Prime Minister and Minister of Interior His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani today inaugurated the “Hamad Port Visitor Centre.”

He toured the Centre and inspected its facilities; Qatar’s first aquarium, a maritime museum, a multipurpose auditorium equipped with latest technologies and interactive simulators

His Excellency also launched the port community system “MWANINA” - an electronic platform that allows smart and secure exchange of information between persons concerned and the entities associated with the port, thus helping improve and develop the importation and exportation operations and making them more efficient and less costly.

H.E. the Prime Minister was accompanied by a number of Their Excellencies the Ministers and senior officials.

On this occasion, Minister Al-Sulaiti said that inaugurating the “Hamad Port Visitor Centre” will contribute to educating the current and future generations, as well as visitors and the world, about Qatar’s maritime history and heritage as it narrates the ancestors’ role in the field of maritime navigation and trade over a considerable lapse of time.

The Minister, who is also Mwani Qatar Chairman, added that the Centre would support the country’s effort of preserving such a historic heritage and making it an unforgettable memory thanks to its facilities that embody the Qatari maritime heritage and its evolution throughout the years, toward achieving the goals of QNV2030.

He said the Centre would also elucidate more about Hamad Port, its vision, resources and the commitment to deliver such a megaproject.

The Centre includes an aquarium, featuring 17 basins of different sizes. It displays some 80 species of fishes and aquatic animals; 3063 in total. It will be playing a key role in promoting maritime culture and knowledge to its visitors and introducing them to the Umm Al Houl environment, where Hamad Port is located, and Qatar’s maritime environment in general, he added.

The Centre also includes a maritime museum that will be narrating unique stories on the history of the State of Qatar through portraits that demonstrate the old ways of living in Qatar, in addition to stories on maritime trade and how it evolved over the years.

The museum visitors will also learn more about the history of containers, ships, Hamad Port’s operations and its importance to life in Qatar. The museum’s interactive screens can simulate several maritime life activities, harbor operations, and ship maneuvering.

Commenting on the launching of “MWANINA” system, H.E. the Minister said that launching that new system corresponds to MOT’s plans to provide an integrated network of smart commercial ports that are efficient and effective and also integrating with other modes of transportation, aiming to connect our economy with global markets in step with the QNV2030 goals.

He said “MWANINA” system, which will contribute to facilitating vessel entry in general, keeps pace with the country’s plans to transform Qatar into a vibrant regional commercial hub through simplified trade operations and improved efficiency in line with highest safety and security standards. He said this also helps enhance the digital transformation in trade and logistic services industries in Qatar.

The port community system “MWANINA” is an electronic platform that allows smart and secure exchange of information between stakeholders and all the entities associated with ports. This will help make importation and exportation more efficient and effective in terms of time and cost. “MWANINA” will also support the green initiatives by reducing paper dependency, manual intervention, delays, and the associated errors and this helps improve performance, boost productivity, support the national economy and trade, in addition to developing the logistic services across Qatar.

Mwani Qatar’s CEO Capt. Abdulla Mohamed Al-Khanji said that “MWANINA” will facilitate the exchange of information between exporters, importers, shipping lines and all entities and stakeholders associated with ports via a signal point of contact, thus saving beneficiaries’ time and effort.

So far, 141 entities have been registered in the system, including shipping companies, custom clearance companies, and shipping agencies, he added.

Source: MOT

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	Issue 81 of Robban Assafina (Sept./ Oct. 2022)