Kuwait, December 2, 2007: Gulf Bank's General Manager for Human Resources, Mr. Surour Al Samerai, has won the prestigious Middle East Outstanding Contribution to HR Award at the Middle East Human Resources Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The annual Middle East HR Summit honours outstanding achievements in the management and development of human capital and recognises the critical role that HR contributes to a company's success.

On receiving the award, Mr. Al Samerai said: "I am very proud to receive this award on behalf of my team in the HR department at Gulf Bank. The quality of our bank and our services is reliant on the quality, enthusiasm and commitment of our staff and our job is to ensure they have the opportunity to access the best training and skills development to further their careers."

Mr. Al Samerai was recognised for his work in helping develop Gulf Bank?s innovative HR strategy that included initiatives such as the Leadership Planning programme that identifies individuals for future leadership roles. This programme led Ernst & Young to rank Gulf Bank at 76% for Leaderships and Succession Planning in a recent survey ? compared to an average of 51% across the Middle East.

The commitment of the Gulf Bank HR team to Localization in the private sector has also seen Gulf Bank exceed its target and to win the GCC Localization Awards for three years in a row and Mr. Samerai has also launched an in-house Management Development programme to nurture future Gulf Bank business leaders.

Awards Panel Chairman Charles Wilson praised the work of Surour stating: "It is always a pleasure when someone of whom you have personal knowledge is selected by a professional panel for an award such as this. Your work in Kuwait is a model of best practice in our profession. Your uncompromising standards and dedication to HR make you a most worthy recipient of the award for Outstanding Contribution to HR."

The judging panel commendation declared: "Surour has demonstrated leadership in the field of HR over an extended period of time. He has illustrated high standards of HR knowledge and there is evidence of successful outcomes for a number of long term HR strategies including the Gulf Bank localization program, the leadership planning program, the business partner program and the creation of detailed service level agreements and a dedicated 'on-boarding' program."

Gulf Bank CEO Louis Myers added: "This award reflects on the excellent work that Surour and his team are doing. We are rightly proud of his commitment to developing our staff and our efforts to lead the way in encouraging the highest levels of localization among our team."