National Day greetings
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani have sent cables of congratulations to the presidents of Benin and the Swiss Confederation on their country’s Independence Day.
Envoy meets Pakistan speaker
Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has met Qatar’s Ambassador to Pakistan Sayar Abdulrahman al-Mawdah. During the meeting they discussed the existing relations between the two countries and ways of enhancing them in all fields.
Qatar-Morocco ties discussed
Yasser az-Zanaki, the adviser of King Mohamed VI of Morocco, met Qatar’s Ambassador to the Morocco Abdullah bin Falah bin Abdullah ad-Dousari in Rabat yesterday. Talks dealt with bilateral relations.
Civil Defence to complete HIA inspection in six months
The Civil Defence Department (CDD) is expected to complete its inspection of the safety and security systems at Hamad International Airport (HIA) within the next six months, a CDD officer has told Arabic daily Al-Sharq.
Speaking at the Al-Sharq Ramadan Tent, Nasser Ahmed al-Ziyarah, officer for inspection and licensing section at CDD, said that inspection process at HIA has been conducted successfully within the scheduled timeframe. He said his department conducts three inspection visits to HIA a week. “Besides, there is a completely specialised team working on the safety systems of the airport.
“There are 140 facilities at the airport and we have to make sure that all safety and security systems are working properly,” he said.
According to sources, the opening of the Hamad International Airport was postponed earlier this year after the multi-billion dollar air travel hub failed to get full certification from the Civil Defence Department.
Captain Khamis Salim al-Suwaidi, head of Al-Azizia and Airport civil defence station, said that around 60% of the civil defence infrastructure in the country has been accomplished. Also a civil defence law ill be issued soon.
Further, a new system will be revealed in the near future regarding dealing with emergency calls. Under the new system the National Control Centre would be able to determine the exact location of the incident as soon as it receives an emergency call. New equipment to implement this would be also put in place soon.
Al-Suwaidi affirmed that CDD was constantly conducting mock evacuation drills at all important places around the country. It also conducts regular visits of such facilities to prevent any safety violations and follow up on the compliance with the necessary procedures in this respect.
He said that CDD co-operation closely with its counterparts in other GCC countries to implement the latest in the field.
Accordingly, based on the unsuccessful experiences in deploying firefighting helicopters to battle blazes in towers in the UAE, the idea has been abandoned.
Citizen donates QR1.3mn in cash to Sheikh Eid charity
A citizen has made a cash donation of QR 1.3mn to the Sheikh Eid bin Mohammed al-Thani Charity Foundation, local Arabic daily Al-Sharq has reported.
The money will be used to pay cash Eid gifts “Eidiya” to 656 Qatari families.
Sheikh Eid bin Mohamed al-Thani Charity Foundation has thanked all the donors who contributed money to assist the needy families. The Foundation extended special thanks and gratitude to the citizen who made the donation of QR 1.3mn.
Each of the needy families would get QR1,800 as “Ediyas” which would help them to buy clothes for the occasion and meet other family expenses, a spokesman for the charity said.
“This donation was made within the constructive co-operation between Eid Social Centre of Eid Charity and the Ministry of Social Affairs and the amount will be distributed to Qatari families entitled to assistance and registered with the Eid Social Centre of Eid Charity.” The money will be distributed through the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The amount donated by this citizen will also enable the charity to provide assistance to 225 non-Qatari resident families. Each of these families will get QR500 as “Eidiya”.
Intellectual property organisation lauds minister’s message
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has welcomed the message of HE Dr Hamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kuwari, the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, on the suggested fields of co-operation between the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (MCAH) and WIPO.
These include the protection of national heritage, building of capabilities, creation of local data bases and assistance in holding workshops on intellectual prosperity issues within the scope of the Ministry and its strategy to issue legislation and legal frameworks to preserve the non-material heritage of the world. This could also serve as a model for international co-operation on such issue within the region.
The message was submitted to WIPO director general Francis Gary by the ministry’s heritage consultant Ibrahim Abdulrahim al-Sayid in Geneva, as part of Qatar’s participation at the 25th session of WIPO from July 15- 24.
Al-Sayid, who was representing the ministry in the session, said the document prepared by WIPO included a special project for the preparation of legal clauses on the protection of intellectual property in the filed of the terminology used in folklore, which has revealed many differences among the representatives of different countries regarding the concepts of each country on the suggested clauses, specially on the related policies and targets.
Most differences came on the concepts of the beneficiaries of protection, limitations and exceptions, and the terms in the document, especially terms such as “peoples”, “local groups” and “original inhabitants”, besides whether it is the right time to discuss making the document into a binding law.
