News

Transtek organized a workshop in cooperation with Method Corporation (Project Management Enablers) about Excellence in Enterprise Project Management on July 17 at Four Seasons Hotel. It was instructed by Mr. Ammar Mango PMP, who has over seventeen years of global experience in Project Management & Leadership consulting and training. The workshop discussed four major points: context, why projects fail, why projects succeed, and building excellence in project management.

As part of its responsibility towards promoting art, especially Arab art in Syria, our sister magazine alIqtissad, along with FW, organized an exhibition of Arabic calligraphy by Atef Dalleh. This exhibition comes as preparations are underway to celebrate Damascus as the Capital of Arab Culture in 2008. The exhibition, which lasted for three days, is the first step in trying to promote Arab calligraphy, and will be followed by launching a website about this subject on the web.

The Arab Youth Gathering and Voluntary Work Forum was held in Damascus on July 10-13, 2007 under the patronage of First Lady Asma al-Assad. Ministers, ambassadors, and representatives of international organizations attended, in addition to Waduda Badran, the general manager of the Arab Women Organization, and Bushra Kanafani, the chair of the Arab Youth Forum. The motto of the event was: “Volunteerism is my humanity, construction is my responsibility.” The Syrian First Lady stressed on how productive young people can be, due to their enthusiasm, passion, and innovative ideas. Shortcomings in work, she noted, were due to being unable to link between volunteerism and developmental needs, along with a weakness in coordination between all parties involved. Our era, she added, was that of human resource development, where people are the tools of change at every level of society. That is why promoting the concept of volunteerism is vital since it contributes to individual and social development. At the event, three workshops were held. One dealt with networking among Arab voluntary organizations. The other covered volunteerism among Arab youth while the third workshop developed the idea of authoring a guidebook on volunteerism.

Abdulsalam Haykal, the founder of Haykal Media and publisher of FW, has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the American University of Beirut (AUB). He is the youngest person in AUB’s history since 1866 to be voted into such a prestigious post. Haykal, who studied political science at AUB and minored in history, was very active in student politics and served for three rounds as president of the Syrian Culture Club (SCC) at AUB. This student organization aimed at promoting Syria’s cultural image in Lebanon. Among other things it hosted Maestro Sulhi al-Wadi, and the Syrian Nation-al Conservatory at Assembly Hall in 1997, invited the novelist Abdulsalam Ujayli to lecture at West Hall in 1998 and held a ceremony honoring Syria’s late poet Nizar Qabbani also in 1998. They also hosted a concert by Sabah Fakhri at AUB, and organized a cere-Lahhoud, in 1999. Back in Damascus after graduation from AUB, Haykal worked on establishing the Damascus Chapter of the Alumni Association. It should be noted that some of Syria’s inest men are graduates of AUB. The hall of fame includes former President Nazim al-Qudsi, former Prime Minister Faris al-Khury, the nationalist leader Abdul-Rahman Shahbandar, and the poet and diplomat Omar Abu Risheh. It also includes Constantine Zurayk, the philosopher of Arab nationalism and renowned academic who served as president of AUB, and then rector of Damascus University. In addition to his new post at AUB, Haykal is also president of the Syrian Young Entrepreneur Association (SYEA) and a ac-tive young businessman who founded Haykal Media in 2004. This media group publishes FW and our sister magazine alIqtissad.

In cooperation with Visa International, Bank Audi- Syria launched a new credit card service, the Visa Gold card in US Dollars. This is the first of its kind in Syria. The launch was announced during a press conference held at the Four Seasons Hotel, attended by Naser Abu Ghazaleh, the Regional Manager of Visa International, and Bassel Hamwi, the Deputy Chairman and General Manager of Bank Audi-Syria. Hamwi stated that “Bank Audi Syria has implemented a strategic plan focusing on the electronic cards and services market in Syria, aimed at strengthening its position as one of the most innovative banks” in the field of credit card and electronic services. Hamwi added that the bank “will soon issue a wide array of cards, including direct debit cards, credit cards, and pre-paid cards, which target all society segments and meet all customers’ needs.” Abu Ghazaleh commented saying: “It gives us great pleasure to witness the rising success and developments of the products that Bank Audi Syria is providing. The Syrian market is a very promising one. Although it is relatively new to the electronic payment system, its people have shown solid strides towards adopting cashless payment methods for the day to day purchases they make. Being among the market leaders in the credit card sector in Lebanon, I am confident that Bank Audi will be passing on its expertise in a way that will inevitably raise the bar for the Syrian banking sector at large. We would like to congratulate Bank Audi on this new card launch.” Randa Bdeir, the head of Electronic Banking and Business Development at Bank Audi–Audi Saradar Group, said that the card’s most important quality is that it is accepted worldwide at the largest commercial networks, including hotels, shopping centers, malls, restaurants, gas stations, etc. Furthermore, it can be used to withdraw cash from over 900,000 ATMs worldwide, and offers its holders special treatment and many privileges at a large number of service companies. These include a free IAPA membership which offers Visa Gold cardholders up to 50% discounts at more than 20,000 hotels worldwide, and up to 30% discounts at car rental companies worldwide, in addition to a free membership in the Priority Pass program which gives cardholders access to VIP lounges in over 500 airports, regardless of the plane ticket class. Visa Gold cardholders also receive extra benefits, such as the E-Services program, a fast and secure way to stay in touch with their credit card activities, via statements and SMS alerts, and insurance programs among which a travel accident and medical emergency insurance up to $100,000 and a purchase protection insurance up to $ 1,500. Moreover, the card offers its holders unparalleled payment flexibility, allowing them to settle their bills through monthly payments which suit their income (10% of their monthly bills), or in full, at 0% interest.