*  *  *  Excellencies, His Excellency Sulaiman Al Mazroui Ladies & Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure indeed to join you today, especially at this magnificent resort, thanks to our host; "Bank of New York".
I would also thank Mr. Sulaiman Al Mazroui for the kind invitation and would try to be in line with the request in his letter, i e. to talk about banks' expected performance in 2006 and talk briefly about the UAE Economy. Therefore, I will focus my short speech on the following subjects: 1. Expected Bank's Performance in 2006  2.