Representatives of five leading organisations including Qatar Foundation, Etihad and Oman LNG receive the prestigious Middle East HR Summit Awards

Dubai – The best of human resources talent and innovations from the region were honoured with the ‘Middle East HR Summit Awards’ at a conclave of business leaders and professionals in Dubai today.

The Awards ceremony was part of the 6th Middle East HR Summit, being held from the 8th to the 12th of November 2009 at the Dubai Knowledge Village Conference Centre.

The categories and winners of the Awards this year are as follows: Outstanding contributions to HR – Abdul Basit Al Rawahi, Head of Projects, Etihad Airways; HR Professional of the Year – Sultan Al-Hajji, Deputy General Manager, Total Abu Al Bukhoosh UAE; Young HR Professional of the Year – Ghanim Al Naimi, Learning and Development Manager, Qatar Foundation; Employer of the Year – Oman LNG LLC; HR Initiative of the Year – Colin Gow, Al-Futtaim Private Ltd. LLC, UAE.

The Award winners were selected from short-listed nominations, which represented a cross-section of the region’s leading organisations in such diverse sectors as social empowerment, oil & gas, real estate and hospitality.

The Middle East HR Summit Awards are also intended to provide participants in the Summit with sustainable models for developing human resources capable of meeting the future needs of the region.

“Employers in the region are going through unprecedented challenges. Creative thinking, unique HR models and inspired leadership can only help them overcome these challenges and ensure future growth. The Middle East HR Summit and the Awards will serve as pointers to enterprises and executives along their road to the future,” said Mbali Dlamini, Conference Director, IIR Middle East.

Top HR executives from the region are attending the Summit, organised by IIR Middle East, exploring ways to retain talent and keep employees motivated amidst the global economic downturn and its pressures on budgets and recruitment world over.

Local and international experts are addressing the workshops and masterclasses held during the Summit, sharing their perspectives on employee retention, reduced budgets and nationalisation – all issues pertinent in the present regional context.

The Middle East HR Summit is in partnership with Dubai Knowledge Village, and sponsored by Hay Group, Eca International and Innovation 360 Institute.

For more information on the Middle East HR Summit programme, please visit http://www.hrsummitme.com

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About the Middle East HR Summit
Organised by IIR Middle East, the Middle East HR Summit is the region’s premier annual conference and exhibition for Human Resource professionals.

Running in parallel with the Summit will be the HR Exhibition, featuring services and products to meet all HR requirements.

For more details about the Summit and the full programme, please visit www.hrsummitme.com

About IIR Middle East:
The Institute of International Research (IIR) is part of Informa plc, the leading international provider of specialist information and services for the academic and scientific, professional and commercial business communities. Informa has more than 150 offices in more than 40 countries, employs over 9,000 staff globally and is the largest publicly owned organiser of conferences and courses in the world with an output of over 10,000 events annually.

For more than 35 years IIR has been the leader in facilitating business knowledge and skills delivered through cutting edge conferences, training programmes and industry led exhibitions.

Operating in the Middle East since 1993 we are the leading event organiser regionally. Key expertise allows us to identify trends ahead of the curve by responding quickly to market needs to bring global thought leaders and industry experts into the region.