DUBAI/OMAN

Greetings to all,

Dear Valued members of NAAMA:
We are very grateful to those of you who answered our call for early-bird registration for the upcoming Dubai/Oman Conference, December 29, 2015-Jan 6, 2015. So far, we have over 70 members preregistered, totaling with their families to almost 215 persons.

Your commitment and feedback has helped the Convention’s Organizing Committee to establish a general idea as to the number of members and their families interested in attending this conference, address their suggestions, and meet their expectations.

For those of you who are still contemplating, the following information is provided for your convenience to serve as a reminder of the important conference dates. We shall keep you updated from time to time regarding the progress we make.

The date for the Conference in Dubai is December 29, 2015 – January 3, 2016. The date for the Conference in Muscat, Sultanate ofOman, will be from January 3-6, 2016.

Arrangements can be also made for those who wish to arrive or depart few days before or after the conventions’ official dates to do so at the same conference rates.

We are currently seeking to reserve hotel rooms at the best possible venues at the best possible rates. As you may be aware, Dubai and Muscat are among the highest sought locations for vacationers from Europe, the Middle East, the Gulf and even the Far East at that time of the year.

The choice for Hotel reservation in Muscat is relatively easy. We simply chose the best in town, the Al Bustan Palace- Ritz Carlton Hotel. We are currently planning a very attractive social program in this unique historic Gulf country that provides beautiful landscape and heritage of the Arab culture.

As for Dubai, the hotel choices were many. However we were bound by location, price and availability (too many hotels were not ready to offer the required number of rooms at discounted group rates for that high peak time of the year). After surveying many of our preregistered members, we have resolved that the best location for our group event would be “Downtown Dubai” (close to the Burj, the Mall, the fountain, plenty of restaurants as well as the New Year activities and fireworks).

We have reserved rooms at two hotels in Downtown Dubai and are seeking an additional venue or two in the same area at lower rates. The rates we are seeking would include the room reservation inclusive of breakfast, the 20% tax and service fees and limited WiFi.

At the same time, the Scientific Committee headed by Dr. Terry Meriden and Dr. Nahidh Hasaniya, are already seeking from interested members to send their abstract and paper presentations as soon as possible. We encourage all interested members to submit their abstracts as per the National Office Guidelines.

If you did not submit your abstract yet, please do so. The direct links for submission are:
Dubai 2015 Abstract Submission Form

Oman 2016 Abstract Submission Form

We are committed to serve you with a robust social program in both cities, yet will provide you some time to visit with friends, relatives as well as sight-see and shop on your own. We will dispatch members of our Convention Committee to personally view those sites to ensure that they meet your expectations.

The airline reservations can be made using our designated two travel agents who will be familiarized with our travel itinerary. A separate UMRA and Holy land travel and accommodation program packages will be available directly through those designated travel agent.

For those who are making their own travel reservations, please make sure that you arrive in Muscat on January 3rd around noon so as to have a smooth check-in process into the hotel and be ready for the evening planned official reception and dinner.

We shall follow up with an update in the next couple of weeks with instructions regarding hotel and airline reservation procedures and prices, as well as the names and the contact information of the travel agents and all visa instructions.
We anticipate publishing the call for registration that includes the social program and prices by July 30th.

All US or European passport holders can obtain their visas at the Dubai and Muscat airports. Members traveling to the Holy Land can obtain their visas at the designated arrival airports as well. The Umra visas must be issued by a local US Saudi Consulate through one of their designated certified travel agents.

For the planning committee,

Mazin Q. Sabri, MD, Convention Chairman