Supporting local communities and charitable causes

During 2010 Gulfsands significantly increased its financial and logistical support for an expanded group of social and charitable organisations selected from among the growing population of organisations that make up Syria's thriving non-governmental organisation ("NGO") sector under the patronage and active encouragement of H.E. Mrs Asma Al Assad. Approximately 80 NGOs are now providing support of one kind or another at the national, regional or local levels of the communities where we operate. Gulfsands continues to believe that the principal focus of its support should remain programmes that are directed at improving the lives of children, women and the disadvantaged members of Syrian society.

During 2010 we made significant progress towards achieving our goals and further enhanced the Group's already well recognised reputation for its CSR initiatives. Building on our successes with these initiatives remains a key business priority for the Board of Directors.

Committed to supporting education

Gulfsands is a strong supporter of initiatives to improve the education available to the villages around our operations in Block 26, north east Syria. These include the establishment of mobile libraries that provide the children of these remote communities with access to books and reading materials.

The arrival of the Mobile Library is always a time of great excitement for the children of these remote communities.

More than one hundred children attend the BANA school in Damascus, Syria's only school for the education of blind children where children now have access to the latest computer based teaching aids.

During 2010 Gulfsands significantly increased its financial and logistical support for an expanded group of social and charitable organisations.

Education

The recent unrest in a number of countries of the Middle East raised international awareness of the considerable concern among the growing numbers of young people that much more needs to be done to improve the education and employment opportunities available to a fast expanding middle class.

Syria's President is well recognised for his public support for, and funding of, initiatives to expand and modernise the country's secondary and tertiary education system and the construction of new facilities, including facilities provided by the private sector. During the past decade this has resulted in a very significant growth in the number of children attending secondary schools for the first time and, upon graduation, going on to universities where they can attain the skills necessary to secure employment in the private sector.

Gulfsands supports a number of the government's ambitious public-private partnerships intended to help reduce unemployment levels among young people. These private sector sponsored organisations in general have, as their principal objective, the provision of education support for the young and disadvantaged members of Syria's society and the development of business, entrepreneurial and personal life skills. Their focus is on helping young people to remain in the education system far longer than has historically been the case, so that they may graduate with relevant and higher level skills necessary to secure better paid jobs or to start new businesses.

With these objectives in mind, Gulfsands has focused much of its CSR investment in supporting projects that are specifically directed at providing women and young and disadvantaged people with access to education and the development of the skills to create self-sustaining micro-businesses, especially in rural communities where these programmes have proved very popular and effective in reducing poverty levels. Gulfsands also continues to provide meaningful financial and logistical support for organisations such as FIRDOS, BIDAYA, SHABAB, AWRD and the Syrian Young Scholars programme to enable those organisations to expand their excellent work in providing access to education and educational infrastructure such as mobile libraries, micro finance and technical and mentoring assistance for the development of micro-businesses.

During 2010 Gulfsands funded the installation of facilities to provide internet access, the purchase of approximately 50 computers and peripherals, the refurbishment of dedicated class rooms, and programmes to train teaching staff at three elementary schools in villages local to our operations. These facilities are used to teach children of all ages during the day and, in the evenings, to provide educational training courses for the adults of these villages.

Childhood medicine

The organisations supported by Gulfsands are all heavily dependent upon the support of volunteers, including, we are proud to acknowledge, volunteers from within our own organisation. The financial support provided by Gulfsands has proved to be especially effective when combined with the great energy and application shown by these well organised groups of volunteers and this is perhaps best demonstrated by the remarkable achievements of the BASMA (Children with Cancer) organisation to which Gulfsands continues to provide substantial assistance. Gulfsands' financial support was instrumental in funding the development of the BASMA paediatric oncology unit at the Al Buruni University Hospital in Damascus, which remains Syria's first and only dedicated paediatric oncology unit. It is especially pleasing to report that, while Gulfsands has continued to support the operations of this important medical facility, other important corporations working in Syria have now joined with us to support the expansion of this unit with the redevelopment of an additional floor at the Al Buruni University Hospital which, when completed, will significantly expand the capacity of the unit to treat in-bed and outpatients at the hospital.

This expanded facility is certain to help further reduce paediatric oncology mortality rates which have already reduced considerably as a result of the high quality medical support and treatment now available at this specialist hospital unit. Gulfsands' funding of specialised oncology treatments and pharmaceuticals at this unit and at the upgraded Haematology and Oncology Unit at the larger Children's Hospital in Damascus has introduced cancer treatment therapies that were never previously available in Syria and, as a consequence, a large number of families have travelled to Damascus from across the country to attend these facilities with impressive results.

Disabled children

During 2010 Gulfsands also extended its support for BANA, the volunteer organisation providing educational facilities and general support for blind children, with the purchase and supply of a large number of Braille typewriters and the construction of a facility and equipment to introduce, for the first time in Syria, a computer based Braille teaching programme. This project is to be followed during 2011 with the construction and population of a digital audio library.

Through its support for social programmes Gulfsands is widely recognised for its commitment to supporting the communities in which we operate.

Gulfsands has also expanded upon its earlier support for AAMAL, the Syrian Organisation for the Disabled, the Syrian Association for Autistic Childrenwhich provides teaching and support facilities for children with learning difficulties, and the Light and Flowers Centre for Cerebral Palsy. We expect to further increase our support for organisations working with disabled children and their families during the current year.

Culture

Finally, during 2010, Gulfsands joined with the International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies to help finance its important work undertaking the archaeological excavation of an ancient Urkesh Palace at the Tell Mozan site near to Block 26 in north east Syria. This world renowned excavation follows the discovery of this extraordinary building, believed to have been the original home of the Hurrian Kings of Syria and built in circa 2250 B.C.

The excavation of this famous archeological site is carried out under the guidance of Professor Giorgio Buccellati, Director, Mesopotamian Lab, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA and Professor Emeritus, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA. Following a long association with this project and using well trained local students and workmen, Professor Buccellati and his teams have now partially excavated one of the most important archaeological sites in Syrian and Middle Eastern history. Further details about this important work and the Gulfsands Urkesh Exploration Fund can be viewed at www.urkesh.org

Continuing our support in the future

Through its support for these worthy social programmes, Gulfsands is widely recognised for its commitment to supporting the communities in which we operate, whether in the remote north-east of Syria or central Damascus. We are proud of our achievements but humbled by the enormous support we receive from the large number of committed volunteers working within the organisations with which we are involved, who are so motivated to assist those less fortunate in society than themselves.

We would like to acknowledge the significant personal commitment of Syria's first lady, H.E. Mrs Asma Al Assad, to supporting these initiatives, as well as the corporate support and encouragement of our partners, Sinochem Corporation.

Our policy of supporting worthy and well run non-government organisations to fulfil their social objectives in the countries in which we operate will continue to be an important point of reference for our organisation when pursuing new business opportunities in Syria, Iraq, Tunisia and elsewhere in the MENA region. With the continued support of our shareholders and partners we expect to further build on our present record during the coming year.

Continuing our support of BASMA

During 2010 Gulfsands' support for an important initiative to import and distribute previously unavailable specialist oncology pharmaceuticals has already significantly improved infant mortality rates and brought hope and specialist medical treatment to the children of thousands of families across Syria.

Gulfsands Supports These
Organisations: