The University of Hawaii School of Travel Industry Management signed an agreement this week with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority to provide tourism training to executives in the Persian Gulf city, the authority said in a news release.

A signing ceremony for the new Memorandum of Understanding was held earlier this week in Abu Dhabi, the capital and second-largest city in the United Arab Emirates.

The UH-Manoa TIM school conducted training workshops for government and industry officials this week in Abu Dhabi.

The agreement calls for more joint training, research and for executives and government officials to travel to UH-Manoa for the school's Executive Development Institute for Tourism program.

The agreement was signed by Frank Hass, director for strategic development and an instructor at the TIM School, and Ahmed Hussein, deputy director general of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

Juanita Liu, interim director of the TIM school, said UH-Manoa has been conducting informal training for Abu Dhabi, and officials have come to Hawaii for the executive program offered by the school.

She said the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority had looked at several schools.

Liu said Abu Dhabi officials liked the breadth of Hawaii's expertise, especially in sustainable tourism, cultural expertise and the meetings, incentives and convention business.

“;This is a very positive step for us to be looking in new directions and to be acknowledged as a leader in tourism education globally,”; Liu said.