Day: May 20, 2021

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SEHA expands availability of Pfizer-BionTech COVID-19 vaccine across its network of facilities and centers

ABU DHABI, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, (SEHA) in collaboration with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, announced the availability of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in all SEHA COVID-19 drive-through services centers and vaccination centers across the country. The Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine continues to be available across the network’s facilities and centers.

SEHA stands united with the UAE’s healthcare authorities and partners across the industry to ensure the community have access to vaccinations and is committed to expanding the community’s access to both vaccines.

Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines are now being administered across 60 centers in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Those as young as 12 years old can receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while the Sinopharm vaccine is only available to those over the age of 16.

Those exempt from the receiving the vaccine include those who are currently or have recently been infected with COVID-19, volunteers in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, pregnant women, people vaccinated outside of the country, those who have severe allergies to vaccines or vaccine components, and members of the community with diseases proven to interact negatively with the vaccine.

Source: Emirates News Agency

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UAE affirms determination to support quality education for women, girls worldwide

ABU DHABI,Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, has reaffirmed the UAE’s keenness to continue its support for quality education for women and girls around the world in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The minister made the statements as she participated in the Global Girls Education Initiative, organised today by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to strengthen partnerships aimed at supporting women and girls in developing nations.

Al Hashemy added that the UAE is working for enabling women’s empowerment in partner countries by providing them with foreign assistance. She described women’s and girls’ education as a catalyst for economic growth and sustainable development over the long run, noting the UAE’s determination to develop legislation conducive to ensuring women’s economic empowerment through entrepreneurship and leadership in a way that delivers a future that is prosperous, sustainable, innovative and accessible to all.

“Through its foreign assistance aimed at supporting digital education, the UAE focuses on providing women and girls with real empowerment prospects. We prioritise them during the efforts made to develop digital learning and development strategies in partner countries whose national education systems need support, specially after the COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted learning continuity in many of the countries that lack the infrastructure needed for online learning.”

Launching the Global Girls Education Initiative comes in preparation for the Global Education Summit: Financing GPE 2021-2025 which will be held in London in July. The summit will be a key moment for the global community to come together and support quality education for all children. A centerpiece of the summit will be the opportunity for leaders to make 5-year pledges to support GPE’s work to help transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories. SDG 4 is the education goal, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within the same context, EXPO 2020 Dubai will host RewirEd, a global platform with a clear vision to rewire education for a prosperous and sustainable future.

Dubai Cares in April 2021 committed US$2.5 million towards GPE’s 2021-2025 “Raise Your Hand” financing campaign in the Middle East. The pledge uses innovative financing approaches to help transform education in lower-income countries.

Source: Emirates News Agency

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UAE highlights need to establish team to study education system requirements for post-COVID-19 period

DUBAI, Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, highlighted the necessity of establishing a national specialised action team comprising of representatives of several authorities, to study the required development of the education system for the post-coronavirus (COVID-19) period.

He also stressed the need to draft a joint research study between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Prevention, with the support of universities, on how to utilise behavioural attitudes to change cultural stances on waste, recycling and environmental health.

Al Hammadi made this statement during his participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which was held from 17th to 19th May, in cooperation with UNESCO and the Federal Ministry of Education and Scientific Research in Germany.

The event, which was attended by 81 ministers of education and 2,500 specialists and experts, aimed to raise awareness about the new Education Framework for Sustainable Development 2030.

Al Hammadi participated in the event’s first plenary session: Creating the change we need in the time of planetary crisis – ESD for 2030.This plenary discussed the role of ESD in addressing major sustainability challenges in a time of planetary crisis and in light of UNESCO’s new ESD for 2030 Roadmap.

During the event, he stressed that the UAE embraced Sustainable Development Goal No 4.7 related to access to quality education by 2030, which aims to ensure that all learners can access the necessary knowledge and skills to support the process of sustainable development, through relevant education in sustainable living, human rights, gender equality, the culture of peace, non-violence and global citizenship and cultural diversity.

He added that this move will support the UAE’s initiatives related to the framework’s five priority action areas, which are updating policies, learning about environmental transformation, building the capacities of teachers, empowering and mobilising the youth, and adopting related procedures within communities and monitoring their progress.

He also pointed out that Sustainable Development Goal No 4 and the framework’s objectives were integrated into the UAE’s national education agenda, stressing the need for fair educational opportunities, since education is a basic human right.

Al Hammadi stressed that the 2021 Vision National Agenda aims to develop a quality education system, noting that there will be significant investments to encourage enrolment in pre-school education through the Baraem Al Mustaqbal programme, a pre-school initiative seeks to develop children’s personalities and enhance their cognitive abilities, as well as in primary education. The agenda also aims to make the UAE’s education system and its students among the best in the world, he added.

The National Committee on the Sustainable Development Goals was formed in January 2017, upon a decree issued by the UAE Cabinet, in collaboration with 17 ministries, non-governmental organisations and the private sector, he said in conclusion.

UNSECO said in light of the pressing environmental issues the world is facing, the Conference aimed to create momentum for the new framework ESD for 2030, which aims to build a more just and sustainable world through strengthening ESD to build education systems that support learners of all ages to be responsible and active contributors to more sustainable societies and a healthy planet. It also sought to enhance awareness on sustainable development challenges, in particular the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity and other environmental challenges, and the crucial role of education as a key enabler for the successful achievement of the SDGs

Source: Emirates News Agency

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Emirates Development Bank Board reviews progress on new strategy

ABU DHABI, The Emirates Development Bank (EDB), a Federal Institution fully owned by the UAE Government, held its fourth Board meeting today to review progress on the bank’s new strategy and objectives; announced by the UAE leadership in April this year.

The Board reviewed the Bank’s Q1’2021 performance, its future roadmap and underlined the important and critical role EDB plays in supporting the UAE’s industrial growth, the adoption of advanced technology, enhancing the role of SMEs in the economy and in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship through its tailored suite of products and services.

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Chairman of the EDB Board of Directors and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said, “The formula of EDB’s success relies on key fundamental elements including best-in-class governance, operational efficiencies, a customer-centric approach, proactive business development and a ‘can-do’ culture that understands the critical role the bank plays in achieving our leadership’s objectives.”

The Board meeting was attended by Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, EDB Deputy Chairman and Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Younis Haji Khoury, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Abdul Wahed Mohammad Al Fahim, Chairman of NASDAQ Dubai, Mariam Saeed Ghobash, Deputy Chairperson of Abu Dhabi Investment Co., Khalfan Jumaa Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation, Najla Ahmed Al Midfa, CEO of Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center, and Ahmed AlKuttab, Director, The Executive Office Directorate at ADNOC Group and Yousef Yaqoob Almansoori, Principal Legal Researcher at Dubai Police.

During the meeting, the Board also approved the appointment of Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi as the new Chief Executive Officer of EDB to lead and execute the bank’s strategy.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber added, “With his progressive leadership qualities and extensive banking experience, particularly in driving digitization and operational efficiencies, we are confident that Mr Al Naqbi will play a pivotal role in furthering the bank’s strategic roadmap and EDB’s contribution to UAE’s economy; fostering a cohesive, collaborative and high-performance culture within EDB to achieve our 2021 roadmap.”

On his part, Ahmed Al Naqbi thanked EDB Chairman and Board for their trust and continuous support. “This is a critical growth phase for EDB as we begin to execute our new strategy and expand our role as the financial driver of the UAE’s economic diversification agenda. I am delighted to join the EDB team and help drive the bank’s ambitious growth and development plans,” he said.

Ahmed Al Naqbi brings over 15 years of diverse banking experience in the UAE across multiple disciplines with a strong focus on innovation and digitization. He will be driving EDB’s products and service development, along with the adoption of advanced technology solutions, delivering best-in-class customer experience, and ease of access to finance for individuals, SMEs, startups as well as corporates in priority industry sectors.

As part of its announced strategy, EDB plans to reach an AED30 billion portfolio with a wider offering that includes both direct and indirect lending for small, medium and large companies (Supply Chain Finance, Project and Long-term Finance), an investment arm for startups and SMEs (accelerator, equity finance, business growth fund) as well as business advisory services for entrepreneurs, startups and small companies (coaching, consulting, mentoring, market research). This is in addition to the continued home finance solutions for UAE nationals.

Source: Emirates News Agency

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AED 4.1 billion of weeklong real estate transactions in Dubai

DUBAI, The real estate and properties transactions valued at AED 4.1 billion in total during the week ending 20 May 2021, according to Dubai Land Department (DLD).

The sum of transactions was 1,562.

120 plots were sold for AED 874.43 million, 1,038 apartments and villas were sold for AED 2.03 billion.

The top three transactions were a land in Al Barsha South Fourth sold for AED 52.5 million, followed by a land that was sold for AED 20 million in Al Thanayah Fourth, and a land sold for AED 52.5 million in Al Barsha South Fourth in third place.

Al Hebiah Fourth recorded the most transactions for this week by 33 sales transactions worth AED 139.42 million, followed by Al Hebiah Third with 24 sales transactions worth AED 117.74 million, and Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid with 18 sales transactions worth AED 129 million in third place.

The top three transfers for apartments and villas were an apartment was sold for AED 379 million in Marsa Dubai, an apartment was second in the list sold for AED 198 million in Palm Jumeirah, and thirdly it was a villa sold for AED 136 million in Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid.

The sum of the amount of mortgaged properties for the week was 1 billion, with the highest being a land in Jabal Ali Industrial First, mortgaged for AED 132 million.

29 properties were granted between first-degree relatives worth AED 83 million.

Source: Emirates News Agency