Dubai 2003 Organising Committee thanks Dubai hotels for offering finest Arabian hospitality to delegates of Annual Meetings

Mr. Al Banna made the remarks at a special ceremony held at Grand Hyatt Hotel to honour the managers of Dubai hotels, who worked tirelessly to ensure a good image of Dubai and its world-class infrastructure that helped Dubai host an international event of such scope and size.

The hotels were thanked for receiving the participating delegations and also placing the entire range of their services at the disposal of the Events Bureau created by the Accommodation Committee, which was one of 10 specialist committees that were created to ensure the success of Dubai 2003.

At the ceremony, Mr. Khalid Al Bustani, member of the Organising Committee of Dubai 2003 and Head of Task Force of Dubai 2003 presented commemorative plaques to each of the managers from Dubai hotels.

Mr. Al Banna said: "Many months have passed since the conclusion of the event but we can still hear the echoes reverberating locally, regionally and internationally, from the preparations and eventual success of Dubai 2003. We are proud of what we have achieved and the hotels contributed tremendously towards this by offering the best facility, quality services and the finest Arabian hospitality to the participating delegations.

He recalled the remarks made by Mr. Kaspar Villiger, Chairman of the 2003 Meetings and Swiss Finance Minister, who told journalists at the closing press conference of Dubai 2003 that he was so impressed with the organizing of the event that if his country ever organised an event of this scale he would have no hesitation in asking the Dubai 2003 planning team for their expertise.

Mr. Al Banna said he was confident that Dubai would host many more international events of similar stature and involving thousands of people, and the hotels in Dubai would be ever willing to play their role in ensuring the success of each of them.

The Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund were first held in Washington DC in 1946. They are hosted by an international city one year in three and last year it was held in Dubai in September. Dubai and the UAE were selected because of their highly developed transportation and logistics infrastructure, growing importance as a financial hub and their established position as an oasis of opportunity.