Winners of the ninth HH Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah informatics award lauded here Wednesday the sponsorship by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, saying that it reflected the leadership’s keenness on developing the field of informatics in Kuwait. Chairman of the Board and Director General of Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Ibrahim Al-Sabah told KUNA that he was very pleased to be honored by HH the Amir, adding that KUNA was very keen on supporting events of such caliber. KUNA is willing as always to give its full support to HH Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Informatics Award, stated Sheikh Mubarak, stressing that such backup was amongst KUNA’s duties to develop media in Kuwait. Meanwhile, head of the board of trustees for the award Sheikha Aida Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah told KUNA that the ninth edition of the award saw strong local and regional participation by individuals interested in informatics, noting that the highlight of this year’s event was the first project to establish a specialized Arab scientific dictionary. Meanwhile, Sheikh Fahad Salem Al-Ali told the press on the sidelines of the event that his father was amongst the first officials to promote informatics on the local level, stressing that the event’s influence had grown to include projects from all over the Arab world. Also speaking on the event was Executive Chairman of the Arab Satellite Communication Organization (Arabsat) Khaled Balkhyour, who told KUNA that he was honored to have received the informatics medal for 2009 from the Amir, noting that Kuwait played an integral role in backing up operations at Arabsat.
Amongst the honorees was Director General of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) Dr Yaqoub Al-Rifaei who also expressed his gratitude to the Kuwaiti leadership for sponsoring such an event. He stressed that PAAET was keen on developing informatics at its departments, integrating IT studies in several of such facilities.