Dubai Health Authority and Nestlé to launch TV tips on healthy eating and living in Ramadhan

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Nestlé have partnered to launch two-minute TV episodes with tips on eating healthy and leading a healthy lifestyle—especially among children. 

As part of the agreement, DHA has launched a TV program that will be broadcast on Dubai TV and Sama Dubai where doctors and nutritionists from DHA will share advice on health and nutrition. Nestlé will contribute to the nutrition content development and production of 40 episodes, which will include health tips for children and advice on cooking healthy meals for parents during the month of Ramadhan. The two-minute episodes will be aired before and after the news segment during the whole month of Ramadhan and beyond, into August and October.

The partnership comes in light of the Healthy Children 2021 initiative supported by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which aims to fight obesity.

In line with the objective of enforcing a healthy lifestyle and eating habits, Nestlé is also collaborating with DHA in the field of food science and nutrition through participating in scientific conferences, seminars and events. DHA was instrumental in the kickoff of the Nestlé Healthy Kids-Ajyal Salima school nutrition education programme, which aims to impact nutrition knowledge and healthy eating habits in children in Dubai.

Nestlé also has a Ramadhan microsite for countries in the Middle East featuring recipes, calendars by country, infographics and useful tips on nutrition and weight management.

A dial at the top lets visitors decide if they want more kid-oriented information or prefer family-oriented information.

HK expects to issue third sukuk to finance AA projects

Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, John C Tsang, unveiled the 2016-17 Budget on February 24, saying that the city should act swiftly to identify new development opportunities as a result of a new economic order .

The government will strengthen Hong Kong's commercial connectivity to maintain the city's position as an aviation and maritime centre and support the development of high value-added logistics services. The Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) is pressing ahead with the implementation of the three-runway system.

The government will strengthen efforts to highlight Hong Kong's edge in developing green financial products and the AA will explore the feasibility of financing through green bonds. Following the success of the two sukuk issuances over the past two years, the government plans to issue a third sukuk in a timely manner, Tsang said.

Randstad Technologies' Maggie Li, Associate Director for Banking & Financial Services, said: “Ranging from the push for the exchange-traded fund (ETF) market, profits tax exemption initiatives, further plans to issue sukuk, to the new Hong Kong Monetary Authority office to finance projects on the back of the One Belt One Road strategy, the financial services sector is set to benefit from the Government’s initiatives and see growth in various areas such as corporate treasury.”

Etihad, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority and Miral Asset Management partner to promote Yas Island

Etihad Airways has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), and also with Miral Asset Management (Miral), which oversees the development and management of a range of hospitality, sports, entertainment, retail and leisure destinations on Yas Island. The two MOUs will cement stronger ties between the three parties, and promote the global appeal of Abu Dhabi as a year-round tourist, business and cultural destination.

The exclusive partnership will see the three parties drive the growth of inbound destination and stopover tourism to Abu Dhabi by joining forces on various strategic activities including co-branded marketing and communication, market intelligence and data exchange, cruise industry support, loyalty and affinity programmes, and business and leisure events within the Emirate and around the world.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Today we sign our joint commitment to make Abu Dhabi the best destination brand in the world. This unique and important partnership between the national airline, TCA Abu Dhabi and Miral will boost Abu Dhabi’s image exponentially.

“As the national airline, we continue to foster mutually beneficial relationships with the leading drivers of growth and progress in Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE. In the 12 short years since Etihad Airways was launched, both the airline and the Emirate have witnessed a spectacular transformation and are now leaders in service and hospitality. The growth of Etihad Airways is inextricably linked to the continued success of Abu Dhabi as a destination on the world stage.”

Etihad Airways will coordinate more closely with TCA Abu Dhabi across a range of disciplines and targeted B2B and B2C programmes, and will continue to grow the established and successful Essential Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Now and Access Abu Dhabi trade and consumer programmes, the latter being an integrated destination management campaign focused on key tour operators and online travel agencies, providing incentives for management and familiarisation trips.

Sultan Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director Tourism, TCA Abu Dhabi, said: “Abu Dhabi’s diversity of experiences, landscapes and deep-rooted heritage combine to create a compelling visitor experience which has established the destination as a world-leading and progressive tourism, sporting and cultural hub. 2016 will see many more guests coming to our warm and welcoming home, and enjoying all the exciting vacation and business opportunities it has to offer.

“TCA Abu Dhabi and Etihad Airways are once again joining forces with common objectives to promote the Emirate, and to continue to enhance its word-class tourism infrastructure, and to establish a development plan for tourism in order to further strengthen the economic and social impact on the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Etihad Airways, as the national airline of the UAE, is an invaluable and strategic partner for the development of the tourism sector in line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030.”

Miral and Etihad Airways will enter into a close destination-driven relationship in which Hala Abu Dhabi, the airline’s destination management subsidiary, will be providing a wide range of tourism, marketing and distribution services, including product development, global distribution and digital capabilities.

Mohamed Al Zaabi, Chief Executive Officer of Miral, said: “Abu Dhabi is a world-leader in state-of-the-art leisure, business and sporting facilities, and nowhere is this more evident than on Yas Island. Miral’s collaboration with Etihad Airways and TCA Abu Dhabi signifies our commitment to growing inbound tourism and long-haul stopovers to Yas Island. Together, we will increase in-market trade cooperation, international branding exercises, media and loyalty programmes, as well as education and PR strategies. This will increase passengers on Etihad Airways and visitor numbers to Yas Island, providing an immeasurable benefit to all travellers wanting a unique and authentic holiday experience."

Previous collaborative work between Etihad Airways and TCA Abu Dhabi has yielded highly successful global campaigns such as the Travellers Welcome campaign and the Abu Dhabi golf and MICE programmes.

Halal travel opportunity is there for the taking: TCA Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is poised to become the regional hub for the lucrative and growing halal travel sector, which is worth an estimated US$238 billion by 2019, delegates heard at the opening of the first World Halal Travel Summit (WHTS2015), held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority's (TCA Abu Dhabi’s) Acting Director General HE Jasem Al Darmaki called on halal tour operators and the emirate’s tourism industry to embrace the opportunity.

Organised with the support of Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau – the dedicated business events promotion arm of TCA Abu Dhabi, the event included an exhibition with over 200 participants plus a 1,000-delegate conference. Twenty-one exhibitors participated at the Abu Dhabi destination pavilion, while a Heritage Village hosted an additional 12 Abu Dhabi-based exhibitors.

Hashtag: #WHTS

TCA Abu Dhabi offers five-star food to less privileged to mark Islamic New Year

An initiative by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) saw celebrity Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor cook exclusively for 200 construction workers, office boys, drivers and cleaners as a special celebration to mark Islamic New Year 1437. 

The masterchef prepared delicacies at his restaurant Signature in Nation Galleria before the banquet was distributed to less privileged workers in Abu Dhabi. Helping to distribute the food were members of the restaurant staff as well as TCA Abu Dhabi’s Corporate Social Responsibility team. 

Mouza Al Shamsi, Acting Executive Director Marketing and Communication, TCA Abu Dhabi, said: “We are actively engaged within the community throughout the year and lead a number of initiatives here at the Authority to make people’s lives better while they are working and living in the emirate."

Indonesia's OJK and Islamic Development Bank agree to collaborate on research, training, Islamic financial services

Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, OJK) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to promote cooperation between the two institutions. The MoU was signed between OJK Chairman Dr Muliaman Hadad and IDB Group Chairman, Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali.

The MoU aims at enhancing existing cooperation between OJK and IDB in the areas of research, training and advisory services, Islamic financial services, and exchange of expertise and knowledge with other Indonesian entities and private sector institutions, as well as establishing a special center of excellence for microfinance under OJK in Jakarta.

Dr Muliaman said the development further consolidates the long standing partnership between OJK and IDB while Dr Ahmad noted that there have been over four decades of extensive cooperation between IDB and the Republic of Indonesia as a founding member. The IDB Group Chairman added that cooperation with OJK will pave the ground towards materialising IDB’s top priority development programmes in Indonesia.