FATIMA
DEDICATES HONOURS TO ZAYED
Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, wife of the President and Chairwoman of the UAE Women's Union, yesterday dedicated the honours to be received by her from six United Nations, UN, organisations to President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan.
In a statement to 'Zahrat Al Khaleej' ('Flower of the Desert') magazine, to be published on Saturday, Sheikha Fatima said, "This honour is in fact an international certificate of appreciation for our beautiful Emirates and its lovely people who are well-known for tolerance and honour."
This honour means that the UAE and Gulf women have succeeded in putting forward a positive image of Islamic Arab Gulf women who have proved that they are capable of handling the challenges of this era, while they also have succeeded in maintaining their heritage and Islamic values," Sheikha Fatima said.
The UN organisations which today are honouring Sheikha Fatima in recognition of her pioneering humanitarian role included the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, the United Nations Fund for Population, UNFPA, the World Health Organisation, WHO, the UN Forum for Womens' Development, UNIFEM, the UN Programme for Volunteers, UNPV, and the Office of the Resident Co-ordinator of the UN Development Fund, UNDP.
"With the blessing of God Almighty, the UAE has succeeded in changing the sand dunes of the desert into an oasis of love and prosperity, under the wise leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Zayed who always gives top priority to the building of human beings, the real wealth of the nation," she added.
On her hopes about the future, Sheikha Fatima said, "This honour represents a new challenge for all associations of the Emirates women to intensify their efforts and to show the world their ability to play a key role in the country's social and economic development campaign."
The Board of Directors of the UAE Red Crescent Society thanked Sheikha Fatima for her donation of Dh 1.0 million to charitable and humanitarian works in the UAE. Thanks were expressed at a meeting under the chairmanship of Khalifa Nasser Al Suweidi, the Society's Chairman. Al Suweidi said that Sheikha Fatima's donation was part of her support to humanitarian activities in the UAE, with the aim of extending a helping hand to the needy.
"The donation represents Sheikha Fatima's eagerness to support the humanitarian works undertaken by President Sheikh Zayed at Arab, Islamic and international levels," he added. The Board also reviewed the Society's preparations for the Holy Month of Ramadan and its humanitarian work in the country. (The Emirates News Agency, WAM)
UAE
CALLS FOR EARLY TALKS ON OCCUPIED ISLANDS
The UAE yesterday called for an immediate start to negotiations with Iran to resolve the dispute over the three UAE islands which Tehran occupies, according to reports by the Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, and Reuter.
Foreign Minister Rashid Abdulla told KUNA on the sidelines of the Arab Gulf Co-operation Council, AGCC,'s Foreign Ministers' meeting, which ended earlier in the day that his country had not ceased contacts with Iran despite the dispute. He emphasised that the UAE sought an immediate start of negotiations to end the issue of the Greater and Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa Islands.
"There are new political indications from Iran and we hope they would be reassuring ... We will react to all these negotiations and will work on materialising them," Abdulla said. The ministerial meeting agreed on steps for the AGCC to move closer towards long-sought economic and military integration.
Secretary General Jameel al Hujailan told a news conference that the AGCC had agreed on tariff classification for 1,000 commodities, but 300 remained to be fixed. The classification is a key step towards reaching a unified AGCC tariff accord which would facilitate forging long-delayed free trade deals with other economic blocs, mainly the AGCC's major trading partner the European Union. "We will try to complete the remaining 300 items" ahead of Saturday's start of the annual AGCC summit in Kuwait, al Hujailan said.
"If it is not completed (before the summit) we shall end this in January or February." The AGCC has been trying for years to gain easy access to EU markets to sell cheap petrochemicals but the European side insists that the Gulf alliance must first reach a unified customs accord to facilitate a free trade agreement. Standard tariffs among AGCC states range from four to 12 per cent, with special tariffs for some industries.
The one-day Foreign Ministers' meeting was held in preparation for the three-day AGCC summit which is expected to approve a series of measures aimed at cementing economic and military unity. The ministers agreed to present the leaders with two "important projects" involving fibre optics to facilitate communications among AGCC armies and the "Co-operation Belt", Hujailan said.
However, Gulf Arab military officers earlier told Reuters the summit was expected to approve the integration of AGCC command, control, communications and intelligence systems - a first step towards a plan to set up a region-wide air defence system.
Hujailan said the leaders were also due to approve the first phase of a plan to link AGCC power grids, which he said was of economic and strategic importance. The first stage would involve Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. The leaders are also due to approve a plan allowing Gulf Arab banks to open branches in member states and discuss ministerial recommendations to encourage foreign investment in the region.
The AGCC chief said member states were attractive investment destinations with readily-available raw materials, relatively cheap labour and stable political systems. In a move aimed at granting citizens more say in the affairs of the alliance, the AGCC summit will discuss setting up a "Consultative Authority" - an appointed body which would serve as an advisory council to the leaders. (The Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, Reuter, and the Emirates News Agency, WAM)
ETISALAT:
NATION'S CENTRAL NERVE SYSTEM
In its drive to make the UAE a modern state the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, ETISALAT, established in 1976, built the necessary communications infrastructure to link up the various parts of the country. The General Manager of the Corporation, Ali Salem al Oweis, told the Emirates News Agency, WAM, that current statistics clearly show the achievements made by ETISALAT since it was formed.
"The number of telephone lines reached 830,000 by the end of 1996, or 40 telephone lines per 100 people, which matches the highest international rate. The UAE is also the first country in the region to introduce the GSM system of mobile telephones which has attracted, so far, more than 200,000 subscribers. The number of telephone exchanges increased from 28 in 1976 to 230 by the end of 1996, making direct calls possible with 247 countries, through 9,200 circuits for international calls and 62,000 circuits for domestic calls," al Oweis said.
He added that the huge achievements in the telecommunications field emanated from the wise directives of Their Highnesses President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum and the Supreme Council members, the Rulers of the Emirates. The General Manager also said that ETISALAT had introduced the Emirates Data Network, EMDAN, service in 1986, and continued to adopt the latest technology in this field, culminating with introduction of the Internet service in August 1995 and non-simultaneous transmission in 1997.
"Digital switch boards were introduced and the capacity in local and international communications were increased enormously by use of optical fibre cables to meet the increasing demand of the services prompted by the economic and social development process realised by the UAE," he added.
The Manager of Public Relations for ETISALAT, Ahmed Faisal al Dosari, said that one of the advanced services offered by ETISALAT is the video conferencing system which facilitated participation in conferences via satellite across world countries.
He added that the number of subscribers in the Internet direct services had reached more than 25,000 in addition to 15,000 subscribers who can get the services through special arrangements. Fees charged on the Internet services were decreased as from December 1, to Dh 85.0 per 14.0 hours-a-month and Dh 6.0 per additional hour.
"The corporation also introduced the fax-plus service for storage and sending of messages and also provided the new telephone card whose owner can make telephone calls from any available telephone. ETISALAT is also linked to the two INTELSAT and the two ARABSAT satellites," he said.
Al Dosari also added that the UAE is linked with Oman and Iran with an optical fibre cable and with Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait with the vogue cable. He also added that the UAE is taking an active part in the co-ordination of communication at regional and international levels through planning and implementing of the Al Thuraya satellite project.
The satellite will provide communications and global positioning services to cover Arab countries, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, southern Europe, the Mediterranean, Arabian Sea and the Red Sea.
It will also help in advancing mobile telephone communications. Al Dosari attributed the success of ETISALAT to the capable and qualified national staff currently running the affairs of the Corporation, and added that advanced training courses are organised to upgrade the capabilities of UAE nationals who joined the Corporation through ETISALAT Engineering College in Sharjah which was set up in 1989. (The Emirates News Agency, WAM)
TELL
ABRAQ: NEW AGREEMENT SIGNED, EXCAVATIONS TO RESUME
A five-year agreement was signed yesterday between the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information and Australia's University of Sydney covering archaeological excavations at the site of Tell Abraq. The agreement was signed on behalf of the Department by its Director, Majid Boushalaibi, while Professor Dan Potts, Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology, signed on behalf of Sydney University.
Potts later commented that he was "delighted" with the agreement, permitting him to resume work at a site he described as being "one of the most important sites in the whole of south-eastern Arabia." The Tell Abraq site dates back to around 2,500 BC, and has revealed in previous excavations evidence of around 2,000 years of continuous occupation. Work has already resumed at the site, after a four year break.
Work at the site was suspended pending final ratification of land ownership. The mound, the largest archaeological 'tell' in the Emirates, lies astride the border. While final details of the excavations, expected to last around two months, have yet to be determined, Potts and his team are expected to concentrate on a large trench on the western side of the mound, in which a circular tomb from the Umm an Nar period, around 4,300 years old, was discovered during the last season of work on the site.
Among skeletons then recovered from the tomb was one of a young girl who had been crippled by polio, the earliest evidence yet discovered anywhere in the world of the disease. "I am delighted to be returning to Tell Abraq for another season," Potts said yesterday. "The site is, without doubt, one of the most important yet discovered in the United Arab Emirates, showing evidence of successive settlement from around 2,500 BC for a period of at least two thousand years."
Earlier work on the site, Potts noted, has provided extensive evidence of international trade with Mesopotamia and with the Indus Valley, while Potts has suggested that Tell Abraq may have been the site of a petty kingdom in the Third Millennium BC.
Archaeological excavations in Iraq have found inscriptions referring to the presence of such kingdoms in what is now the UAE and Oman. The mound, clearly visible from the Ras Al Khaimah to Sharjah road at the Umm Al Qaiwain junction, is over 15 metres high, and conceals a Third Millennium BC circular wall which has a diameter of around 40 metres.
The building is the largest of its kind found in south eastern Arabia, and, as far as archaeologists and historians can determine, no other structure of such a size was built again until the construction of the great round fort at Nizwa in Oman, in the Seventeenth Century AD, around 4,000 years later.
"At its peak, Tell Abraq must have been a dominant feature on the coastal plain," according to Potts, who added that it had clearly been a settlement of some considerable political importance. During the forthcoming winter archaeological season, the University of Sydney teams co-ordinated by Potts will also be working at Muwailah, an Iron Age settlement near Sharjah International Airport.
Australian archaeologists will also be working in association with the National Museum of Ras Al Khaimah on further excavations of another Umm an Nar tomb near the village of Shimal, and with the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey on a Late Stone Age site on the island of Merawah, west of Abu Dhabi. Supported partly by grants from the Australian Research Council, the work of Professor Potts and his team will also be sponsored locally by General Motors. (The Emirates News)
