Day: June 21, 2021

ABU DHABI, The United Arab Emirates has strongly denounced the Iran-backed terrorist Houthi militia’s systematic attempts to attack Khamis Mushait in Saudi Arabia with a booby-trapped drone intercepted by the Coalition Forces.

In a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) today, the UAE affirmed that these recurrent terrorist attacks reflect the Houthi militia’s blatant disregard for the international community and all international laws and norms.

The Ministry also urged the international community to take an immediate and decisive stance to stop these recurrent acts of terror, which threaten critical and civil facilities in the Kingdom, the world’s energy supplies and the global economy.

“The recurring threat of these attacks in recent days is a grave escalation that represents new evidence of these militias’ attempts to undermine security and stability in the region,” the statement added.

The UAE has renewed its full solidarity with the Kingdom over these subversive terrorist attacks and reiterated its stand against all threats to the Kingdom’s security, stability and the safety of its citizens and residents.

The statement emphasised that the security of the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are indivisible and that any threat facing the Kingdom is considered by the Emirates a threat to its security and stability.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Committee has approved the updated requirements for operating children’s nurseries in the emirate, effective from 1st July 2021.

The decision follows a review of detailed statistics related to COVID-19 cases in children’s nurseries in Abu Dhabi, which showed a consistently low infection rate. The decision also follows consultation with nursery operators and parents, taking into consideration their needs and circumstances.

Updated procedures for operating nurseries in the emirate include the continuation of operating with a lower capacity and caring for children in small groups or “bubbles”. However, bubbles now can include more children. For the age group of 45 days to 2 years, a bubble can include 12 children, up from 8, while for the age group of 2 years to 4 years, a bubble can include 16 children, up from 10.

Nurseries must continue to ensure a minimum space requirement of 3.5 square metres per child in each classroom, and 5 square metres in open areas.

The procedures also include gradual closure of a nursery, if needed, rather than immediately closing the full nursery. As per the update, the bubble in which a positive case is detected will be closed for 10 days. If three or more bubbles are affected, then the entire nursery will close for 10 days, based on specific measures.

Mariam Al Hallami, Division Director of the Early Childhood Education at the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, said, “Nurseries play a crucial role in shaping children’s futures, by building their skills and evolving their social and intellectual abilities at the most important stage of character development. Nurseries are also critical in supporting parents’ careers and ability to work by providing this essential service.

“During the pandemic, parents, their employers, and nursery operators worked closely together to minimise the impact of reducing nurseries’ capacity while also ensuring children receive the important care they need.”

She added, “We truly appreciate the continuous support that the Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Committee has given to the nursery sector and all parents who require childcare support, especially that nurseries have proven their ability to provide a safe environment for children, and have vaccinated more than 77 percent of all staff.”

The operating procedures will also continue to include: conducting regular inspections to ensure health procedures are implemented; providing all staff with mandatory virtual training on implementing COVID-19 protocols; appointing a health and safety officer, and hiring a nurse in every nursery, who will check the temperature of children, educators and staff daily, and not admit any person with a potential coronavirus symptom.

Kamil Najjar, Founder and CEO of Kids First Group, stated, “We welcome the updated requirements for operating nurseries, which will ensure a safe and healthy educational environment for all children while supporting the recovery of the nursery sector and helping parents who need childcare after the return of businesses to the workplace.”

The committee reiterated that it will continue to review and assess the compliance of nurseries with precautionary measures to ensure maintaining the health and safety of children and staff. It also called on the community to continue to follow the necessary proactive and precautionary measures to protect their health and the wider public.

Reviewing the requirements for operating nurseries, as well as supporting the nursery sector and parents, is part of Abu Dhabi’s long-term strategy for recovery, which places the health and safety of the community at the forefront of all decisions.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) has hosted a halal certification webinar in cooperation with the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BeICCI), where they explored the role of the halal certification system in increasing the supply of food products to Islamic markets, product conformity assessment, as well as facilitating the movement of goods between countries.

Presented by specialists from MoIAT as part of its cooperation agreements with BeICCI, the webinar drew the participation of stakeholders from the halal and export sectors in Belarus. The event took place under the theme ‘Opportunities and Requirements for Halal Products Supply to the UAE’.

The Belarusian delegation was headed by Alexey Bogdanov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food, and included Vladimir Ulakhovich, Chairman of BeICCI, and Abu-Bekir Shabanovich, Mufti of the Muslim Religious Association in Belarus.

In his speech, Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Under-Secretary of MoIAT, said that the event represents another step towards strengthening the economic ties between the two countries.

The webinar builds on earlier cooperation between the UAE and Belarus. In 2018, Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology and the Emirates National Accreditation System signed three MoUs with the Belarusian State Centre for Accreditation on technical collaboration related to halal accreditation, as well as on the accreditation system of relevant authorities and the exchange of specialist expertise, he added.

Al Suwaidi presented a brief outline of the ministry’s strategy that aims to drive the development of the UAE’s industrial sector in preparation for the UAE Centennial 2071. Its objectives include attracting investment to the UAE’s industrial sector, enhancing its global competitiveness, creating an innovative research and development ecosystem, and consolidating the country’s status as a global leader in future industries.

The strategy is based on several pillars – accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies, developing standardisation and metrology, boosting in-country value, developing future industries and supporting industrial sectors in any shape or form.

He added, “Despite the economic headwinds and industry-wide disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the global food and beverage industry remains on the rise and among the top priorities of countries across the globe, including the UAE.”

The under-secretary also pointed out that the food and beverage industry is one of MoIAT’s priority sectors for the next phase of its strategy in line with its focus on food security amidst expectations that total consumer spending in the halal food sector will reach approximately US$1.4 trillion by 2024.

Al Suwaidi noted that the UAE ranks third in the Global Islamic Economy Indicator, with the country’s halal food and beverage market projected to be valued at AED20 billion next year, according to the State of Global Islamic Economy Report.

Bogdanov, in turn, stated that the global recognition of the UAE’s halal certification system and its role in bridging the gaps in legal requirements for halal certificates between countries served as the main motivation for the cooperation.

He emphasized the growth witnessed by the halal sector in Belarus, noting that during the past five years, many companies in the country have obtained halal certification, which indicates their interest in benefiting from the abundant opportunities offered by the halal market.

Bogdanov also discussed the annual growth of halal exports from Belarus, with Muslim countries of the former Soviet Union, the GCC region, Asia and Africa among the main markets.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has hosted a public event to mark the opening of its Centre for Behavioural Institutional Design (C-BID), a first-of-its-kind institution in the UAE that researches behavioural social science and use the insights it obtains to inform and improve public policymaking.

The event brought together more than 70 attendees, featured several pre-recorded videos of high-profile speakers from the UAE government, as well as world-renowned experts in the field of behavioural social science, including Hamad Ali Al Dhaheri, Under-Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Community Development; Cass Sunstein, Founder and Director of the Programme on Behavioural Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School, and Al Roth, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and 2012 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

The centre will be led by Global Network Professors of Economics in NYUAD’s Social Science Division John Wooders and Nikos Nikiforakis, together with other lead researchers, Associate Professors of Economics at NYUAD Olivier Bochet and Ernesto Reuben.

“C-BID aims to create partnerships with the community, to build capacity in behavioural social science in the Abu Dhabi and UAE government, and assist in the design of smart, science-driven policies,” Prof. Nikiforakis said.

Behavioural social science studies the complexity and diversity of human behaviour. Instead of relying exclusively on models from classical economics that assume people are perfectly rational, the field uses insights from the behavioural sciences, including psychology and the cognitive sciences, to better understand and predict behaviour.

“C-BID’s overarching goal is to construct empirically-validated models of human behaviour, and use these models to improve social welfare through public policy and institutional design that address many of the challenges governments face, in areas as diverse as improving health outcomes or maximising revenue from public asset sales,” Prof. Wooders stated.

In addition to its cutting-edge scientific research and policy advice, the centre will play a critical role in building capacity in behavioural social science through partnerships with the government. This will include offering new courses to train local talent and planning executive education programmes for existing government and private sector employees.

Applying research from behavioural social science to real-world problems is in line with the 2030 Economic Vision for Abu Dhabi’s core goals, including building an open, efficient, effective, and globally integrated business environment; driving significant improvements in the efficiency of the labour market, and developing a highly-skilled, highly productive workforce.

In addition to bringing together faculty from across the NYU Global Network, C-BID will also work directly with local, regional and international policymakers, as well as world-renowned economists, psychologists, sociologists, neuroscientists and other experts spanning the social and behavioural sciences, to establish a globally recognised knowledge hub for behavioural social science and public policymaking in Abu Dhabi.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bowardi, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, received today at his office Afzaal Mahmood, Ambassador of Pakistan to the UAE, in the presence of Mattar Salem Al Dhaheri, Under-Secretary of the Ministry, and a number of senior officials from the ministry.

Al Bowardi congratulated Mahmood on assuming his new assignment and wished him good luck.

The two sides discussed cooperation between the two countries, and ways to enhance ties in the field of defence, exchanging expertise and military training, in line with the visions of their governments.

They also exchanged views regarding a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern.

For his part, Mahmood commended the UAE’s remarkable efforts and active role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic and providing humanitarian, social and medical support to countries around the world as well as adopting countermeasures to contain the virus.

Source: Emirates News Agency