Gateway 2003 comes under his highness Sheikh Maktoum's patronage

The first ever event to be held at Dubai's Knowledge Village, Gateway 2003 features more than 50 companies looking to recruit more than 250 serious job-seeking Emiratis, in the banking, tourism, retail and leisure, energy and government sectors.

Káren Storey, Managing Partner of event organisers, X-Logic, said: 'The patronage of His Highness really underlines the seriousness of the issue of Emiratisation. Such high level backing, coupled with the participation of government bodies such as Dubai Institute of Human Resources Development, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and the Emiratisation Task Force for Tourism, means this event will change the face of local employment forever.'

Dubai Institute of Human Resources Development, Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing Department and X-Logic are offering a limited number of FREE passes to the event.

The passes will be offered to serious Emiratis who are job-seeking or about to graduate, on the first day of the three day event, Sunday December 7th.

The event, running from 9am-6pm, features a host of seminars and workshops, allowing delegates the opportunity to improve their life skills, career prospects and confidence. More than 1,000 eager Emirati job seekers are expected to attend.

There will also be a best practice seminar on Tuesday December 9, entitled 'How Does Successful National Recruitment Work?' which aims to educate employers on how best to recruit, train and keep nationals within the organisation. There are limited places still available for the seminar, which costs AED650, and includes papers from Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, CEO of Dubai Institute for Human Resource Development, and Alan Schofield, Head of Human Resources, National Bank of Dubai.