Jon Harris and Keith Newton spent an eventful few days in Dubai and Oman for CILT.

Keith was there as part of the Fresh Connection Global Final, which is run by SCALA UK with CILT support. The event in Dubai had teams from 11 other countries and enabled Keith to add on days with the local CILT Board – value for money for the Institute and a good example of working with our partners around the world, something many of our officers and volunteers do regularly.

The visit was focused on supporting the new board in the UAE with a particular focus on education and planning for our convention in 2015. The UAE has huge potential for CILT in both membership and education sectors and the new board are currently rebuilding both.

CILT UAE is also forming links with other countries in the Gulf and has started to work together with CILT Oman on methods of jointly providing membership services. CILT Oman President, Warith Kharusi, was present in Dubai and accompanied Jon on his education visits to three unique providers in Muscat, Oman.

The 2015 convention will be held in Dubai, in September, and our latest visit enabled us to look at dates and venues for the event – news on both will be available shortly.

There is plenty of interest locally and strong support from the Board and business, so we expect to put on a showpiece event to come up to our high expectations following our fantastic experiences in Colombo and Melaka over the last two years.

Aisha Ali Ibrahim (WiLAT Global Convenor) also visited Dubai recently combining CILT with her other business. She met with the WiLAT Dubai team to discuss the growth and development of the group.