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Shaikh Mohammed to unveil plaques of five-star centres
Shaikh Mohammed to unveil plaques of five-star centres (Wam) / 26 February 2014 Vice-President says diligent work teams deserve praise and appreciation while unveiling five-star plate at Traffic and Licensing Centre in Fujairah. Federal government customer service centres serve as the real ground of competition among public service providers to deliver world-class services to the local community, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has said, and added the new Star Rating Initiative, which he launched on Monday, will generate true leaders who deserve “our thanks and commendation”. All federal government customer service centres will abide by the Star Rating Initiative. Intended to bring about a quantum leap in the efficiency of government services as per global standards, the system rates public service centres with a number of stars (from two to seven) by placing a special plate at the entrance of each federal customer service centre. Shaikh Mohammed inaugurated Phase 1 of the evaluation and classification of 75 government service centres according to the new Star Rating Initiative on Monday. Three centres obtained the 5-star rating, and Shaikh Mohammed unveiled the first plate at the Customer Service Centre of the Ministry of Justice, Abu Dhabi. Thirty-three centres received a 4-star rating and 39 centres received a 3-star rating. The evaluation and classification process will continue to cover all federal customer service centres by the end of 2014. Shaikh Mohammed made his remarks during a visit to the Traffic and Licensing Centre in Fujairah on Tuesday to unveil a five-star plate which the centre obtained. Shaikh Mohammed pledged to unveil the five-star plaque of the centres himself, saying that diligent work teams deserve praise and appreciation. The Vice-President took a tour of the traffic centre, which is run by 173 employee and provides 77 government services to 110,000 people. Last year, the centre processed 200,000 transactions. During his tour, Shaikh Mohammed thanked the employees for their continuous dedication and diligence to improve public services and promised to revisit them in case they add more stars. In a speech on the occasion, Shaikh Mohammed said, “Direct dealing with the customers carries both tremendous challenges and opportunities at the same time and the true leader is one who succeeds on the ground and who can achieve the highest rate of customer satisfaction. This applies to all — from the head of the government to the junior employee — because the criteria of real success in government work are to serve public interest and create opportunities for them to achieve happiness for themselves and their families.” The UAE is the first country in the world to adopt this rating system for government service centres based on a comprehensive operational framework that emulates the standards applied in hotels, banks and aviation companies. The project is part of the Emirates Government Service Excellence Programme and is managed by the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs. It embodies the practical steps to develop government services according to the international standards and rate all federal customer service centres based on the development of services and responding to customers’ requests. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs; Musabbah Rashid Al Fattan, Director-General of the Dubai Ruler’s Court; Khalifa Saeed Suleiman, Director-General of Dubai Protocol Department; and Brigadier Ahmed Mohammed Ghanem, Commander-in-Chief of Fujairah Police. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
No change in gold allowance to India, says envoy
No change in gold allowance to India: Consulate official Sajila Saseendran / 26 February 2014 The new Customs Declaration Form asks passengers have to specifically declare, prohibited goods and dutiable items, including gold bullion and gold jewellery. The Indian Consulate in Dubai has said that a report in local media on Tuesday, which said passengers flying to India should declare gold and jewellery worth more than Rs10,000, is false and misleading. “These will have to be entered in new customs forms that will replace the dated immigration paperwork that passengers had to fill in the past,” according to the report. It also suggested that the new requirement, which would leave a paper trail, may dissuade expat Indians from buying gold jewellery from Dubai for carrying it to India. The consulate has, however, said the report is wrong and needs to be clarified. “This is really way off the mark. It has to be clarified that the report is wrong and misleading,” an official told Khaleej Times . According to the Indian Central Board of Excise and Customs, the new ‘Indian Customs Declaration Form’, which will come into effect from March 1, requires resident Indians to declare Indian currency at the customs if the value exceeds Rs10, 000. With the introduction of the new form, all passengers also have to specifically declare, prohibited goods and dutiable items, including gold bullion and gold jewellery exceeding the free allowance. The free allowance for gold jewellery remains gold worth Rs50, 000 for males and worth Rs100, 000 for women. The Consulate clarified that passengers need not declare the gold jewellery they carry unless it is above this limit. It may be noted that the new rule has only increased the limit of Indian currency that resident Indians can carry to and out of India (from Rs7,500 to Rs10, 000), while the rule that Non-Resident Indians cannot carry Indian currency remains. Non-Resident Indians and foreigners can carry only foreign currency and need to declare it only if its value exceeds $5,000. They should also make a declaration when the aggregate value of all foreign bills in the form of currency notes, financial instruments, and travellers’ cheques is equal to or exceeds $10,000. The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Central Bank of the UAE had previously highlighted these rules and advised expat Indians and other foreigners to refrain from carrying Indian currency to India, subsequent to reports of confiscation of counterfeit Indian currency. sajila@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Egypt names Mehlib as new premier ahead of key election
Egypt names Mehlib as new premier ahead of key election (AP) / 26 February 2014 New prime minister says his cabinet members will be “holy warriors” in the service of Egyptians. Egypt’s interim president chose the outgoing housing minister, a construction magnate from the era of ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, as his new prime minister on Tuesday, some two months ahead of key presidential elections. The switch from veteran economist Hazem Al Beblawi to Ibrahim Mehlib, who successfully led Egypt’s biggest construction company for a decade, appeared orchestrated to give Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the country’s military chief, a window for a quieter street after a spike in labor strikes with the potential of triggering wider unrest. Al Sisi overthrew President Mohammed Mursi in July and backed Al Beblawi’s government through tumultuous times, including a heavy crackdown on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, and a nationwide referendum that adopted a new constitution while militant insurgency and terror attacks surged. With his presidential bid almost certain, Al Sisi must leave the military to run for president. However, a senior government official said the 59-year-old soldier will retain his defence minister’s post in the next Cabinet. “There is a need for a fresh face to deal with the strikes,” said Mohammed Aboul Ghar, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic party, from which el-Beblawi hails. “Al Beblawi was supposed to stay for two more months but the strikes propelled a speed-up in pushing through the changes.” A change of government before the presidential vote would also spare Al Sisi the disruption associated with forming a new one if he becomes president, a near certainty given his sweeping popularity and the relative weakness of his rivals — likely a leftist politician and a retired general. Minutes after news broke that he had been chosen prime minister, Mehlib told reporters his cabinet members will be “holy warriors” in the service of Egyptians. He said that his top priority is to improve living standards, combat terrorism and restore security. This, he said, would pave the way for presidential elections. “God willing, the presidential elections will pass and will take place in proper conditions of safety, security, transparency,” he said, adding, “the priority is to work day and night … anyone in the cabinet will be a holy warrior to achieve the goals of the people.” When asked about the strikes, Mehlib said that excessive labour demands can “topple the state.” Labour official and activist Kamal Abbas saw a positive sign in the resignation of Al Beblawi’s government “in response to the strikes,” but added that workers will wait and see what the new one will bring. “This is an example of failed response to the strikes. Instead of sending the buses, why don’t you talk to the workers and when negotiations fail, talk again until we reach a solution,” said Abbas. The military, meanwhile, sought to head off a backlash over the strike by public transport workers, sending its own buses to ferry passengers across the capital. “This is to lighten the suffering of citizens and the harm caused by the strikes,” said a statement posted on the Facebook page of military spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali. Mehlib, the prime minister-designate, has a reputation for being a hard worker and a successful chief executive of several large companies. Born in 1949, he is a graduate of Cairo University’s school of engineering. He rose through the ranks of the construction conglomerate Arab Contractors to become its chief executive for 11 years before resigning in 2012. He worked in Saudi Arabia for one year before he returned to become housing minister under Al Beblawi. In a separate development, courts on Tuesday sentenced 220 mostly Mursi supporters to up to seven years imprisonment for instigating violence and holding protests without a permit. Three courts in the port city of Alexandria issued the verdicts in separate cases, all related to street protests. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
