The Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) affiliated entities are all on board for the mass wedding initiative, to be organised for the fifth year in a row by Dubai Customs. In addition to PCFC’s affiliated entities, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs- Dubai (GDRFA) will also take part in the function, making it its third year to join Dubai Customs’ mass wedding. The community event will be held this May 25th under the theme “Shayaheen Al Emarat” at Qalaat Alremal Hall.
Chairperson of the Mass Wedding Committee Khalil Saqer bin Gharib noted that, “The mass wedding for PCFC and GDRFA staff follows the steps of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and conforms with the directives of H.H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President, and H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, in regards to cutting unnecessary marriage expenses and curbing extravagancies and excessive wedding costs.”
Dubai Customs has a strategy towards catering for its employees and contributing to creating equal opportunities for them by helping them tolerate marriage-related expenses; thus, fostering the principle of social solidarity which reflects positively on individuals productivity.
Bin Gharib further noted, “Mass weddings have sublime and humane objectives towards enhancing the social structure pillars and cementing its texture. Mass weddings are in line with the state’s drive to do away with extravagances and immoderate wedding costs, and promote solidarity.”
According to Bin Gharib, the function’s arrangement included organizing successful Marriage program courses for the employees who will take part in the mass wedding, in cooperation with Al Nahda Women’s Association. Attending the program is a prerequisite for all candidates of the mass wedding.
Lectures were conducted by highly-qualified and experienced social workers and experts to increase the grooms’ understanding about family life and provide them with the key and proper fundamentals to have a happy, solid and settled marriage and to lead stable and tranquil lives.
Candidates for the mass wedding include existing men and women employees and their sons, as well as the sons of retired or deceased employees, as a simple way of expressing gratitude to those who served their country.
The grooms hailed the initiative and the preparations being undertaken to produce an extraordinary mass wedding this year. One of the grooms, Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi, Declarations Officer at the Customs Declaration Management in Dubai Customs, said he benefited from the program as he learned how to manage household finance and stay clear of debits.
Abdullah Ahmed, Legal Researcher at the Customs Cases Department in Dubai Customs, also commended the initiative and voiced satisfaction with the awareness lectures which focused on creating a happy marital life and finding solutions for everyday issues that might arise at the beginning of marriage.