ARABIANCOAST 2005 to discuss new developments in regional coastal management

The conference, which will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and Industry and Chairman of Dubai Municipality, will also provide a platform for discussion on coastal environmental impact problems and remedial solutions, including case studies of relevance to the region.

This came in a press conference held on Sunday to announce names of sponsors of the event. They include Emaar, Dubai Properties, Dubai Real Estate Department, Nakheel, and Dubai Customs, in addition to the event organizers, Arabian Hydroinformatix.

Essa Al Maidour, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for General Projects Affairs, said Dubai Municipality has initiated the ARABIANCOAST Conference series in order to bring together regional and international scientists, environmentalists, engineers and coastal managers to discuss the latest achievements and developments of relevance to ensuring best practice in development and preservation of the regional coastal zone.

"The conference will also lay particular emphasis on building collaborative linkages between agencies, programs and professionals working in the region. In this context, we value the support extended by our sponsors for this very important event," said Al Maidour.

Explaining the conference procedures, Al Maidour said, apart from the official opening session, the conference would include keynote speeches by 12 international experts in the field of coasts management from Australia, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Scotland, USA, Spain, South Africa, Italy and the UK. In addition, there will be experts from the Gulf region addressing the conference.

He added that the conference's Scientific Review Committee has accepted some 110 papers from nearly 150 papers that were received from 20 countries around the world. The long-term impact of the hazardous oil spill from the Gulf War twelve years ago on coastal and marine resources; coastal monitoring programmes for Gulf waters; and Tsunami hazards and mitigation along the Gulf and Arabian Sea coasts are some of the important subjects to be discussed. There are some 20 papers concerning the UAE coasts while 28 papers concern the Gulf and Middle East regions including nine from Kuwait, five from the Sultanate of Oman, eight from Iran and four from Egypt. Others papers are from India, USA, Italy, UK, Jordan, Nigeria, Turkey, Japan, Greece, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, New Zealand, Denmark, South Africa, Australia and Tunisia.

A technical trade exhibition will be held along side the main conference, which will also include a site visit to coastal zone projects of interest in the region.

Representatives of the sponsors also attended the press conference who included A. J. Jaganthan, CEO, Emaar, Marwan Al Qamzi, Head of Contracts and Purchasing Section, Nakheel, Rashid Al Room, Director, Customs Inspection, Dubai Customs, and Maha Badr, Project Director, Dubai Properties.