HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashed Al Maktoum to honor winners of DQA and DHDA on March 12

The winners will be honored in a ceremony on March 12, 2006 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai.

The DQA Supreme committee has presented its recommendations to HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, and the Chairman of DED, to ratify the results before the ceremony.

The DQA, which was established under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed, is the single most valuable framework for the companies to implement a strategy to improve their effectiveness through commitment from top management and involvement of all employees to fulfill its obligations and achieve customer satisfaction at the optimum cost.

"The Dubai journey of quality and business excellence has richly contributed to the productivity of business organizations from the public and private sectors. Dubai Quality Award is not a process for generating winners and losers, it is a process for recognizing role model organizations,"

said Essa Kazim, Coordinator General for the Dubai Quality Award and Director General of Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

Mr. Kazim added: "Through the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed we have realized the importance of enhancing quality and excellence amongst the business community in Dubai in line with international standards. This is an opportunity for those who have not participated in the previous cycle to participate in the current cycle of the award and benefit from the experience of DQA experts in improving business process to realize their targets and key performance results to the satisfaction of their stakeholders".

Mr. Kazim encouraged non-participant companies to attend the awards ceremony to network with winning and participant companies, and with DQA experts to familiarize themselves with the process and witness the real benefits of DQA processes on their business.

The DQA winners will be honored in three categories - the Dubai Quality Award (DQA), the Dubai Quality Appreciation Programme (DQAP) and the Gold Category Award, which is open only to past winners of the DQA. Presentations will be made in each of the nine key sectors that have an immense bearing on Dubai's economy - Manufacturing, Professional, Tourism, Financial Services, Services, Trade, Construction, Health and Education.

The ceremony will also include the presentation of the Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) and honor the companies that pay special attention to training and development of the UAE nationals. The award is given in two categories and spans the seven economic sectors of financial services, trading, construction, professional, services, tourism and manufacturing.