BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 12 QDB records Pogba says it ‘continued growth’ in was destiny funding with to rejoin INDEX DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 2, 3, 20 COMMENT 18, 19 QR1.3bn REGION 4 BUSINESS 1-7, 12-16 Manchester loans 18,530.42 10,918.53 42.65 ARAB WORLD 5 CLASSIFIED 8-11 +1.13 -1.76 -0.37 INTERNATIONAL 6 – 17 SPORTS 1 – 12 Utd +0.01% -0.02% -0.86% Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978 WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10176 August 10, 2016 Dhul-Qa’da 7, 1437 AH GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals A scoring moment In brief Qatar’s cargo handling SYRIA | Suff ering Millions in Aleppo without water About 2mn people in the Syrian city capacity of Aleppo have no access to running water after escalating fighting damaged the city’s water delivery system, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) said yesterday. Fighting has set to surge severed electricity lines necessary to operate water pumps, leaving the whole city without water for Hamad Port is strategically sets and terminal areas so that contain- four days, Unicef warned. “These located to handle the expanding ers and general cargo can be accepted in cuts are coming amid a heat wave, trade in the Gulf and beyond, a phased, controlled manner. putting children at a grave risk of into the hinterland of Qatar and Business disruption will be avoided waterborne diseases,” said Hanaa neighbouring GCC countries and throughput improvements can be Singer, Unicef’s representative in seen at the earliest stage. Syria. Page 5 By Pratap John “Once the fi rst phase is operational Chief Business Reporter we will evaluate the timelines for the EUROPE | Diplomacy other two phases, which would bring the total handling capacity to 6mn Putin, Erdogan move atar’s annual handling capacity TEUs once completed,” al-Sulaiti told towards repairing ties will scale up to 2mn twenty- the Oxford Business Group. Russia and Turkey took a big step Qfoot equivalent units (TEUs) Mwani is handling the early opera- towards normalising relations Qatar’s left-wing Abdulrazzaq Murad jumping to score during the men’s preliminary round Group A handball match between once the fi rst phase of state-of-the-art tions facility, and is involved in discus- yesterday, with their leaders Qatar and France during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Future Arena in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. World champions Hamad Port becomes fully operational sions over creating a joint venture that announcing an acceleration in trade France beat Qatar, 35-20. Qatar will take on Tunisia tomorrow in the third game of the group stage, having beaten Croatia in 2016, according to HE the Minister will be responsible for running future and energy ties at a time when both 30-23 in the opening game. Qatar were drawn in Group A alongside France, Tunisia, Denmark, Croatia and Argentine as four of Transport and Communications, port operations. This will be a joint countries have troubled economies teams make it to the quarter-finals. Page 1 Sport. Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti. venture between Mwani and the se- and strains with the West. President The capacity at the existing Doha lected operating company. Vladimir Putin received his Turkish Port is 750,000- twenty-foot equiva- Early operations have been very suc- counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in lent units. cessful as all ro-ro and livestock ves- a Tsarist-era palace outside his The transfer of operations from the sels are now calling at Hamad Port for home city of St Petersburg. It was existing Doha Port to Hamad Port has unloading and delivering goods to the Erdogan’s first foreign trip since last involved the transfer of staff employed Qatari market. month’s failed military coup. Page 11 1.4mn tourists visit Qatar by Qatar Ports Management Com- The results are encouraging in terms pany (Mwani), government agencies, of the relationships already built be- BRITAIN | Project stakeholders and service providers, tween Mwani, the shipping lines and al-Sulaiti said in an interview with the the port community at large, which China warns relations Oxford Business Group. While these will have a positive impact on the full at ‘crucial juncture’ in the fi rst half of 2016 organisations have worked effi ciently opening and operations, the minister China’s ambassador to Britain and eff ectively at Doha Port, the early said. yesterday urged London to operational phase has allowed the in- Hamad Port is strategically located approve a Beijing-funded nuclear atar welcomed 1.4mn visitors tegration of their activities in the im- to handle the expanding trade in the power plant as soon as possible, in the fi rst six months of 2016, proved working environment off ered Gulf and beyond, into the hinterland warning that relations between Qincluding 665,355 Gulf Co-op- by Hamad Port. of Qatar and neighbouring GCC coun- the two countries were at a critical eration Council (GCC) nationals, ac- Thus incremental transfer of opera- tries, al-Sulaiti said. point. “Right now, the China-UK cording to Qatar Tourism Authority’s tions has been possible, with roll-on/ The facilities will feature cutting- relationship is at a crucial historical (QTA) Tourism Performance Sum- roll-off (ro-ro) and livestock cargoes edge technology and associated sys- juncture. Mutual trust should be mary for the fi rst half of 2016. being relocated seamlessly, the minis- tems that will cater to all types of ves- treasured even more,” Liu Xiaoming Saudi Arabia remains the largest ter said. The operational team has been sels, cargo handling and clearance, wrote in an article in the Financial source market and responsible for able to improve the effi ciency rates at and throughput rates that will set the Times newspaper. Page 10 the bulk of the growth recorded in the Doha Port since the early operations facility apart from the region’s existing number of GCC visitor arrivals. facility has been designed specifi cally ports. INDIA | Protest Saudi brought 39,650 visitors to as a ro-ro and livestock handling ter- Environmental protection strate- Qatar, which represents 10% of the minal. gies – such as sustainable resource Activist ends world’s growth. Some additional substantial The successful transfer of operations use, waste management and sustain- longest hunger strike growth was evident also from the UAE will serve as a template for the timely ability certification for buildings – A rights activist who has waged what (13%) while arrivals from Bahrain also transfer of all remaining cargoes from will ensure the port achieves a sus- is thought to be the world’s longest increased by at least 1%. Doha Port to Hamad Port as planned in tainable balance between economic hunger strike ended her 16-year fast According to the report, the overall the second quarter of 2016, al-Sulaiti growth, social development and en- yesterday after vowing to continue number of visitors is 6% lower this said. Lessons learned will be applied to vironmental protection, the minister her struggle by standing for election year than the number recorded in the year,” a QTA spokesperson said. room (RevPAR) was QR319. the subsequent commissioning of as- added. in her home state. Page12 fi rst half of 2015. The timing of Ram- “This growth will continue as QTA Similar to usual trends, the highest adan, which this year began early in and its partners set in motion plans ARR and RevPAR levels continue to be June compared to mid-June last year, to redevelop Doha Port, creating an achieved by the 5-Star and Deluxe Ho- has had a clear impact on arrivals for attractive stop for cruise ships in the tel Apartment classes. the second quarter. Gulf,” he added. “The overall declines in visitor ar- However, August performance is Meanwhile, hotel occupancy and rivals and occupancy are consistent expected to be supported by the Qatar average room rates were lower during with trends seen across the region. As Summer Festival which will run for a the fi rst six months of this year com- economic conditions improve and the month. pared to the same period in 2015. number of travellers rises again, we are The festival has been designed to Occupancy rates in the tourist ac- determined to be ready with tourism attract visits at a traditionally off -peak commodation sector have seen a 15% products that can retain leisure visi- period in Qatar’s hospitality and retail fall from the fi rst half of 2015, with an tors, and increase the average length of sectors, with hotel and shopping pro- average of 64% occupancy recorded stay of business visitors,” the spokes- motions, cultural performances and across all hotels and hotel apartments person said. sports events that will drive footfall to in the fi rst half of 2016. “We are actively engaged on many establishments and venues. The drop was generated in part by fronts in line with the Qatar Na- “Visitor arrival fi gures should see a a 10% net increase in the number of tional Tourism Sector Strategy 2030 further increase in Q4 as the 2016/17 available rooms, as four new proper- to develop a sustainable tourism cruise season begins in October. Thir- ties have opened their doors since the sector, including efforts to encour- ty-two ships have already registered end of June 2015. age investment in tourism, boost- to dock in Doha’s ports, and they are Average room rates (ARR) across ing cruise tourism, and expanding HE al-Sulaiti: says the successful transfer of operations will serve as a template expected to carry over 50,000 visitors all hotels and apartments was international promotional activity,” for the timely transfer of all remaining cargoes from Doha Port to Hamad Port as on board, a ten-fold increase from last QR500, and revenue per available he added.