THE PENINSULA Doha: Qatar is at an ‘advanced stage’ in the ambit of fire safety in the region but is open to adopting better regulations from other parts of the world, Civil Defence Department officials said at a press conference yesterday. “All countries in the region have their own fire safety laws and regulations which are governed by circumstances and it is not proper to make comparisons, but we can say that Qatar is at an advanced stage in the region,” Brigadier Abdulla Jassim Fakhroo, Director of the Fire Prevention Department told a press conference held at the Diplomatic Club in Doha. The event comes as a precursor to the Second Civil Defence Exhibition and Conference to be held at the Doha Exhibition Centre from November 3 to 5. Talking about the civil defence scenario in the country, Brigadier General Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Chairman of the Organising Committee and General Manager of the Civil Defence Department said that as a result of proposed development projects in the country the quality and incidence of risk is going to increase. “The quality and risk have steadily increased with the rapid and tremendous development witnessed by the country since the mid-ninetees,” he said. Qatar is to implement a number of projects like the marine tunnel, railways, Metro, and factories over ten to fifteen years. Replying to a question from an expert whose company is participting in the exhibition, on whether Qatar’s fire safety regulations borrow more from US fire safety norms and not from European standards, Brigadier Fakhroo said Qatar has an open mind on this. Seventy companies are participating in the Second Civil Defence Exhibition and Conference which will be preceded by a workshop to be held from October 25 to 29 at the Diplomatic Club. Abdul Latif Abdullah Al Mahmoud, General Manager of Dar Al-Sharq, the company organizing the conference, said the exhibition has seen an increase of 80 percent in the number of participants compared to the first exhibition held in 2007. “The number of visitors to the exhibition is expected to increase by 150 percent. We expect the exhibition, God willing, to be the largest in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of participants and accompanying events,” he said. http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=October2009&file=Local_News200910217143.xml

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