo – as redundant a gadget as you’re ever likely to hold. I always thought the driver chose the music! The dash on the LP 550-2 is fitted with a paddle shifter to move through the gears, but for those who aren’t familiar with this, it also provides an automatic mode. It’s so simple to switch between automatic and manual during the drive.

Connoisseurs of supercarsFrancesco Cresci, Lamborghini Area Sales Manager, says Qatar is a hub for supercar connoisseurs with an expanding client base. “It is great to do test drives on Doha roads, and my sincere thanks to our Qatar

partner, Al Wajba Motors, whose hard work and dedication made this event possible and a truly memorable one,” he added.

Cresci went under the hood and explained some of the more technical details about the powertrains that were being tested on the Doha roads. “The Gallardo LP 550-2 Spyder has a powerful V10 engine,” he said, “and the heart of the Gallardo – the 5.2-litre ten-cylinder engine – guarantees phenom-enal performance. It sling-shots itself from zero to 100 km/h in just 4.2 seconds, and its top speed of 319km/h guarantees it a place among the ultimate super sports cars.”

I didn’t manage to hit the 319 km/h – I’m no speed merchant – but I did cruise nicely along when I got a clear stretch of road. The handling isn’t the easiest, and I’m not sure I’d like to be manoeuvering it around sharp bends too often. It’s more of a car for the open road where you can let yourself go a little bit.

Saher A. Baaj, the General Manager of Al Wajba Motors, said: “It is always a pleasure to organise test drives for our partners. It gives us the chance to show off our superb cars and gives them the opportunity to ex-perience the unique sensation of driving one of the world’s finest and most powerful cars. It is also a great feeling to recognise that we meet our customers’ expectations. To give more excitement to our brand own-ers, we are already into the details of form-ing a Lamborghini Club in Qatar.”

The owner of Al Wajba Motors, Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Ahmed M. Al Thani, believes the company will carry on doing more dynamic driving events in the future for its customers and prospects. It is set to launch its new state-of-the-art showrooms for all its brands very soon.

are you engaging with sustainability?

30a fighting bull represents italian car manufacturer lamborghini, but the power and speed of the dynamic drivetrain reminded rory coen more of another italian export, the elusive boxer rocky balboa, than a clumsy and irrational bull.

i

the italian stallion


teCh speC:

engine type: 10 cylinders v 90, dohc

4 valves, common-pin crankshaft

displaCeMent: 5,204 cm3 (317.6 cu.in.)

bore and stroke:

84.5 mm x 92.8 mm (3.33” x 3.65”)

valve gear: chain-driven, intake and

exhaust continuously variable valve

timing, electronically controlled

MaxiMuM power:

550 hp (405 kw) @ 8,000 rpm

MaxiMuM torQue:

540 nm (397 lbft) @ 6,500 rpm

fraMe: structural aluminium space

frame, based on aluminium extruded

parts welded to cast aluminium Joint

elements

suspension: aluminium double-

wishbone front and rear suspension

system, anti-roll bar, anti-dive and

anti-squat

type of transMission:

rear-wheel-drive

gearbox: 6-speed and reverse,

robotised sequential system (e-gear)

with actuation by paddles on the

steering column

steering:

power-assisted rack and pinion

front tyres: pirelli pzero 235/35 zr 19

rear tyres: pirelli pzero 295/30 zr 19

front wheels:

aluminium alloy 8.5” x 19”

rear wheels: aluminium alloy 11” x 19”

turning CirCle: 11.5 metres (37.7 feet)

b r a k i n g n e w s


key to national healthcare is planning

26autonews

he all-new 2013 Nissan Al-tima is poised to become the new benchmark in the hotly contested mid-sized sedan segment after it went on sale

at Nissan retailers last month.It’s a modern and charismatic vehicle

which over-delivers on the fundamentals of driving. It offers numerous segment defin-ing attributes that enhance the ownership experience and provide real customer value, including: upscale interior rivaling premium luxury sedans, including best-in-class seat comfort inspired by zero-gravity research; next-generation Safety Shield Technologies, including Blind Spot Warning (BSW), Lane Departure Warning (LDW) AND Moving Object Detection (MOD) systems and a rear view camera; first in class Remote Engine Start for comfort as soon as you enter the cabin; power-train efficiency, equipped with either 2.5 litre or 3.5 litre engines and the new generation CVT providing better per-

formance and an increased fuel efficiency of 18% compared to the current Altima.

“We took our most successful model, kept its DNA and changed nearly everything – the

visual appeal, the driving experience and, of course, the technology,” said Atsuo Kosaka, Managing Director, Nissan Middle East. “In-novation is what we do!”

arl Lagerfeld visited Rolls-Royce Motor Cars recently to present his photography exhibition, entitled ‘A Dif-ferent View’, in the latest of

the luxury manufacturer’s Icons of Art series. The exhibition comprises his own unique photographs of Rolls-Royce motor cars, to private guests at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood, England. The event was com-pered by Peter York, the esteemed media commentator, journalist and author.

Every Rolls-Royce motor car is an inspired, one-of-a-kind work of art. Throughout 2012, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has hosted the Icons of Art series – a succession of private talks by contemporary artists in tribute to the impec-cable artistry behind each Rolls-Royce mo-tor car. The series provides an opportunity to share passion for innovation and artistic merit, exploring innovative canvasses for ar-

tistic creation and modern day excellence.Talking about the exhibition, Mr Lager-

feld said, “I can no longer view life without juxtaposing its abstraction. I view the world, fashion and automobiles through my camera lens. That allows me to keep a critical dis-tance to my work. This approach serves me more than I had ever thought possible in my view of reality. Each of my shots of the Rolls-Royce is the abstract representation of a con-crete reality. The technical medium of pho-tography is a welcome means for my artistic work, creating my different view.”

Speaking at the event, Torsten Muller-Otvos CEO, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said: “It is a great honour to welcome Karl Lagerfeld and to host this unique photographic exhibi-tion. His inspirational work demonstrates passion, innovation and attention to detail, values that we embrace every day at Rolls-Royce.”

nissan altima to top its class

a different view of rolls-royce

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a u t o n e w s

lfardan Sports Motors has teamed up with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) TO engage and inspire Qatarís top young artists in a

unique and exciting experience consisting of a series of glamorous Ferrari themed work-shops named Ferrari Rosso, which means Ferrari Red in Italian.

Students were briefed about Ferrariís his-tory, colours, and a core brand values that in-cludes innovation, uniqueness, exclusivity, excellence, performance, and representing authentic Italian taste and culture, twelve students then started to create their own art statement that reflects their emotions and passion for Ferrari and its brand values.

A jury composed of VCU professors and representatives from Alfardan Sports Mo-tors will choose the best creation that com-bines innovation with maintaining Ferrariís core values and colors. Alfardan Sports Mo-tors will award the student who designs the most creative art statement two VIP tickets to Ferrari World in Yas Island – Abu Dhabi, the worldís first Ferrari theme park and larg-est attraction of its kind. Also the resulting art statements will be exhibited at the Fer-rari showroom at The Pearl-Qatar, where Ferrari customers and enthusiast, visitors,

and tourists will be able to admire the cre-ative designs of Qatar’s rising artists.

Commenting on this event, Moham-med Kandeel, General Manager of Alfardan Sports Motors said: “We expect Ferrari Rosso to generate local and regional interest which

will further highlight the importance of part-nership between arts and business world. Giving emerging artists this opportunity is also a bonus for Qatar’s creative industries and demonstrates how is Qatar a catalyst for business, creativity and learning”

olkswagen today celebrated its most successful year in the Middle East with a star stud-ded event at Yas Marina Cir-cuit in Abu Dhabi last month.

The spectacular occasion, which included the unveiling of all of Volkswagenís models, the first time they have all been together in one location in the Middle East, was an im-pressive way to celebrate what has been an extremely successful year. Increased annual sales, the completion of its full portfolio to the region, which was concluded with the launch of the Passat and the new Polo Se-dan, are just some of the highlights that have made 2012 such an exciting year.

Commenting on the successful year and the event Thomas Milz, Managing Direc-tor Volkswagen Middle East said: “As a new member of the Volkswagen Middle East

team, I am delighted to see the success that has been achieved over the course of 2012.

With the support of our dealer partners, we can now offer our Middle Eastern cus-tomers the complete range of Volkswagen models. This demonstrates our long-term commitment to the Middle East,” he added.

Sales results for 2012 have been extremely encouraging with 22% increase from Janu-ary to October, compared to the same period in 2011 – this result makes Volkswagen the fastest growing volume manufacturer in the region. The month of September was also the strongest month for sales in Volkswagen Middle East’s history.

Volkswagen Middle East will be partici-pating in the Qatar Motor Show in January and announcing further models, including the new Golf which will be available in spring 2013.

challenging ferrari rosso

volkswagen celebratesits most successful year

a

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a u t o n e w s

harismatic, sporty and open-top cars are back in Qatar this season, with thanks to Mini, the car small in size but big in space, design and

personality.The brand’s two newest models ñ the

Mini CoupÈ and Roadster ñ are the worldís only two-seater Mini models and embodies sportiness, agility to provide the best-ever interpretation of Miniís go-kart driving ex-perience. The streets of Qatar will enjoy the playfulness of Mini this winter that extends far beyond vehicle design, and highlights the sportiness and adventurous positioning of these new Mini models.

The first open-top two-seater Mini, marks a new chapter in the history of the Mini brand and embodies sportiness and open-air driving fun under the open sky. Even with the roof closed the Mini Roadster displays an elegant, sweeping silhouette, with the tran-sition from soft-top to rear end highlighting its characteristic three-box design particu-larly clearly.

The Mini Roadster underlines its pre-mium character with a high-quality range of standard equipment, including innovative Mini Connected infotainment and commu-

nications functions that allow the driver to enjoy web radio, Google services and RSS news feeds.

The Mini Coupe sees the brand’s sporting DNA transferred into a cutting-edge vehicle

concept with an unmarked interpretation of the super-compact sports car class. As one of the sportiest model in the Mini line-up, the Mini Coupe sees the brand breathe new life into its successful racing history.

he Middle East’s most ex-citing and professional race series, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, cre-ated its own chapter in the

history of the series by having the first fe-male racing driver ever.

Christina Nielsen, who has made a big impression in Europe, made her debut on the grid alongside seasoned professionals and promising regional drivers in the open-ing rounds of the fourth season at the Bah-rain International Circuit last month.

The 20 year-old, born in Rungsted, Den-mark, competed in the German Porsche Carrera Cup and this year’s VLN Endur-ance Racing Championship on the Nur-burgring, but she was in new territory once the flag dropped to signal the start of the first race, as the first female driver to par-ticipate in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

Speaking ahead of testing in Bahrain,

Nielsen said: “I am thrilled at the thought of racing in the Middle East. The circuits look fantastic and I’ve only heard good things on the quality of racing and the organisation of the series. By getting seating time and be

able to compete I’m following my dream. I’m a competitive person, and I wish to grow as a racing driver from this experience.

Neilsen came 6th in Round 1 and 8th in Round 2.

another adventure with mini

lady, start your engine

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marketwatch


is turkey an investors paradise?

20msheireb feels a thai breeze

sheireb used to be a hive of activity in Doha at one time – where banter and barter emanated from every cranny and crevice and industrious

peddlers would try to promote a bargain against their customer’s best intentions. Well, it’s set to regain some of this allure in the coming years as the Msheireb Down-town Doha project nears completion.

On the fringes of the project stands the new Amari Hotel. For those who have trav-elled to Thailand, this brand may be familiar to you – for others, probably not. Doha will be its first venture outside its home market, so it’s putting a lot of effort into creating a Thai-Arab synergy.

“We’ll be bringing our world-famous warm Asian hospitality to this historical area of the city,” said General Manager of Amari Doha Qatar Damian Ball. “Infusing it into our service standards and our guest experi-ences. For instance, we have an Amari host who will be roving around the property and he will be able to attend to any questions or queries that our guests may have – from the night’s activities to the best local restaurants. He’ll be working off iPad tabs with the latest information. This is a little concept that we do which might be a little bit different.

“We’re targeting both the business and the leisure traveller,” added Ball. “Due to our location we are ideally situated for both. We’re close to the city centre for the busi-ness tourists and we’re close to some tourist attractions such as the Corniche, Souk Waqif and the Islamic Art Museum. The Msheireb Downtown Doha project will open in two or three years, so we’re ideally placed.”

Feelin’ BreezyOn the top floor, the hotel hosts the Breeze Spa which it claims will put a “bounce into your step”, so who better to explain what it offers than a man called Ball I thought. I was lucky enough to get a quick guided tour of the facility and I got to see some instruments only a torturer might have.

“The Breeze Spa is unique from the other hotels in town,” said Ball. “To make you feel comfortable throughout your treatment, we offer the highest-quality products, freshly laundered towels, comfortable treatment beds and support pillows. Our experienced therapists will ensure that you get a profes-sional treatment. You can customise your own massage pressure, room temperature, lighting and music during your treatment.

The hungry feelin’The hotel boasts a magnificent-looking in-

ternational restaurant on the mezzanine level where it has employed a Lebanese and a Thai chef. Unfortunately for me the hotel hasn’t opened, so I didn’t get an opportunity to enjoy the experience.

“From a food and beverage perspective we’ll have our all-day dining restaurant, Msheireb Restaurant, with international cuisine, but obviously offering a lot of au-thentic Arab and Thai dishes – due to the make-up of the hotel,” said Ball.

The Nasma Lounge can be found on the rooftop with a remarkable panoramic vista of the cityscape, the Corniche and the Gulf. With a sheesha deck and exciting range of teas and kebabs on offer, it’s a very leisurely place to spend an evening with friends and family. For those who aren’t keen on heights, the Al-Jalsa Lounge is in the lobby and also offers some flavoured teas and coffees.

m

doha is about to be blown over by its first authentic thai hotel when the amari hotel opens its doors later this month. its special flavour – which will influence the uniQue breeze spa and its food and beverage profile – will give doha’s newest hotel an air of distinction.

B y r o r y C o e n

daMian ball

adq general manager

m a r k e t w a t c h


luxury tothe hilt

f ever a hotel would want to mimic its president, it’s the Hilton Doha. The diminutive Belgian was in Doha recently to officially open the unit and

he was laden with excitement. He was bubbling over with passion and enthusiasm about what this new incarnation could achieve. And his is exactly the kind of personality the hotel is striv-ing for.

“We are really proud to be here and very confident of success,” said President of Hilton Worldwide, Middle East and Africa (MEA), Rudi Jagersbacher, from the edge of his seat. “We are in a sustainable market and are located in one of the prime locations in the city, with-out a doubt. The country has so much potential. If I were Gordon Ramsay talking about Doha, I’d say: ‘You’ve just had your starters; the main course has yet to come.’”

The hotel stands on a beachfront in the Dip-lomatic Area of West Bay. As Jagersbacher explained, the hotel has a relatively small “footfall”, but it packs a lot into its punch. It didn’t compromise the reputation of the brand by stuffing the property with money-spinners such as rooms and restaurants. It’s a very func-tional and practical offering where every square inch seems to have a purpose. Redundant areas, which make a hotel look spacious, are sacrificed for larger leisure areas out back. This cosy interior makes it more habitable and sociable.

The main lobby is the social centre of the hotel and can facilitate groups of all shapes and sizes. You can order a coffee from the Ya Hala cafe or stroll into the Zawaya lounge for something a little stronger. From the lobby, you can walk down the stairs and outside into the beach area, which hosts the world-famous Trader Vic’s.

“I would say this is a first-class hotel which is very much geared towards a corporate cli-entele for four days and a leisure clientele for the tail-end of the week,” added the loquacious Jagersbacher, when I quizzed him about the concept of the hotel. “We were the first hotel to bring Trader Vic’s to London and nobody stut-tered when we discussed bringing it to Doha. We wanted this hotel to have a great food and beverage profile in an exciting atmosphere, and Trader Vic’s was an obvious choice to fa-cilitate this. It’s not so much an exclusive brand that only some people will feel comfortable – it should be an experience for everyone.”

Eforea, the Hilton Doha’s spa experience, combines three distinct ranges of treatments focused on organic, natural and scientific ap-proaches. It offers eight treatment rooms including an exclusive Thai massage room, a VIP room with a steam rasul chamber, a single treatment room with steam rasul and five multi

purpose treatment rooms. All contain a private shower facility.

Worldwide strategyThe Hilton brand is a global brand, and locating here is obviously a strategic move. It has over 30 million members, so its marketing and sales team are trying strategically to move these members around the globe like pieces on a chess board.

“We are growing tremendously in some regions – none more so than in MEA,” explained Jagersbacher. “We have 4,000 hotels world-wide, 56 of which are in this region, but we have 53 currently under construction. So being here is a two-way thing. We bring new cus-tomers and the world of Hilton to Qatar, and in return we are looking for our regional members to go to America and Europe.”

almost a decade after deciding to locate in the west bay area, the hilton doha is finally open. its regional president, rudi Jagersbacher, seems to think the choice of location has been Justified.

rudi JagersbaCher,

president, mea, hilton worldwide.

iB y r o r y C o e n



rans Orient Establishment and IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) celebrat-ed the grand opening of Crowne Plaza Doha – The

Business Park, the first Crowne Plaza hotel in Qatar, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony held last month.

Hotel owner HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani hosted the Emir, HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and a number of VIP guests at the private event, which was also attended by representatives from IHG.

The hotel is located in the heart of Doha’s banking district. Just two kilometres from Doha International Airport, it is part of the new Business Park area in Doha and fea-tures 378 rooms, including 288 hotel rooms and suites and 90 one- to two-bedroom resident suites.

Following the ribbon-cutting, guests were taken on a tour of the hotel and treated to a private lunch at Rodizio – the Brazilian

churrascaria restaurant at the hotel. Commenting at the grand opening, HE

Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad said: “Since it was signed in 2008, we have eagerly an-ticipated the opening of this hotel. We started out with a vision to develop a ho-tel that would offer unparalleled meeting and conference facilities and exciting new restaurants for the booming Doha market. This hotel does exactly that, and under IHG’s management we’re certain it will be a success.”

The hotel offers six food and beverage outlets: Rodizio, Brazilian churrascaria; Misturado, the Brazilian lounge; Aramede, a Mediterranean all-day dining restaurant; Savor, an elegant lounge; Liquidity, the live-ly pool-side lounge; and the refined Crowne Plaza Club Lounge. Guests can also enjoy a rooftop swimming pool, fitness centre and spa. The hotel’s iconic glass-domed meeting venue, The Event Centre, is situated in the middle of the park complex and contains two state-of-the-art ballrooms.

crowne plaza celebrates grand opening

arwish Technology, the technology arm of Dar-wish Holding, was recently recognised for the highest year-on-year sales growth

of Belkin products in the GCC and MENA region at Belkin’s yearly distributor gath-ering in Dubai. The award was presented by Patrick Hayati, Managing Director, and Youssef El Arif, National Account Manager from Belkin.

Belkin International, Inc. is a Californian manufacturer of consumer electronics that specialises in connectivity devices, head-quartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, Cali-fornia. Belkin sells in both the consumer and the commercial market, with various product lines including routers, iPod and iPhone accessories, mobile computing ac-cessories, surge protectors, switches, hubs (USB and computer network), cables, KVM switches, racks and enclosures, and other peripherals.

Belkin products are available at Fifty One East, iSpace (Apple Premium Reseller) and all Virgin Megastores branches, in addition to many electronics retailers in Qatar.

darwish recognised for growth

dt

he QS World MBA Tour is coming to Doha on Decem-ber 10. Some of the world’s top business schools, in-cluding Duke, Hult, IE, IN-

SEAD, Manchester, Nottingham, Queen’s and Wollongong will be at La Cigale Hotel to answer questions.

Research has shown that there has been

an explosion in employer demand for MBAs. This year, the tour has over $1.2 million worth of exclusive scholarships on offer for attendees of the fair. There will also be a pre-fair seminar on how to select a B-school, advice on application procedures and a GMAT seminar, and the first 100 at-tendees will receive a copy of the QS Top MBA Career Guide.

tmba faircomes to doha



Qatar steel inducted into hall of fame

alladium Group announced Qa-tar Steel as one of the winners of its 2012 Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame during its Annual Global Summit in Boston, USA recently.

The induction ceremony, recognising leading or-ganisations from North America, the Middle East and Asia, featured twelve organisations including Qatar Steel that have achieved dramatic perfor-mance outcomes through their strategy execution expertise. Palladium Group, Inc. is the global leader in strategy execution consulting and serves a broad range of private and public sector clients around the world. The Director and General Manager of Qatar Steel, Ali Bin Hassan Al-Muraikhi, stated: “It’s been a long journey since we first introduced Balanced Scorecard in 2003; the hard work and commitment of all our employees have culminated in receiving this prestigious award, as strategy ex-ecution is everybody’s job. We are happy to be the first company in Qatar, and also the first company in the steel industry in the region, to be inducted into the Palladium Hall of Fame.”

hether it’s lazing in the sun or cocooning by the fire that appeals most, Kempinski’s “Winter Breaks” make it possible, with up to 35% off

from now until March 15, 2013 on destina-tions around the globe. Take advantage of the warm and sunny winter time in Doha, ideal for short or long breaks, with friendly temperatures and clear blue skies.

Soak up the sun and get pampered like royalty in the 1001 Arabian Nights at Kem-pinski’s Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, or check in to chill during the Ice Polo World Cup at Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains in St Moritz in the Swiss Alps; explore the cap-ital of three empires and one of the world’s oldest cities with Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul, or follow the scent of spices at Siam Kempinski Hotel, Bangkok. The choices are endless, and with so many options on offer, one break may not be enough.

Whether it’s holiday resorts, legendary palaces or modern city hotels, Kempinski hotels are all different in style and person-

ality, drawing inspiration from the culture of their location, yet still united in their core philosophy: European flair at its best. Kempinski hotels provide guests with the

elusive “travel moment”, where individual experiences, personal journeys and affinity for location merge with personalised and discreet service.

kempinski unveils special winter offers

the gourmet festive show

elebrate the season at The One Restaurant at Landmark Mall Theatre, where you can tuck into a fabulous two- or three-course feast for only QR85 or QR99 respectively, while enjoying a glass of mulled festive punch and a coffee on the house! Available from November 15 to December 29. But if you’d like to entertain at

home or have an office party to plan, then why not call The One to cater for your Christmas event?

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t is now time for diners to rediscover fine dining mo-ments at La Mer Restaurant on the 23rd floor of the Ritz-Carlton Doha, with the re-

cent appointment of French Chef de Cuisine Olivier Catora. A wasabi and caviar cream for the most adventurous, a turbot steamed with rooibos flavour for the most “gourmet”, or a rose-flavoured millefeuille for the sweetest palates: dish after dish, the recipes of Chef Catora’s new menu transport food lovers from the sublime of the most dramatic Doha nights to the divine of a culinary and sensory journey. The restaurant offers several ren-dezvous with Chef Catora this year, includ-ing an exclusive Wine Maker Dinner on De-cember 4, all now open for reservations.

Continuing the tradition of providing new premium travel experiences, the Ritz-Carlton Doha has just been bestowed by three recent awards including Best Inter-national Hotel 2012, Best Executive Chef in the Middle East region for Executive Chef Richard Green, and Most Romantic Restau-rant in the peninsula. The new La Mer is an invitation to meet Qatar at its most sublime. Cluster General Manager Hoss Vetry com-ments: “The engagement and testimonials that we have received from our guests over a decade help us pass new frontiers in service excellence today. We are delighted to offer a new level of fine dining experiences to the visitors of La Mer.”

Soaring 115 metres above Qatar’s sea and desert landscape, the Ritz-Carlton Doha is an impressive symbol of the nation’s emergence as a destination for travellers to the Middle East. The 374-room, five-

star hotel fuses contemporary styling with classic Arab and European design. Located in the West Bay Lagoon district, the hotel has sweeping views that overlook the turquoise blue waters of the Arabian Gulf.

he Harley Davidson team visited the Tangia Moroc-can restaurant at Wynd-ham Grand Regency Doha recently as part of its spe-cial month of activities and

events aimed at promoting social activity and charity.

Eman Abela, the director of food and beverage at the hotel, commented: “Har-ley-Davidson is not just a motorcycle team – they have lots of charity activities aimed at educating young people about social as-pects and living in a charitable society.

“Since it opened, we have been doing our best to provide the finest services for our guests and we are so excited that the “Harley-Davidson team has chosen Tangia to enjoy this Moroccan night.”

food of the highest Quality

harley-davidson team visit tangia

i

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Chef olivier Catorala mer restaurant, ritz-carlton doha



he business world is con-stantly evolving, so it’s im-portant to stay abreast of the latest developments. Work-ing off stale methods and

routines is no good for you or your business, so retraining yourself in new business mod-els and architectures will not only retrain your skills but your motivation as well.

HEC Paris in Qatar – the region’s leading hub for executiv eeducation, offering a com-plete portfolio of management programmes including the first-ever international Execu-tive MBA (EMBA) in Qatar – is now offering a brand new programme starting in March 2013: the Specialised Master’s Degree in Strategic Business Unit Management.

The objectives of the programme are fourfold: to create effective leaders of busi-ness units; to develop management acumen;

to enhance leadership and people manage-ment skills and to foster a genuinely entre-preneurial approach to management.

This degree is aimed at professionals with a minimum age of 25, a four-year university degree (or equivalent) from a recognised seat of learning, and at least three years’ work experience. Typically, the participant will be a manager responsible for a business unit or profit centre, or one who is likely to occupy this role in the near future. The new programme will be covered in 18 months in the form of 14 three-day modules represent-ing a total of approximately 370 hours of teaching.

This part-time programme is divided into two components, core curriculum and professional thesis. The core curriculum is designed as a practical foundation for man-aging a business unit and gives participants

the opportunity to learn international best practice and focus on key areas relevant to their personal and professional develop-ment. It is made up of the 14 modules, which include areas of specialist study such as “Un-derstanding the Business Environment”, “Developing the Leader”, “Marketing Strat-egy” and “Negotiating for Success”.

The second component of the programme comprises a professional thesis, where each participant will submit a master’s thesis, under the supervision of a faculty member, on a topic relevant to their company or their career progression.

The Chief Operating Officer of HEC Paris in Qatar, Joshua Kobb, commented: “Man-agers who are capable of innovating, detect-ing new opportunities and implementing increasingly high-performance processes are a source of vital competitive advantage.”

ontinuing its aggressive global expansion plan, Con-solidated Gulf Company (CGC), Qatar’s leading tech-nology and engineering con-

glomerate, has announced the opening of its branch office in Abu Dhabi to cater to the UAE market. This is CGC’s fourth branch office outside Qatar in line with its interna-tional business development strategy.

Chief Operating Officer Anil Mahajan outlined the company’s strategic business goals: “Establishing an office in the Middle East’s oil and gas hub and the UAE’s capital clearly demonstrates our aggressive growth plan. To date, we have operations offices in Abu Dhabi and Colombia, besides running two branch offices in India’s metropolitan cities of Hyderabad and Mumbai through our fully owned subsidiary – CGC Converse Technologies.

“Our future expansion plan includes the opening of offices in Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia,” he continued. “It is a testi-mony to our global aspirations, inspired by Qatar’s growing stature. Our increasing business activities in the Middle East, In-dia, the Americas and Europe signify that the company is consolidating on its founda-tions as a technology and engineering solu-tions and services provider.”

Mahajan added: “With a solid footing and expertise in Qatar, it was only natural to le-

verage the company’s trained human capi-tal, solid infrastructure and international networks to explore opportunies overseas and strengthen our business horizon. With diversified interests we are already working on projects with several large enterprises in the region, besides implementing strategic projects in some other countries.

“Our Abu Dhabi branch is getting que-ries from ADNOC and EPC companies for our 3D Laser Scanning, Intelligent Model-ing Services and Manpower Outsourcing

Services. Large ELV projects are also un-der discussion. It is all set to serve as the cornerstone for our business flow in the UAE and the global market, offering total turnkey solutions and in-depth services ranging from consultancy to design, plan-ning, procurement, project management, enterprise technology infrastructure setup and commissioning, technical manpower outsourcing, business process outsourcing, and long-term operations and maintenance services.”

hec paris offers new management degree

cgc has aggressive expansion plans

c

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is a corporate golf tournament organised by advertising company Network Qatar, and it’s hoped that it will be renewed with greater prestige every year. The first event was probably the most difficult in terms of getting sponsors and generating interest, but in light of the numbers who turned out and the fun that was had by everyone, the tournament weekend looks set to become a fixture on golfers’ calendars from now on.

It’s a tournament designed to inspire em-ployees to be healthy and fit. It promotes team spirit, fitness and fun, providing a balance of work and play. By advocating an active and healthy lifestyle at work, the for-ward-thinking company is nurturing a new breed of athlete who can better sustain the business to win the corporate race.

The tournament attracted such top-class sponsors as Turkish Airlines, and Mehmed Caymaz, Country Manager of the airline, said: “Turkish Airlines’ relationship with sport stretches back to 2010 when we signed two major sponsorship deals with [FC Bar-celona and Manchester United]. We found Corporate League Qatar to be a promising event for our strategy and we are glad to be promoting the Qatar National Vision in some way. We look forward to continuing to sponsor sporting events in the future.”

The tournament saw CEOs and decision-makers from numerous corporates walking the course. Maersk Oil, Qatar Rail, QDVC, Hitachi, Descon Engineering, Redco Con-struction Al-Mana and Bluu Gulf were all

there vying for the top team prize.There were prizes for the top three play-

ers in all categories including vouchers from Jezequel and Turkish Airlines, which kindly offered return flights to Istanbul in its array

of prizes. The winning team also collected a fantastic trophy. There were special daily prizes for those who were “nearest the pin” on a certain hole, or who had the “longest drive” on another

s p o r t s f i l e

Qatar’SgolferS enJoy ClQ Weekendthe inaugural corporate league Qatar (clQ) golf tournament went ahead in glorious weather at doha golf club last month. over 180 people - including team and individuals entries - took to the course over the weekend. Qatar today reveals the winners of the various prizes that were on offer.

ClQ

WinnerS:teaM Category individual

firstdesCon engineering

faisal mir, abdul aziz al-boeinen,

tami al-haJri, sami qush.

seCondQdvC Qsv-1

thibaut piniguet, simon gabellec,

Jean-dominique lucas, stephen shephard.

thirdredCo ConstruCtion al-Manafaisal rashid al-naimi, omar al-naimi,

mohammed faisal al-naimi, mohammed

nasser al-kaabi.

Category 1 (handiCap 1-9)1st: ehab burki

2nd: faisal mir

3rd: donovan liddicoat

Category 2 (handiCap 10-18)1st: linus byberg

2nd: zul ihsan

3rd: denzil austin-little

Categoty 3 (handiCap 19+)1st: tassaduq bandey

2nd: ian dunn

3rd: mohammad taufiq

ladies1st: tasnem kazi

2nd: kimberly stiegler

3rd: uzma mir


he third edition of Aspire4Sport attracted over 4,200 visitors, almost 1,000 delegates, 92 speakers, and hundreds of exhibitors and media. It focused on three segments in particular - Construction, Science and Medicine, and Technology - while an expo gave over 170 exhibitors the opportunity to showcase the latest products and services in the sports industry.

Over 250 business-to-business meetings were conducted between partners, exhibi-tors and key organisations within the sport-ing industry, including the Qatar Olympic Committee, the UAE Olympic Committee, Aspire Zone Foundation, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, and the Public Au-thority for Youth and Sports, Kuwait.

The congress witnessed the signing of an MoU between HE Sheikh Saoud bin Abdul-Rahman Al Thani, Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, and his French counterpart, Jean-Pierre Mougin. The agreement allows the two entities to work towards excellence in sport, whether Olym-pic or non-Olympic, through the exchange of knowledge resources, managers, coaches and sports medicine experts.

“This MoU is the culmination of several small agreements between Qatari sports federations, including the handball and vol-leyball federations, and their French coun-terparts,” said Sheikh Saoud.

World Cup 2022 latestSenior members of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, the organisation tasked with planning for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, confirmed at the congress that all stadia to be built or renovated for the hosting of the tournament will be ready in time for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2021.

Speaking at the Congress, Technical Di-rector of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Commit-tee Yasir Al-Jamal said: “All stadia that we will use to host the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup will be completed and ready for the 2021 Confederations Cup. Qatar Founda-tion’s stadium will break ground in early 2013, and by the end of next year we will have in place stadium design consultants

for all our tournament stadiums. Construc-tion also started last month on the Mush-eirib Station, part of the new Doha metro system that will be an integral part of our transportation strategy for fans.”

Director of Communications and Mar-keting for the Qatar 2022 Supreme Com-mittee Nasser Al-Khater also updated As-pire4Sport delegates on preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup: “All our planning is focused squarely on hosting the FIFA World Cup in summer 2022. But if the in-ternational football community decides to switch the tournament to the winter, our plans will not be affected by this because all our stadiums will be ready by Confedera-tions Cup 2021.”

s p o r t s f i l e

that’S SportSbuSineSS!business, sport and entertainment collided at the aspire dome last month as hundreds of stakeholders met to discuss the recent innovations in sport. Qatar is at the cutting edge of business and sports tourism in the run up to world cup 2022, and the four-day congress reflected its commitment to putting on a good show.

president of the Jordan football association and vice president of fifa prince ali bin al-hussein on a tour of the aspire4sport exhibition ground, accompanied by the president of the qatar football association, he sheikh hamad bin khalifa bin ahmed al thani, and executive director of aspire4sport ward abdullah. the aspire4sport conference and exhibition were held at the aspire dome last month.

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d o h a d i a r y

arab Spring freeSexpreSSion

B y o l A d i A B

from a story about arab hip hop to one about an egyptian delivery boy, three dtff films tell strong and emotional stories about the arab world’s most current issue – the arab spring.

for its distinguished cinematography, its remarkable focus on its subJect matter, and its discussion of a contemporary language of youth culture that is in alignment with the social and political changes cur-rently being witnessed by the arab world, the Jury granted a special mention to the film lyrics revolt, by shannon farhoud, ashlene ramadan, melanie fridgant and rana al-khatib.

D E C E m b E r 2 0 1 2 Qatar today 10 1

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wave struck the Arab world – a revolutionary wave the media dubbed “the Arab Spring”, which started in Tunisia in December 2010, and, like a domino effect, spread across the pan-Arab region as citizens challenged the establishments of their countries. This bloody revolution continues to this day, as rebel forces fight against the Assad regime in Syria. It drew the attention not only of international media and governments but of regional filmmakers as well.

Of the 19 films in the “Made in Qatar” section of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF), the annual cultural event of the Doha Film Institute (DFI), only three films discuss the Arab Spring. Lyrics Revolt, Hys-toria and January 28 each depict very dif-ferent narratives but they all relate to the Arab world’s most current issue – the Arab Spring.

“The Made in Qatar programme embrac-es the multi cultural essence of Doha, and from the submissions we received it is clear that the filmmakers in the country are con-sciously aware of what is happening around them – they know what their audiences are looking for and try to explore it in the most original way,” says Chadi Zeneddine, a resi-dent filmmaker and programmer at DFI.

Lyrics RevoltThe Made in Qatar programme opened with a red-carpet screening of Lyrics Revolt, a documentary by four journalism and com-munications graduates from North West-ern University in Qatar, Shannon Farhoud, Ashlene Ramadan, Melanie Fridgant and Rana Al-Khatib.

“Our film is about the Arab Spring and Arab hip hop,” says 21-year-old Palestinian Al Khatib. “It basically covers how Arab hip-hop affected the Arab Spring last year. A lot of international news channels were cov-ering Arab hip hop during the Arab Spring and some were even saying that the revolu-tions were directly correlated to Arab hip hop whilst others claimed that Arab hip hop started some of the revolutions.”

The filmmakers travelled to Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Jordan and produced the film in just two weeks.

“We found that the music was directly about what was happening on the street and it was helping to voice people’s opinions. A lot of artists were getting in trouble and ac-tually jailed for it,” says 23-year-old Syrian-American Farhoud.

These young filmmakers now run their own company, Torath Media Production (TMP). Lyrics Revolt is their first TMP proj-ect and a sequel to their first Arab hip hop documentary, Broken Records. The docu-mentary features about 15 Arab artists in-cluding rappers, beatboxers and graffiti art-ists. Rap artists Omar Offendum, Arabian Knightz, Farah and Malikah, who were fea-tured in the documentary, flew in to Qatar to sing at a rap concert, which followed the screening of Lyrics Revolt.

“Making this film changed us and made us stronger,” says Al-Khatib. “We felt like real journalists for the first time because we had no fixers and no advisers. We’re doing

this all on our own.”The girls, however, faced many issues, as

Farhoud explains: “When we were shooting in Tahrir Square, a bunch of guys came to us and started yelling: ‘You shouldn’t be shoot-ing things like this because it doesn’t repre-sent the revolution.’ And when we were in Jordan, they were going to confiscate our camera at the airport but because we are young girls, we got away with it.”

The girls didn’t get to interview all the artists they had hoped to include in their documentary. They stayed in each country for no more than three days. However, they felt that all the artists they worked with were very helpful and assisted them with any problems they encountered.

January 28January 28, 2011, also known as the “Fri-day of Anger” or “Day of Anger” was one of the most important days of the Egyptian revolution as mass demonstrations called for an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s government.

...and the “Made in Qatar” award goes to...

... a film that is distinguished by its courage and transparency. using smooth cinematic language, it captures a segment of qatari society in a humanitarian way, and its protagonist is extraordinary for expressing his ideas with spontaneity as he refuses racial, ethnic and tribal discrimination. the “made in qatar” award goes to the short documentary bader, by sara al-saadi, maaria assami and latifa al-darwish.

a


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Thirty-two-year-old Egyptian director, Sherif Milad talks about concept of his six-minute film:

“I have always perceived January 28 (the third day of the revolution) as the most im-portant day in the whole 18-day period of the Egyptian revolution,” he claims. “If it wasn’t for that day, I don’t think the tyrant regime that ruled Egypt for over 30 years would have ever collapsed. The thousands of lives that were lost defending the coun-try and humanity on that day are the prime reason for the escalation of the revolution, hence the fall of the regime. All Egyptians owe their freedom to these brave souls to whom I am mainly dedicating my film to.”

Milad has portrayed the significance of January 28 in a single-shot drama through the eyes of Tamer El-Masry, an ordinary delivery man, who was arrested during a police clash, questioned and tortured by the national security service, as he faced treason charges.

Milad shot his film in one day and pro-duced it in a month, but what he found most challenging was writing the script.

“I wanted to bring out every aspect of Tamer’s background, character and mo-tives, relating it to what happened on that particular day of the revolution, in a three- to four-minute monologue,” he says.

Every film has a message, and in January 28 the message is hope. “We should always have hope for tomorrow because it will def-initely be different; nothing lasts – even a 30-year oppressive regime,” says Milad.

HystoriaHystoria is an unusual name for an unusual film consisting of a man, a book and a fly. But in this film, pictures truly speak louder than words.

“When I first imagined the film,” ex-plains the Lebanese director, Youssef Ja-bre, “which is a man sitting in a room read-ing peacefully, I couldn’t isolate it from the sounds of the weapons, the screams of the mothers and children, and all the noises associated with the Arab revolutions.

“We usually cannot control the voices and sound that surround us in real life. However, this is not a limitation in cinema.

Therefore, as a filmmaker, I chose to put these voices of violence in a television set in the main character’s bedroom. And at one point in the film, he mutes these voices but then he realises that they have come back again, but in a different form: the noise of the fly,” he says.

Other than finding inspiration in his love for filmmaking, Jabre found it in a poem by an award-winning Palestinian poet and au-thor, Mahmoud Darwish.

“My film is raising a lot of questions. One of them is, will [the character in the film] find the ‘exit’ out of this circle of violence?” says Jabre.

With very little dialogue, Hystoria is strong on imagery. The film concludes with fierce images of the Arab revolution, which Jabre uses to send a message.

“At the end of the day, when we are in front of a television we are spectators, and the spectator is a very strong player in this game; he has the control because he has the remote control. In a fraction of a second he can zap away from the gory images of real life offered by the news channels to the not-real gory images that a movie channel is offering him. For any spectator, with time, and the amount of violent imagery he sees, nothing changes. In both cases, he will stay a passive spectator,” says Jabre.

A change is going to comeThe film industry in the Arab world has changed in recent years. In the eyes of Mi-lad, “the freedom of expression created by the Arab Spring is having a great effect, especially on the creativity of the current works”.

For Jabre, “Andre Bazin says that ‘cinema preserves things’, so what we need here the most is to preserve our Arab culture, and Qatar and DFI are playing a huge role in making it happen.”

Though the revolutionary wave hit the Arab region for similar reasons – ending tyrannical and dictatorial regimes – each country has a different story to tell, which the narratives of these three films depict. Lyrics Revolt, Hystoria and January 28 are films which act as wakeup calls for coun-tries within and beyond the Arab world.

made in Qatar films8 billion

a short narrative by riad makdessi

al MuQana3

a short narrative by tarek abu-esber

angel in June

a feature narrative by Jan xavier

pacle

bader

a short documentary by sara al-

saadi, maaria assami and latifa al-

darwish

brains of eMpowerMent

a short narrative by amna al-khalaf

Crazy CalM

a short narrative by noor ahmed

yaqub

ghazil - the story of rashed & Jawaher

a short narrative by sarah al-derham

his naMe

a short documentary by hend

fakhroo

hystoria

a short narrative by youssef Jabre

i

a short narrative by ali al-anssari

January 28

a short narrative by sherif milad

loCkdown: red Moon esCape

a feature narrative by mohammed al-

ibrahim and ahmed al-baker

lyriCs revolt

a feature documentary by rana al-

khatib, ashlene ramadan, shannon

farhoud and melanie fridgant

oMra with friends

a short documentary by ibrahim arar

plan b

a short narrative by tom hines

rain

a short narrative by rahab elewaly

theatre night

a short narrative by ali ali

transient

a short narrative by robert arlo

deguzman and kennedy somera

the worker

a short narrative by manal ahmed

“the thousands of lives that were lost defending the country and humanity on that day are the prime reason for the

escalation of the revolution, hence the fall of the regime.”


d o h a d i a r y

Repentant was selected for its powerful emotional thrust and for the subtle man-ner in which it treats the complexity of its characters at a tragic moment in their exis-tence. Tracking a former jihadist and a sepa-rated couple whose lives were destroyed five years earlier, it is a deeply emotional drama that puts the audience into the heads of the troubled onscreen lives, all the way to a stag-gering finale. Though cinema is awash in Islamic fundamentalist themes, Allouache goes beyond mere issues with his intimate approach and narrowed focus.

The DTFF jury presented Joana Had-jithomas and Khalil Joreige with the award for the Best Feature Documentary Award for their production of The Lebanese Rocket Society and they dedicated it to the dream-ers behind the Middle East’s first rocket launched by Lebanon in the 1960s.

Film lovers in Doha voted for the Chinese feature film Full Circle, the story of a group of irrepressible senior citizens who decide to enter a reality show on television, and Searching for Sugar Man, a documentary on the life of Rodriguez, the 70s US rock icon who never was, as the ‘Best of the Fest’ at

Audiences at DTFF had the opportu-nity to vote for their favourite feature and

movieS Weaved magiC over dohaalgerian filmmaker merzak allouache scooped the best narrative feature film award for the emotional the repentant during the fourth doha tribeca film festival (dtff), the annual cultural event of doha film institute (dfi), arab films competition awards ceremony at the al rayyan theatre in souQ waQif last month.

the

Merzak allouaChe, director of the repentant – voted best narrative feature film at the doha tribeca film festival last month.


d o h a d i a r y

documentary at DTFF screenings. Both films received QR182,000 ($50,000) each as prize money.

The “Made in Qatar” award went to the short documentary Bader, by Sara Al-Saadi, Maaria Assami and Latifa Al-Darwish, which “is distinguished by its courage and trans-parency”, claimed the jury.

DFI Chief Executive Officer, Abdulaziz Al-Khater said: “We had set stringent qual-ity standards for the Arab Film Competition this year - from the short-listing process to evaluation. We congratulate the winners as well as every filmmaker who has been part of this amazing cinema journey, marked by several compelling portraits of how Arab filmmakers react to the society and world around them. The thematic intensity of their films, their courage to push the boundaries and their focus on telling our stories with conviction to the rest of the world will be an inspiration to every emerging filmmaker. The competition is a reflection of our focus to strengthen the regional film industry by setting solid benchmarks of excellence.”

With total prize money of over QR1.6 mil-lion the Arab Film Competition had its larg-est selection of 27 films this year, comprising seven documentaries, seven narrative fea-tures and 13 shorts from 10 Arab countries, including first time entries to the competi-tion from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Feature Narrative jury was headed by renowned Tunisian actress Hend Sabry. The other jury members included: Dr. Emad Amralla Sultan, Cultural Advisor to Katara Cultural Village; Indian director Ashutoush Gowarikar; Turkish filmmaker Yesim Ustao-glu and Algerian author Mohammed Mou-lessehoul.

The jury for Documentary Narrative com-prised: Syrian documentary producer, and scriptwriter Hala Al Abdalla; Qatari director Hafiz Ali Ali and Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat. The short films at the compe-tition were evaluated by Joana Hadjithomas, Tahani Rached, and Nadir Mokneche.

Appraising the “Made in Qatar” showcase were: Qatari author Wedad Al Kawari; Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker, Haifaa Al Mansour; and founder of the Qatar Fine Arts Society and visual artist Faraj Daham.

The fourth edition of DTFF opened to a colourful start at Souq Waqif, with film tal-ent from Qatar, the Arab world and interna-tional cinema walking the red carpet gala of the opening film, The Reluctant Fundamen-talist, financed by DFI.

The opening ceremony was attended by Mira Nair, the director of The Reluctant Fun-damentalist; Mohsin Hamid, the renowned author, whose eponymous book the film is based on; Ami Boghani, script co-writer; Meesha Shafi, musician and actress; and Abu Muhammad and Fariduddin Ayaz, the Qawwal Brothers, who composed the film’s soundtrack. Also walking the red carpet was Robert De Niro, whose latest film Silver Lin-ings Playbook is screened at DTFF.

Over seven days, the festival hosted over 200 screenings of more than 87 films from 34 nations across the three venues including at Souq Waqif, Katara Cultural Village and the Museum of Islamic Arts..

Highlighting DFI’s mandate to sustain film education and appreciation, DTFF also had a series of industry events and panel discussions evaluating the diverse aspects of filmmaking - from story development, im-plementation of technology, to distribution.

DTFF’s ‘Doha Talks’ featured a series of 13 thought-provoking industry events, special screenings, and extended Q&A sessions with renowned filmmakers including Mira Nair and Robert De Niro.

The family and youth-centred activities included Family Day Screenings, kid’s red carpet experiences, DFI Kids Access Pro-gramme, stage performances, roaming en-tertainment and performers, arts and crafts workshops, sports, storytelling, puppetry, games, film-making activities and perfor-mances from local schools and community groups among others

arab filM awards:

narrative features

best filM

the repentant (algeria, france),

directed by merzak allouache

best filMMaker

nabil ayouch for horses of god

(morocco)

best perforManCe

ahmed hafiane for professor

(tunisia, france, qatar)

speCial Mention:

goodbye Morocco (france, belgium),

directed by nadir moknhche

doCuMentary features

best filM

lebanese rocket society (lebanon,

france, qatar), directed by Joana

hadJithomas and khalil Joreige

best filMMaker

hanan abdalla for in the shadow of

a Man (egypt)

speCial Mention

damien ounouri for fidai

short filMs:

best filM

the forgotten (syria, qatar),

directed by ehab tarabieh

developMent award

sanctity (saudi arabia),

directed by ahd

speCial Mention

a day in 1959 (lebanon), directed by

nadim tabet

Made in Qatar:

developMent award

bader, directed by sara al-saadi, maaria

assami, latifa al-darwish

speCial Mention

lyrics revolt by shannon farhoud,

ashlene ramadan, melanie fridgant,

rana khaled al khatib


d o h a d i a r y

thefirSt ClaSS fantaSya wise man once said to me: “the difference between truth and fiction is that the latter has to make sense.” a fictional scenario might seem so unrealistic that it’s passed off as a nonsense, yet the truth has no such limitations – it can break all barriers of reason. Qatar airways is using this philosophy to bring its new 787 dreamliner first class experience to new levels.

B y r o r y C o e n


d o h a d i a r y

atar Airways (QA) has recently deployed its initial batch of shiny new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, and its marketing team al-lowed the media to experience its First Class service last month – which was literally a flying return trip to Dubai.

Flying first-class doesn’t come with a manual – you have to learn things as you go along through observation and with embar-rassing questions. No amount of economy travel can prepare you. I had travelled first-class only once before, and I was hop-ing to take the lessons I learned from that experience into this one.

I got to the premium terminal well ahead of schedule – I wanted to get a proper feel for the lounge – and I checked in and went through emigration and security within a couple of moments. From here I was brought to the premium lounge, which is just a couple of minutes’ walk from the First Class departure gate.

The first thing I noticed was the sense of quiet and lonesomeness about the place compared to the regular terminals. It’s a rather vast space with little or no significant activity. Such is the cost of first-class travel, many customers are corporates who are travelling alone. The seating configuration in the premium lounge restaurant was cus-tomised for this: I don’t think I noticed one table that was set for more than two. The only couple I did notice hardly said a word to each other, preferring to interact with their smart devices instead.

I reflected that I was no different, as I put my device into my pocket and shook some salt onto my bowl of fresh pea soup – the first time I had ever tasted that blend, and I hoped it wouldn’t be the last. I followed this down with a concoction of slightly

heavier Arab and Indian offerings. As full as a bingo bus, I decided I would retire to an armchair overlooking the apron, where I was able to enjoy a drink as I read the morning newspaper.

The quick-witted marketing staff at Qa-tar Airways decided to fly us out to Dubai in economy and back to Doha in luxury. On-the-record they said it was to give me a sense of both environments, but I’m pretty sure it was a deliberate tactic to slingshot my senses from the insipid arena of econo-my into the fantasy of First Class.

Very privateWhat has changed with the new 787? The seating configuration is now 1-2-1, with each stable having a higher degree of pri-vacy and immediate access to an aisle. It’s a little more difficult to engage in conver-sation with a fellow traveller, however, as the stables are designed more to maximise your comfort and privacy than to promote general chit-chat.

This is all well and good for those who want to relax, but when I noticed a mid-dle-aged man playing Tetris on his enter-tainment system I wondered what it was all about. He was like somebody who was itching for more intellectual stimulation, and I feared if the flight was any longer than an hour he might have started talking to himself.

Meanwhile, I had only an hour to figure my stable out so either side of my meal I opened mini-compartments and pressed buttons and tested features. I was like a kid with a brand new toy. I found out I was able to stay fully connected through Wi-Fi and GSM telephony, so sending both SMS and MMS messages wasn’t a problem.

Each stable is equipped with USB, MP3 and other charger ports, including laptop power outlets.

The seating configuration in economy is 3-3-3, and this architecture is designed so passengers can actually move freely. It has welcoming entryways, larger windows and vaulted ceilings. The stowage bins have been made larger, which minimises the need to store bags under the seat.

The new 787 is powered by General Elec-tric and Rolls-Royce engines – the GEnx and the Trent 1000. It is the first compos-ite airliner with the fuselage assembled in one-piece composite barrel sections in-stead of the multiple aluminium sheets and some 50,000 fasteners on existing aircraft. The higher aspect ratio that this allows, combined with efficiency-enhanced raked wing tips, allows it to be one of the fastest commercial aircraft out there, whilst also consuming less fuel than its competitors.

Each one of the 232 seats throughout the aircraft – first class and economy – has a touch screen Android system, where pas-sengers are able to navigate through an in-teractive service offering more than 1,000 movies, television programmes, and music and gaming entertainment options. The dy-namic mood lighting and the composite de-sign of the Dreamliner with lighter materi-als ensures that passengers are less fatigued and more refreshed, as the cabin pressure is 2,000 feet closer to ground level, with an air purification system that is cleaner and healthier than many other aircraft.

Qatar Airways has also employed four award-winning chefs – Ramzi Chwayri, Vineet Bhatia, Tom Aitkens and Nobu Mat-sushisa - to create a new range of signature dishes for its first class passengers

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gew socialising business

series of entrepreneurship-driven workshops were held at the Global Entrepre-neurship Week (GEW) last month, which were aimed

at giving young entrepreneurs some much-needed knowledge in the area. Some of the workshops included in the programme were Youth and Social Entrepreneurship, and Individual Leadership and Entrepre-neurship.

Silatech is the official host organisa-tion for Qatar, and its activities included a Career Guidance Workshop that focused on the importance of networking, and an Ambassadors Panel to get feedback from young people on how to best develop Qatar Ta3mal, Silatech’s soon-to-be-launched web portal for career guidance and entre-preneurship in Qatar. Silatech also engaged the public in a discussion of Kiva Arab Youth, an innovative project to crowd-finance young entrepreneurs throughout the Arab world.

souk waQif boutiQue hotels open

innovators to gather in doha

nder the patronage of HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Souq Waq-if Boutique Hotels marked its grand opening with a new

brand identity last month. The exclusive ceremony was also attended by the Crown Prince, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khal-ifa Al Thani.

Showcasing a creative edge that is syn-onymous with the Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels brand, the opening ceremony fea-

tured the first immersive 3D mapping show in Doha, revealing the story behind each of the Boutique Hotels.

The ceremony showcased all five opera-tional hotels, including the unveiling of Al Jasra, the latest boutique destination, con-taining 22 rooms and four suites.

Currently Al Najada, Al Mirqab, Aru-maila, Musheireb and Al Jasra Boutique Hotels are operational, while additional boutique offerings will be revealed to the public in 2013.

lans have been revealed for an exhibition as yet unseen in Qatar. The organisers say that the new exhibition, In-novate Qatar, will gather in-

novators, investors and tech enthusiasts at Doha Exhibition Centre next March 18-20.

Sheikh Fahed bin Mohammed Al Thani, CEO of the renowned Al Fahad Group and Chairman of Innovate Qatar, is also the strategic mind behind the new exhibition. He explained that by introducing a cross-sectoral exhibition focused on innovation and new technologies, the organisers hope

to showcase innovative solutions being de-veloped in Qatar and technologies aimed at Qatar’s future growth needs, as well as end-user technologies and products that are changing the way we live and will shape our future.

Addressing a void in the market, Innovate Qatar aims at being a platform to showcase and celebrate innovation in the country. By bringing together both global and local players on the innovation scene, the ex-hibition aims to bridge the gap between speaking about innovation and actually innovating.

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atari Khaled Abu Jassoum won MBC4’s “Stars of Sci-ence” Series 4 last month. With a combined jury and public score of 30.9%, he

walked away with a first prize of $300,000 to help develop his invention “Tahi”.

Qatari isa star of science

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Qta showcase the country at wtm

atar Tourism Authority (QTA) took centre stage at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London last month. The Qatar pavilion

was promoting the country as one of the world s most up-and-coming destinations and a central hub in the region for business, leisure, culture, education and sport. QTA showcased a series of traditional Qatari cul-tural activities as well as henna and Arabic hospitality with coffee and dates.

Qatar was strongly represented by a large number of strategic partners including the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, the Cultural Village Foundation, Katara, Souq Waqif, the Diplomatic Club, in addition to a range of tour operators and hotels.

Staged annually in London, WTM is the leading global event for the travel indus-try. A vibrant four-day business to busi-ness event, WTM presents a diverse range of destinations from all over the world and travel industry sectors to UK and Interna-tional travel trade professionals.

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anaging Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ma-washi, Ahmad Nasser Sraiya Al-Kaabi was named the fourth most powerful CEO

in the Arab region by Forbes Middle East

magazine. It also ranked Mawashi’s man-agement on the list of Top Executive Man-agements. The award saw more than 324 entries from companies in the Arab world. Al-Kaabi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Busi-ness from Qatar University.

mawashi honoured by forbes

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sami yusuf launches new album in Qatarritish singer and songwriter Sami Yusuf announced the official launch of his new album, Salaam, in Doha last month.

The launch was celebrated by an album signing and a meet and greet with fans at Virgin Megastores in Villaggio Mall.

Yusuf is set to perform at Katara’s Am-phitheater on December 6 and ahead of the concert, Katara will host auditions for young talented singers and instrumental-

ists to perform their solo song during the concert.

Recently, Yusuf was invited to become the first Global Ambassador for Silatech, a Qatar-based initiative promoting entrepre-neurial skills and open access to capital and markets for large-scale job creation in the MENA region. His support of humanity to reach out those in need through his music has earned him a massive following in the Middle East, North African nations and South-East Asia.

t the halfway stage of its four-year mission to improve the quality of education and build resil-ience to natural disasters

in schools in Nepal, Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) in partnership with Vodafone Qa-tar worked in 22 villages in the Kailali Dis-trict of western Nepal. The Vodafone-ROTA partnership, through the Disaster Risk Re-duction (DRR) project, has improved the lives of 68,000 students and 1,450 teachers in 150 schools since 2010.

Aiming to increase knowledge and aware-ness of DRR, ROTA and its partners have to date provided training for 950 students in 37 schools, given Education in Emer-gencies training to 100 teachers, brought together 20 head teachers for a three-day school safety training programme and helped schools raise an emergency fund of $5,000 (QR18,200) to be used when natural disasters strike.

nepal receiving aid

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pearl diving attracts great interesthe Second Annual Dhow Exhibition, which honours traditional transportation along the shores of the Ara-bian Gulf, was held at Kat-

ara last month. Held under the patronage of HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the event attracted thousands of vis-itors and brought together 100 dhows from Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman. A key highlight of the festival was the pearl diving competition, which was won by Al-Rayyan from Qatar.

Visitors were entertained by a variety of activities including a light show, a rowing competition, performances of traditional music by renowned regional bands, dhow cruises, fireworks, children’s workshops and museum displays from galleries across the Gulf. Additionally, a series of lectures on the history of the dhow provided visitors

with a deeper understanding of the trade. A library offering further anecdotes of infor-mation was also made available to visitors at Katara’s Traditional Village.

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hope for Qatar photographic exhibition en-titled “Hope” was launched at the Sheraton Park last month. The exhibition showcased a collection of

work by the renowned photographer Reza and marked the beginning of a series of educational programmes that took place in parallel with the 2012 WISE Summit

HE Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, Ph.D., Chairman of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), launched the exhibi-tion with the photographer.

Hope presents 80 photographs, includ-ing three images from the latest WISE Book, Learning a Living: Radical Innova-tion in Education for Work, which examines the relationship between education and

the world of work. In addition to the photo exhibition, an educational programme has been organised that includes opportunities for personal meetings with Reza and others.

Activities include a guided tourof the exhi-bition with the photographer for students, screenings of documentaries, and a confer-ence and debate with Reza.

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walking for diabetes

ver 5,000 people took part in the third annual Beat Di-abetes Walkathon organised by the retail and hospital-ity conglomerate Landmark

Group on the Corniche last month.The walkathon marked the culmination

of a year-long timeline of diabetes aware-ness drives and activities. Walkathons were also held during November in Kuwait, Dubai and India.

The Qatar edition of the walkathon was organised under the patronage of the Qatar Diabetes Association, a member of Qatar

Foundation. Santosh Pai, Chief Operating Officer, and Suresh Sarma, General Manag-er, Landmark Group Qatar, joined support-ers on the two-kilometre walk.

Dr Abdulla Al-Hamaq and Dr Sharoud Al-Jundi from the Qatar Diabetes As-sociation also participated in the walk, reiterating the organisation’s support for the cause.

The walkathon was preceded by a fort-night-long wellness campaign of free blood glucose tests for mall visitors in Barwa Pla-za Mall and Al Asmakh Mall, in which more than 4,000 people enrolled.

countdownhas begun

he countdown is on for the fourth General Conference of the Arab Union of Elec-tricity, a seminar on “Invest-ment Opportunities in the

Electrical Industries in Arab Countries” and the seventh Exhibition of Electrical Industries in the Arab World. They will be held in Qatar from January 7-9.

The conferences and associated events are being organised by the Arab Union of Electricity, the Arab League and the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corpora-tion (Kahramaa) in cooperation with In-teractive Business Network.

It is considered an event of importance in view of the leading role of the Arab Union of Electricity in the Arab electricity sector, the level of official attendance at the conference, and the expected contribu-tion of public sector enterprises and com-panies in its deliberations and the associ-ated events.

barwa bank launches service in style

arwa Bank launched its pri-vate banking proposition in style last month, as it made a significant contribution to the future of children’s

education and revealed an exclusive ex-hibition of coloured diamonds, co-hosted with renowned fashion house and jewel-ler, Asprey of London at the Museum of Islamic Art.

During the evening, guests took the opportunity to view an exceptional col-lection of rare, coloured diamonds, all of which were accompanied by designs in-spired by Islamic art, created exclusively for this exhibition. In addition, finished jewellery sets were also displayed.

A highlight of the evening was the char-ity auction of two jewellery designs made especially for the occasion, which raised QR700,000 for the charity Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) and the new charity initia-tive Educate a Child, launched the next morning by HH Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser.

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bsharQ introduces sea lounge

dding to the vibrant gastro-nomic mix of Doha s culi-nary scene, Sharq Village and Spa has introduced Sea Lounge ideally located on

the water s edge, lulled by the sound of the waves and dozes in the sun before all five senses come alive.

The essence of Sea Lounge is to create a place for people to meet, relax and lounge, said Carsten Fritz, General Manager of

Sharq Village and Spa. For diners who prefer loftier views, Sea Lounge offers an elegant and refined location ideal for both business functions and casual gatherings, he added.

Guests will be able to experience chef’s special menu, starting from tapas such as patatas bravas, fried calamari with aioli sauce, marinated beef, or lamb cutlets from the grill, to the impressive range of cock-tails, long drinks and tropical drinks.

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Best in travel 2013: top 10 citiesas 2012 winds up, you’re no doubt looking forward to the new year and where it might take you. with the world’s developing nations becoming more practical places to visit of late, travellers are tempted with much more choice and diversity than they once were. lonely planet has revealed its top 10 cities to visit for 2013.

san franCisCo, California –darling of aMeriCa’s west Coastfamous for hills, earthquakes and a penchant for

liberal politics, san francisco continues to attract

kindred spirits, eagerly embracing all newcomers

to the bosom of its cultural melange. if you need an

extra incentive to get yourself to san francisco,

the city has an ace up its sleeve – the 34th america’s

cup is coming to fog city next year, and big changes

and upgrades are afoot all along san francisco’s

heaving waterfront.

derry, northern ireland – paCked Calendar for uk City of Culturederry is the uk city of culture 2013, which means

this vibrant, historic walled city is undergoing a

renaissance. the year will see a wealth of cultural

events, including the 10-day all-ireland fleadh,

the world’s biggest irish festival. derry also

plays host to the always-controversial turner

prize. the city will buzz throughout the year with

hundreds of other events, from pageants to music to

contemporary dance.

aMsterdaM, the netherlands – golden age CharMer prepares to partyamsterdam always cast a spell on travellers,

but the party ramps up big-time in 2013 when more

anniversaries than you can shake a herring at

coincide. for instance, the famed canal ring turns

400 years old, it’s vincent van gogh’s 160th birthday

and the 40th for his colour-swirled museum, and the

riJksmuseum re-opens after a 10-year renovation.

it all adds up to a slew of celebratory concerts,

exhibits and street fests grooving throughout 2013.

beiJing, China – Capital on the Cusp of greatnessbeiJing remains the cultural and artistic centre

of china as it tentatively balances a multitude of

(growing) populations and subcultures. there’s a

palpable sense of change in the air, though no-one

quite knows what to expect. china is on the cusp of

true greatness, and one day people will look back

and say it all started here.

hyderabad, india –old City reCapturing past glorieshyderabad was once the capital of a filthy-rich

princely state, but after years of being out of

the limelight, several palaces in the old city have

recently been refurbished. many monuments and

buildings are being fixed up, but the city – and

many of its architectural gems – are still off the

radar, which keeps the masses at bay. elegant and

blossoming, but also weathered and undiscovered,

hyderabad’s old city is ripe for exploration.

ChristChurCh, new zealand – rising froM the rubble with flairwith a unique opportunity to rethink urban form,

new zealand’s “garden city” is bouncing back with

a new energy and inventiveness. foodies will be

surprised by the variety of what is on offer, from

burmese to turkish to local specialities. live-music

venues have popped up all over the place, and

innovative artworks fill empty demolition sites.

2013 will be an intriguing year to Join the rebirth.

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hobart, tasMania – harbour town beCoMes hipthe sleepy harbour town reputation

attracts a solid “outdoorsy” set, but

the recent arrival of the world-

class mona museum has the waters

rippling, hip tourists flocking and

hobart rousing itself from its

slumber. 2013 will see the new kid on

the block team up with the tasmanian

museum and art gallery (tmag) for

the theatre of the world exhibition

curated by Jean-hubert martin,

former director of the centre

georges pompidou in paris.

addis ababa, ethiopia – ethiopian Metropolis evolving apaCelike the ethiopian marathon runners,

addis ababa is evolving at a fast pace.

the fact that the country’s economic

growth should reach almost 5%

in 2013 helps create a feeling of

confidence and stamina. founded

little more than a century ago, addis

ababa, which in amharic means ‘new

flower’, is not only the diplomatic

capital of africa and a thriving

metropolis, but also a groovy city

that takes pride in its multifaceted

assets.

Montreal, Canada – Melange of Cultures Marries brains and beautyhaving recently gained high ratings

as the world’s happiest and hippest,

montreal continues to impress.

spring 2013 marks the launch of the

new rio tinto alcan planetarium,

rounding out the ambitious “space

for life” proJect. and montreal’s

social calendar is also bubbling

over with the unveiling of the grevin

wax museum at the eaton centre, the

50th-anniversary celebrations of

the place des arts, and the new point

zero hotel, owned by the eponymous

fashion label.

puerto iguazu, argentina – MuCh More than Just a waterfallthe foz do iguazu waterfall has

won its place among the prestigious

new seven wonders of nature,

following a worldwide 2011 poll. this

is a phenomenal waterfall, spread-

eagled along the argentine-brazil

border. so tourism to these falls is

set to morph, which is good news for

puerto iguazu, the main tourist base

hereabouts.

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Documents

Qatar Today December 2012