CEO of biggest regional aid facilitator platform named

DUBAI, 12 December 2005: Dubai Holding (DH) and the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) announced today the appointment of Barbara Castek as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the biggest regional aid facilitator and the world's first integrated relief and development facilities recently created from the merger of the Dubai Aid City (DAC) and Dubai Humanitarian City (DHC) platforms.

The new entity will offer services in the most vital parts of the aid relief and development supply chain, from providing office and warehouse facilities to humanitarian organizations, logistics support, procurement assistance, donor coordination services to providing advocacy and training.

"We are very thankful to the leadership of Dubai to include in their vision the contribution the emirate can extend to the international humanitarian community. We will do our utmost to leverage the responsibility given to DHC - DAC to the maximum in order to ease the suffering of the less privileged." Castek emphasizes.

In the short term, it will work to leverage Dubai's facilities to achieve superior humanitarian service delivery and increase the efficiency of the supply chain to improve relief and development delivery.

"The Government of Dubai has committed itself not only to provide financial aid but to facilitate international aid and relief organizations by providing its advanced infrastructure to make the deployment of international relief campaigns more efficient," said Barbara Castek, the new CEO of the merged entity DAC-DHC.

"In the cases of natural disasters like the recent case in Kashmir, time is critical. From the moment a disaster is declared, crucial decisions are taken involving thousands of aid workers and tones of material to be deployed. Our role is to facilitate this process by providing multifaceted solutions to all the involved actors: from local fundraisers to international relief campaigns."

So far, over 50 NGOs, UN agencies and suppliers have been licensed in the new platform. "The success of the project is undisputable: the international humanitarian community has understood the potential of the platform and has been knocking on our doors even as we were installing our offices, and before we knew it half of the licensed members are applying for expansion," added Barbara Castek.

"Ultimately Dubai will not only be known as a commercial, financial and tourism hub but also as a hub for international relief and development action. In every way, Dubai and the UAE will play a major part of easing and even saving millions of lives globally."

Barbara Castek has been the former Head of the Dubai Aid City since June 2004. Prior to this she served as a Vice President of Hillwood Strategic Services specializing in the establishment of Free Zones and Special Economic Zones in the Middle East. She earned a Masters of Science in Economics and Geography, a Masters of Arts in English and has postgraduate studies in Tokyo and Paris.