Argentine FM leads trade delegation to Qatar
The Argentine foreign minister will begin his official visit today in Doha, the embassy has announced in a statement.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Hector Timerman, who will be in Doha tomorrow too, is heading a multi-sector commercial delegation of more than 30 Argentine companies.
The aim of the minister’s visit is to further strengthen the relations between Qatar and Argentina. Argentine entrepreneurs will present their products and services from a wide array of sectors to their Qatari counterparts.
Food and beverages, animal feed, pharmaceutical products, software, oil and gas goods services, cosmetics, capital goods, building materials, medical equipment and chemical products are among the sectors being promoted.
The delegation will also hold ‘business rounds’ at a local hotel today in order to provide an opportunity for creating mutually beneficial partnerships and building strong trade associations between Argentinean and Qatari businesspersons.
“The multi-sector trade mission to Qatar is part of an active national strategy that seeks the expansion of Argentine exports and the building of links with strategic partners in emerging and dynamic markets in order to contribute towards the process of growth tied to quality job creation that has been ongoing in our country since 2003,” the press release added.
According to the Argentine foreign ministry website, the minister and his delegation are scheduled to head towards Saudi Arabia and UAE next in a visit to the GCC region that would culminate on February 23.
It described Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE as ‘priority countries’ in terms of the goals and objectives outlined in Argentina’s Programme of Increasing and Diversifying Exports.
The website also said that Qatar has the world’s third largest gas reserves and was the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas and hence it is interesting to promote co-operation in technologies for the use of LNG.
“In this field, there are opportunities for both countries to benefit from technological development and experience, either commercially or through investments.”
Conference on Biomedical Engineering opens today
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Leading regional researchers and internationally renowned scientists in the field of biomedical engineering are gathering in Doha today for the second Middle East Conference on Biomedical Engineering (MECBME), hosted by Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMU-Q) and Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), a member of Qatar Foundation Research and Development (QF R&D). |
MECBME’14 is taking place at the Hilton Hotel in Doha and will continue until February 20 and will present recent research on a broad range of topics in biomedical engineering and healthcare technologies relevant to the national health priorities reflected in the Qatar National Research Strategy, including applications for diabetes, cancer, genetic diseases, and cardiovascular diseases.
The event is free and open to all scientists and engineers affiliated with Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and the local academic institutions.
Dr Thomas Zacharia, executive vice-president for QF R&D, will open the conference on February 18.
The opening session will include a keynote speech by Dr Chad Mirkin, Founder and Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University.
Four plenary addresses will be delivered over the course of three days, including presentations by Mimoun Azzouz, Professor and Co-Director of Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience; Mustafa Khammash, professor of control theory and systems biology in the Department of Bio-systems Science and Engineering at ETH- Zurich; Hicham Fenniri, Professor and Principal Investigator at QBRI; and Curtis L Lowery, Chairperson of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. A gala dinner will be held for all conference delegates on Wednesday evening.
The scientific programme includes 126 presentations by speakers from 20 countries. Topics include: biomedical imaging, circuits, systems, and instrumentation; nano-medicine; biomechanics; biomaterials; and tissue engineering.
All papers have undergone a rigorous review process to guarantee high standards.
The conference provides an opportunity for regional researchers to exchange ideas with international experts.
More information about the conference is available online at www.mecbme.net.
Lakhwiya to host meeting of international police forces
Qatari Internal Security Force (Lakhwiya) will host on Wednesday an international meeting of the FIEP which is an association of national gendarmeries or affiliated corps, encompassing the European and Mediterranean gendarmeries and police forces with military status.
During the meeting the FIEP will review the new technologies of the supply and logistics operations during crises situations.
Qatar, which has an observer status in the association, will attend the meeting together with other representatives of the FIEP member-states.
The FIEP, established in 1996, includes the forces of France, Italy (the current chairman), Spain, Portugal, Turkey, The Netherlands, Morocco, Romania, Jordan, Argentina and Chile.
It aims to promote co-operation among police forces.
Citizens, scholars warn against dependence on family drivers
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Citizens, sociology professors and religious scholars have warned against excessive dependence on family drivers in view of |
The possibility of children picking up dubious and harmful practices, harassment and disclosure of family secrets such as marital disputes, marriage arrangements and financial matters are among the risks that families may expose themselves to by relying heavily on drivers, the experts have said in the report.
Further, they have told Arrayah that while cases of children’s harassment are rare, children should be accompanied by nannies while going to school and returning. Also, according to them, there is a need for the social and moral acclimatisation of drivers before they start work.
Citizens and scholars have suggested that the dependence of drivers could be reduced if a child is taken to school by a family member or sent there by the school bus. They have also recommended that women should learn driving and drivers must be closely monitored to look out for any behaviour that may adversely affect a child, according to the report.
Mubarak al-Qiraini, a citizen, has attributed the dependence on drivers to the busy schedule family members have as well as to laziness. He, however, admits that this involves various risks as some drivers may get to know about family secrets and share them with other persons. He points out that some families employ female drivers or ask housemaids to perform this task as an additional duty, the report adds.
Stating that some drivers may try to use confidential information to harm a family, Dr Wissam al-Othman, a university faculty member, has suggested that such details should not be shared with drivers. Dr al-Othman has also warned against drivers taking children and adolescent girls to school and other places, adding that it would be better if mothers could perform these tasks, according to the report.
Sidra to take part in UK-Qatar Career Fair
The Sidra Medical and Research Centre will take part in the seventh annual UK-Qatar Career Fair this month to identify and recruit the best young talent pursuing medical careers in British universities for its scholarship programme.
As part of Sidra’s vision to develop future leaders for Qatar in the healthcare sector by empowering youth through education, the scholarship programme currently sponsors 150 students in Qatar, 61 in the UK, 40 in the US and one each in France and Australia.
In a statement, Sidra said it offers a scholarship package that is attractive and financially competitive, including full tuition fees, a monthly stipend, allowances and a guaranteed job after graduation.
Giving a glimpse into how Sidra is helping her pursue a life-long dream, Dr Bothina Ali al-Mulla - who is currently studying to obtain her Master’s in Health Management in Strategic Management and Leadership at City University in London - said: “Sidra’s scholarship programme is something every student wishes to qualify for. Sidra provides the students with what they need in order to have an exceptional start to their career path with a dedicated and supportive team.”
Dr al-Mulla first heard about Sidra from the dean of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar during her orientation in 2007 and set her mind on achieving the stringent qualifications to join the Sidra family.
“After I complete my Master’s, I plan to join Sidra and help develop the healthcare sector in Qatar and help the country achieve its National Vision 2030 goals. Sidra will play a key role in changing and transforming the current healthcare system that Qatar has to become the best in the region,” she said.
QScience to adopt Rubriq review tool
International open access publisher Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation has announced a new partnership with independent peer review specialists Rubriq.
Through this partnership, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation will complement its own peer review process for journals on QScience.com with Rubriq’s ground-breaking scorecard - a standardised, independent peer review tool developed to speed up publication and increase trust in the peer review process.
While Rubriq will provide an independent peer review of submitted research, the editors-in-chief of each journal will retain control over which papers are ultimately accepted or rejected and base these decisions on both the evaluation of Rubriq reviewers and the particular scope of the journal in question. There are more than 15 journals available through QScience.com, from specialised-topic journals to the multidisciplinary journal QScience Connect.
Although Rubriq will supplement the existing review process for more traditionally-structured journals, it will completely replace the peer review management process for QScience Connect, where editors will make decisions based solely on feedback provided in the Rubriq scorecard.
“This is a bold new step in the future of open access,” said Arend Kuester, managing director at QScience.
