Doha - The Civil Defence Exhibition and Conference starting at the Qatar International Exhibiton Centre on September 4 will give a fillip to project management in Qatar by bringing together project managers and eminent experts under one forum to exchange ideas, according to a leading luminary from this field.
"We will be participating in this exhibition because we feel project management is at the heart of the industry," said Ibrahim Mohammed Al Sulaiti, Vice-President, Project Management Institute - Arabian Gulf Chapter. "Our presence will facilitate dialogue, exchange of ideas and sharing of experience among professionals at the Conference. Members of the Project Management Institute (PMI) have vast experience in various sectors of the industry so this event provides an ideal forum to them."
Informing about the role and scope of the institute, Al Sulaiti, who is a qualified mechanical engineer from the North Carolina State University, US, said, "PMI supports various projects all over the world. We have around 250,000 members from over 160 member countries worldwide."
PMI is a non profit organisation established in 1969 in Pennsylvania, US. It is the leading membership association for project management professionals. Since the worldwide membership is so large there are 336 Chapters globally that serve as a link between the members and the headquarters in Pennsylvania.
A Chapter can be based in one country or a Chapter could be overseeing a group of countries. The Arabian Gulf Chapter (AGC) is one such, established in 1992 in Aramco, Saudi Arabia. It encompasses six GCC states and has around 3,000 members. The Qatar PMI AGC was established in 1995 and has 260 members and 62 Project Management Professionals.
The Qatar PMI has seen an "increase" in the number of members and also a rise in the number of PMP holders recently. "This is mainly due to the rapid progress and development in every sector of the industry that Qatar is witnessing under the dynamic stewardship of The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
"Our activities in Qatar include bi-monthly presentations at meetings where we invite top speakers from leading companies like Qatar Petroleum, RasGas, Kharama and Science and Technology Park at the Qatar Foundation and many other firms," said Al Sulaiti who has a quarter century of experience in the petroleum sector. "The main speaker at the event selects a particular topic and talks about the managing part of his project and concludes with lessons learnt that can be implemented in future projects."
Besides conducting seminars, Qatar PMI offers certificate courses to Project Management Professionals (PMP). The course teaches candidates how to efficiently manage a project. The certificates are recognised and accepted globally.
Qatar PMI is very active and encourages young professionals to showcase their project and ideas. "Last year two students, a boy and a girl, made effective technical presentations before a large gathering. We had invited students from Qatar University, Texas A & M University, Georgetown University and the Virginia Commonwealth University. The objective is to encourage young students to speak before a live audience before the main speaker makes his presentation."
© The Peninsula 2007
