February 2021 – Arabian Records (1st post : Eid Al Fitr – 01st Shawwal 1439 (AH) / 15th June 2018 ) / (BETA testing – Research

Egypt launches 1st Platform for Entrepreneurship in Middle East, N Africa (MENA) : February 2021

The Ministry of Planning launched in cooperation with Facebook and Rise Up Foundation an interactive platform “SMB Business BOT” for entrepreneurship to support small and medium enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa.

Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said asserted the keenness of the ministry to provide mechanisms supporting the entrepreneurship thinking, saying the ministry is keen on establishing business incubators via “Rowad 2030” project that was launched by the ministry .

Facebook Managing Director in the Middle East and North Africa Ramez Shehadi said Facebook is committed to provide the tools that would enable small and medium enterprises push forward economic growth wheel, creating job opportunities and boosting local societies in Egypt,

The Founder of Rise Up Foundation Abdel Hamid Sharara said the Business BOT program will provide support needed by the different companies in the Middle East and North Africa. (MENA)

source: egypttoday.com

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EGYPT

Sarah Al Amiri named in Time’s 2021 List of ‘Next 100 Most Influential People’ : 2021

Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, has been named as one of Time’s 2021 list of the Next 100 Most Influential People in the World for successfully leading the UAE’s Hope Probe into Mars’ orbit, in the first-ever Arab interplanetary mission.

In addition to her work in sending the Arab world’s first spacecraft to Mars, Al Amiri is now ahead of bigger missions: to lead ambitious space and technology projects that contribute to the UAE’s bigger goal in establishing a knowledge-based economy. A lunar mission in 2024 and plans to build a human settlement on Mars by 2117 are among the ambitious projects that await the young minister who’s looking to promote research and development to create new industries as part of her role.

She took part in building the UAE’s first two satellites – DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2, and the first entirely Emirati-made KhalifaSat.

She has been holding several responsibilities as the Chairwoman of the Emirates Scientists Council, Chairwoman of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Council and Chairwoman of the Dubai Future Academy Board of Trustees.

In 2017, she became the country’s first Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, a title that later changed in the latest cabinet reshuffle in August 2020 to the Minister of State for Advanced Technology. She was also then named the Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency.

In 2015, the World Economic Forum honoured her as one of its 50 Young Scientists for her contributions to science, technology and engineering.

She was also invited by the World Economic Forum to speak at Davos 2019 and became the first Emirati citizen to speak at an international TED event in 2017.

Mostly recently, she was selected in the BBC’s 100 Women 2020, a documentary that highlighted women leading change and making a difference during last year’s turbulent times.

source: wam.ae

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, Founder – Abu Dhabi Festival

Huda I Alhamis-Kanoo, Patron of the Arts

Founder – Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF) – 1996
Founder & Artistic Director : Abu Dhabi Festival (2004)

www.admaf.org / www.abudhabifestival.ae

Awards:

The Abu Dhabi Award and Abu Dhabi Medal (conferred by H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi)
The UN-affiliated Women Together Award
The Aspen Institute Emerging Voice Award for Cultural Stewardship
The Puccini Festival Foundation Award,
The Middle East Institute’s Visionary Award,
etc…

Orders Conferred:

The Commander of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (Orden de Isabel la Católica), conferred upon her by HM Juan Carlos, former King of Spain, by order of HM Philip IV, King of Spain
The Medal of Civil Merit of Spain
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz)
Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà of Italy
Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur of France
Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France
The Belgian Officer of the Order of the Crown, bestowed upon her by HM Albert II, King of Belgium
The Gloria Artis Medal of Poland
Order of the British Empire (OBE), bestowed upon her by HM Queen Elizabeth the Second
etc…

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Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo is the founder of Admaf and artistic director of the Abu Dhabi Festival. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Festival / pix: thenationalnews.com

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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)

Moroccan Poet Abdellatif Laabi Wins 2021 Roger Kowalski Award, Lyons-France

Moroccan francophone poet Abdellatif Laabi has won the 2021 Roger Kowalski Award for Poetry, organized by the city council of Lyon, in east-central France

The Award was for his most-recent poetry book, “Presque riens” (Almost Nothing), published in October 2020.

Named after a famous Lyon-native poet, the Roger Kowalski Award for Poetry each year honors a living francophone poet who is connected to the city of Lyon. Laabi was eligible for nomination because his wife, Jocelyne, is a Lyon native. He is the first Moroccan to ever win the award.

Founder of the first ever Moroccan francophone poetry magazine, called “Souffles” (Breaths) along with other writers Mohammed Khair-Eddine and Mostafa Nissaboury (1966).

Abdellatif Laabi published a novel in 2003, “Le Chemin des ordalies” (The Path of Ordeals), where he shares memories from his experience in prison.

Published 20 poetry books and five novels, along with tens of works translated from Arabic.

source: moroccoworldtoday.com

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FRENCH /MOROCCAN- FRENCH / FRENCH-ARAB / EUROPEAN ARAB

Agro-Products of Egypt Featuring in Top 10 of the World

Egypt is among the world’s top 10 exporters and producers of certain crops.

Orange

Egypt is the world’s top exporter of orange in terms of volume. In 2019, it exported 1.8 million metric tons of oranges worth $660 million.

Fig

Tthe second largest producer of fig globally for it produces 167,622 tons per annum.

Dried Onion

Egypt ranks third globally in terms of exporting dried onion. In 2019, it exported 13.6 tons of dried onion worth $30.4 million, representing 8.1% of the total global exports of dried onions.

Potatoes

Egypt is the fifth largest exporter of raw potatoes in terms of dollar value worth of the shipments. In 2019, it exported raw potatoes in the value of $259.6 million, which composes 5.4% of the world’s exports.

Prepared/preserved potatoes, Egypt ranks 13th exporting in 2019 shipments worth $31.1 million, representing 0.3% of the world’s global.

Dates

Egypt’s annual production of dates surpasses 1.7 million tons contributing in global production standing at eight million tons by 21 percent. Yet, Egypt’s rank in dates export market is not as high because of the weak value chain starting from the cultivation of palm trees until packaging and distribution.

source: egypttoday.com

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Fruits and vegetables – Wikimedia Commons

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EGYPT

World’s First Shipment of Blue Ammonia, Saudi Arabia to Japan : Sep. 27, 2020

The world’s first shipment of blue ammonia was dispatched from Saudi Arabia to Japan on Sep. 27, 2020 for use in a power station for the production of zero-carbon power generation, paving the way for the further use of hydrogen in the energy system.

The Saudi-Japanese collaboration is part of a pilot project, conducted by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) and oil company Saudi Aramco in partnership with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC).

“The shipment is considered the first around the world, and it represents a crucial opportunity for Aramco to introduce hydrocarbons as a reliable and affordable source of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia,” said Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, chief technology officer, Saudi Aramco, according to Saudi media.

source: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Abdul Jerri – Mathematician

Dr. Abdul Jerri (aka) Dr. Abdul Jabbar Hassoon Jerri – Mathematician

Academician:

Last position held : Professor Emeritus – Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York (1967-2002)

Editor:

Founding Editor – Sampling Theory in Signal and Image processing (STSIP- An International Journal)
Owner – Sampling Publishing

Books:

Introduction to Integral Equations with Applications (Pure & Applied Mathematics) – 1985
Integral and Discrete Transforms with Applications and Error Analysis (Chapman & Hall/ CRC Pure and Applied Mathematics) – 1992
Linear Difference Equation with Discrete Transform Methods (Mathematics and Its Applications) 363 – 1996
The Gibbs Phenomenon in Fourier Analysis, Splines and Wavelet Approximations (Mathematics and Its Applications ) 446 – 1998 ..
etc..

Education:

B.Sc – Physics – University of Baghdad (1955)
M.S. – Physics – Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (1960)
Ph.D – Mathematics, Oregon State University (1967)

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AMERICAN / IRAQI AMERICAN / ARAB AMERICAN

Saudi Arabia Opens Military Recruitment to Women : February 2021

Women can now join Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, following a ruling by the Saudi Ministry of Defense that opened the way for both genders to sign up through a unified admission portal starting Sunday.

Military ranks from soldier to sergeant will be available in the Saudi Arabian Army, Royal Saudi Air Defense, Royal Saudi Navy, Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force, and Armed Forces Medical Services.

Saudi female applicants must be between the age of 21 and 40 years old, have a height of 155 cm or taller, and cannot be a government employee.

Female submissions must also hold an independent national identity card and have at least a high school education. Applicants married to non-Saudi citizens will not be accepted.

source: arabnews.com

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All applicants must have a clean record and be medically fit for service. (Supplied) / pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Morocco Receives Certificate of UNESCO Heritage Registration for COUSCOUS : December 2020

UNESCO gave couscous the special designation on December 16, 2020.

Samir Addahre, Morocco’s ambassador to the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), received the certificate of registration of couscous on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Couscous is Morocco’s 10th “element” on the list. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania presented a joint request to include couscous on UNESCO’s list in December 2018.

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How heritage brings people together

The registration of “Knowledge, know-how and practices related to the production and consumption of couscous” is the result of a joint application by Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. This joint inscription of a shared heritage illustrates the extent to which intangible cultural heritage can be a subject on which States meet and cooperate. This is, moreover, the meaning of UNESCO’s action: building bridges between peoples, bringing them closer together through the practices and knowledge they have in common.

UNESCO / www.en.unesco.org

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source: moroccoworldnews.com

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MOROCCO / NORTH AFRICA

AlAnoud Al Sharekh – First Kuwaiti Woman to Receive France’s Ordre National du Merite : 2016

Dr. AlAnoud Al Sharekh. Researcher. Academic. Author. Women’s Rights Activist.

Presently, Research Associate, The Chatham House and ‘The Arab Gulf Institute, Washington

Activity :

Founding Member – Abolish 153 (aka) Abolish Article 153
Founding Member – Mudhawi’s List
Director – Ibtkar Strategic Consulting

Awards:

First Kuwaiti Woman to receive France’s ‘Ordre National du Merite’ (National Order of Merit)
Listed among BBC’s 100 Women of 2019
Arab Prize – Best Publication in a Foreign Journal (2013-2014) by The Doha Institute (2014)
Voices of Success Kuwait Award (2018)

Education:

BA – Bachelor’s Degree – English, Kings College, London (1996)
MA – Masters Degree – Applied Linguistics and English-Arabic Language and Translation – School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
Ph.D – Doctorate – Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Comparative Literature and Feminism

Books:

Challenging Limitations: The Redefinition of Rules for Women in the GCC (2005)
Angry Words Softly Spoken: A Comparitive Study of English and Arabic Women Writers (2006)
The Gulf Family : Kinship Policies and Modernity (2007)
Popular Culture and Political Identity in the Arab Gulf States (2008)

http://www.alanoudalsharekh.com

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KUWAIT