Tag Archives: lifestyle
Happiness, welfare of citizens our priorities: Mohammed
Happiness, welfare of citizens our priorities: Mohammed Staff Report / 24 February 2014 Vice-President says UAE to be one of the best countries by 2021 His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has praised the directives of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to review the applied programmes in the various government departments to ensure the happiness and welfare of citizens. Shaikh Mohammed, Lt-Gen. Shaikh Saif, Shaikh Mansour and senior officials being briefed about the work mechanism of e-portal on the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. — Wam Shaikh Mohammed’s comments came during the Cabinet’s meeting at the Presidential Palace here on Sunday as they discussed the second report of the UAE Government review. “While evaluating the federal government review, we are aspired to learn from our experiences and prepare ourselves to serve this country,” Shaikh Mohammed said. “Since the very beginning, Shaikh Khalifa has been following up our work continually. Our priorities are the happiness and welfare of the citizens as they are the way and final objective of our development plans; moreover, innovation in the development of government work is limitless,” Shaikh Mohammed said in the introduction of the report. Shaikh Mohammed added: “We learned from our previous experiences that government’s strategies and plans require a clear vision. Initiating from this concept, we directed our teams to build on the vision that the United Arab Emirates will be one of the best countries in the world by 2021.” Addressing the Cabinet, Shaikh Mohammed said: “We would like review our work every now and then because we expect our government to be number one in everything; we want to increase our competitiveness in every sector.” Shaikh Mohammed explained that the world is changing and developing, and the development plans taking place in the UAE require continuous revision to keep up with ambitions and expectations. Shaikh Mohammed said: “The past four years were not just full with achievements, but challenges as well. Again, the United Arab Emirates had proven that the hard work and dedication will benefit the country and the nation.” During the meeting, the Cabinet reviewed the second UAE Government review 2010-2013. The report follows the first edition that covered the period 2006-2009. Composed of eight chapters, the report reviews the federal government activities in social development, economic development, foreign policies, government development, security and justice, infrastructure, environment and citizen and development. The Cabinet has also approved the re-appointment of Board of Emirates Investment Authority for three years. The board is chaired by Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; and Vice-Chairman Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs; Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy; Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial affairs; and a number of experts are its members. It also restructured the Human Resources Development Committee in Banking and Financial Sector under chairmanship of Humaid Mohammed Obeid Al Qattami, Minister of Education. The act comes in compliance with the leadership’s Emiratisation agenda aiming to build and develop national capabilities in various sectors including banking and finance. The Cabinet has also approved several rules and regulations and amended number of laws. Moreover, the Cabinet has agreed to host the World Congress on Communication for Development 2014. It endorsed a number of recommendations from the Federal National Council (FNC) on policy of the National Media Council on boosting the media laws in the UAE. They included training of national cadres and emiratisation of media posts nationwide. The Cabinet approved the request of the FNC to discuss the policy of the Ministry of Health in a drive to upgrade the health system. In the field of international agreements, the Cabinet has approved number of cooperation, commercial, economic and judicial agreements with Japan, Benin, Morocco, Armenia and Hungary in addition to an investment protection agreement with India. The Cabinet has also approved number of air transport agreements with Afghanistan, El Salvador and Burkina Faso. The meeting was attended by Lt. General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; and Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed. On the sidelines of the Cabinet session, Shaikh Mohammed and ministers registered in the e-portal project. They were briefed about the work mechanism of e-portal, which speeds up travel procedures for citizens, expatriates and visitors with entry visas, while departing or entering into the country. Earlier the Ministry of Interior conducted the media campaign to educate public about the benefits of e-portals. (With inputs from Wam) news@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Mikhail Gorbachev calls for collective leadership
Mikhail Gorbachev calls for collective leadership Afkar Abdullah / 24 February 2014 Former Soviet leader says The root cause of the unrest in Ukraine was an interruption of perestroika and of the democratic process there. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says the crisis in Ukraine has been created by the government’s failure to act democratically. Speaking at the IGCF on Sunday, as the forum’s guest of honour, he dwelled briefly on the current political situation in Ukraine where protesters took to the streets of Kiev and seized the president’s office as parliament voted to remove him and hold elections. Speaking about the social conflicts across the world, Gorbachev said: “Today, the world is a kind of turbulent sea. The tensions that have accumulated can surface in the most dramatic way — although it will be difficult to say where. In such reactions, we have seen mass uprisings in countries such as Turkey and Ukraine that underline the failure of their governments to act democratically and talk to their people. The root cause of the unrest in Ukraine was an interruption of perestroika and of the democratic process there.” Calling for change, he said: “Weak crisis management indicates lack of political initiative and courage. Leaders have been content with small steps and have failed to act in the spirit of collective leadership, which is the only workable format in today’s world. The transition to a more sustainable world is imperative. If the current elite are not able to provide leadership to pioneer this change, it is time for the new race of leaders to take their place. Today, we need to look for solutions that lead to world peace. We need global governance — it is a multi-level initiative that covers the local, national, and regional levels. We have only years and not decades to resolve this problem.” In his keynote address, Gorbachev said: “The 20th century has turned out to be the bloodiest century. Although we are living in an interdependent world, we are yet to live in interdependence. We are, therefore, seeing the consequences of this inability in political, economic and social interactions. Globalisation is the dominant reality of the world. The end of the cold war gave impetus to this globalisation.” Gorbachev criticised the way issues are being addressed: “In as much, the assumption that the current model of globalisation will see us overcome the problems of inequality is not working. In fact, we see the development of new weapons and conflicts while old conflicts remain unresolved. For instance, the economic crisis of 2008 is not over. It should have been an alarm bell – but we have not responded to it adequately; there has been no sincere shared effort.” He said globalisation would achieve equality and spread tolerance in the world; it is now encouraging Muslim countries to confront the marginalisation by the Great Powers. afkarali@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Pay your taxi fare by Nol, debit or credit card
Pay your taxi fare by Nol, debit or credit card Lily B. Libo-on / 20 February 2014 The move that came into effect February 19 onwards is aimed at making taxi rides easier and hassle-free. Tourists and residents of Dubai can now pay their taxi fares using Roads and Transport Authority’s (RTA) Nol card, or their debit or credit cards. The move that came into effect February 19 onwards is aimed at making taxi rides easier and hassle-free. An RTA official demonstrates how the taxi fare can be paid by Nol, debit and credit cards, at the RTA headquarters on Wednesday. — KT photo by Rahul Gajjar This move also complements RTA’s efforts to fulfill its commitment to enhance Dubai’s Smart City Initiatives. In a Press conference, Dr Yousef Al Ali, RTA’s Public Transport Agency CEO, said the new initiative will be implemented in four phases, starting with 20 airport taxis, followed by 155 Hala taxis two months from now and the rest of the 8,700 taxi fleet by mid-2015. “This initiative will indisputably constitute an added value service to public transport commuting in general and to taxi rides in particular. Using this latest mode of taxi payments, we expect the ridership to increase, especially when we increase our fleet by 2020.” He said passengers will only have to swipe their Nol or debit or credit cards of various types from around the world, on a meter installed inside the taxi to pay their fares in a smooth and easy payment without the trouble of finding ATMs, in case they run out of cash. “Tourists do not need to rush for currency exchange outlets to be able to have cash to pay the airport taxis. Residents of Dubai can use only a single Nol card since there is easy integration of all RTA modes of transportation.” Al Ali also said that the initiative was not easy to implement before, as it needed to network RTA data with Network International, which powered the payment solution through Verifone, and the franchise operators. “This initiative is an answer to the long standing demand of the customers but it takes time to implement since the new features need to have RTA system directly connected to the banks worldwide.” Abdullah Al Madani, CEO, RTA’s corporate technical support services sector, explained that the unified Nol card is considered one of the most secured cards, thanks to its high tech and multiple features that qualified it to win the Best Prepaid Card in the Middle East Award in 2012, as part of the Middle East Awards for Smart Cards, which is regarded the first of its kind specialised programme in the Middle East Region. He said the infrastructure in place in this initiative will enable RTA to add more services for the taxis in the future. “This initiative will unquestionably raise the level of satisfaction of taxi commuters, and the system is customised to enable taxi users to tip the taxi drive through the use of Nol, debit and credit cards,” he added. Bhairav Trivedi, CEO of Network International, said that both types of consumers — leisure travellers and business travellers — do not need to carry cash. “All terminals are wireless. We instal one meter which accepts Nol card, debit or credit card for payment by simply swiping them on it.” He said that Network International stands in this initiative to fully work in the entire government entity within UAE and continue to produce world-class payment system of top quality so that this can be addressed like anywhere else in the world. “We are pleased to have been selected by RTA to be the payment provider of this ambitious project, which is a key initiative in line with RTA’s Smart Taxi vision. The convenience of taxi users in Dubai was the key driving factor behind the launch of this service.” lily@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
