€5 Million Loan To Help AlbaRegional leaders and global experts gathered in Dubai to demonstrate how open-platform video technology is driving smarter mobility, stronger safety, and greater cyber resilience in today’s cities
By Ron Chen, Bureau Chief Asia
Xperience Days (MXD) Dubai 2025 with a plenary of live demos and an ecosystem that focused on how open-platform video technology is moving beyond security into traffic, mobility, and city operations.
The event brought together customers, partners, and technology allies from across the region to discuss practical AI adoption, cyber-hardening of video deployments, and edge-to-cloud architectures for large, distributed estates.
“AI is breaking new ground in video technology, transforming how we detect, interpret, and respond to what’s happening in real time,” said Director for the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa at Milestone Systems Louise Bou Rached. “We are already seeing strong outcomes: applying advanced video analytics to traffic and crowd flows, cities can accelerate response times across complex urban environments, enable real-time alerts with higher accuracy and ease operator workloads by minimizing false positives.”
What MXD Dubai 2025 delivered
*Open platform at scale: Sessions highlighted standards-driven interoperability (including ONVIF) and continuous device testing to keep multi-vendor estates flexible without lock-in. This has been identified as a priority given how GCC customers expand city and critical-infrastructure footprints.
*AI for mobility and major venues: Case discussions highlighted how real-time video intelligence can assist with incident spotting (for instance, vehicles driving the wrong way and pedestrian anomalies), crowd movement, and congestion to help teams act sooner with fewer false positives.
*Edge-to-cloud reliability: Demonstrations stressed hybrid designs such as using local recording for continuity and cloud for scale while having central oversight to support multi-site rollouts to optimize bandwidth.
*Responsible data for better AI: Milestone also spotlighted Project Hafnia, an initiative that provides developers with access to large volumes of high-quality, compliant, annotated and anonymized real-world video data so video-language-models (VLM’s) can be trained faster and more responsibly. Project Hafnia aims to reduce the time and cost of AI development by up to 30x and was introduced earlier this year in collaboration with NVIDIA.
Region-specific priorities
Speakers linked the MXD program to the Gulf’s city and infrastructure agendas that include everything from safer roads and smoother event operations to more efficient use of storage and energy in large, camera-dense environments.
“Bringing together partners, customers, and vendors across the ecosystem is essential to having meaningful discussions on how we address real business challenges. As a hub for innovation and digital transformation, these collaborations take on even greater importance in Dubai and the GCC. By combining diverse regional perspectives, we can better identify evolving needs and leverage AI-driven video technologies to deliver solutions that are innovative, practical, and future-ready,” said Chief Marketing Officer of Milestone Systems Martin Stockfleth Larsen.
The company reported sustained momentum in the adoption of video management software (VMS) across the Middle East, driven by rising demand for open-platform ecosystems, cyber-resilient solutions, and AI-powered operations across both public and private sectors.
nian Smes Invest In Green Technologies And Align With EU Standards
By Joel Cela
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting Albania’s financial sector with a financial package of up to €10 million(US$11.6million) for Tirana Bank.
This project marks the EBRD’s first partnership with Tirana Bank and includes both green financing and trade finance facilities aimed at empowering local businesses and enhancing regional trade:
A €5 million senior loan to Tirana Bank under the EBRD’s SME Reboot Programme to support green investments in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Albania. The project will boost investment in better-performing green technologies and services. It will encourage local firms to go beyond business as usual, increasing their competitivity in the regional market and making them compliant with European Union (EU) and other international standards. Local MSMEs will receive cash back of up to 10 per cent of the loan amount to make their investments more affordable. These grant incentives for the programme will be supported by Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland and the United States of America through the EBRD’s Small Business Impact Fund, and by Denmark.
A trade finance limit of up to €5 million to Tirana Bank under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP). The TFP promotes and facilitates international trade between the economies where the Bank invests and with other economies, through a range of products. Under the facility, guarantees are provided to international confirming banks to cover the risks of transactions undertaken by Tirana Bank. The programme also offers short-term loans to support pre-shipment and post-shipment finance, as well as providing other working-capital finance necessary for foreign trade. The facility will enable Tirana Bank to expand its trade finance operations, strengthen its correspondent banking network and promote intra-regional trade. It is further complemented by technical cooperation aimed at enhancing the bank’s trade finance capabilities, product offering and institutional expertise.
EBRD Managing Director, Central and South-Eastern Europe, Charlotte Ruhe said: “We are pleased to begin our partnership with Tirana Bank to expand access to green finance and trade support in Albania. This collaboration is important for fostering sustainable growth, enhancing regional competitiveness and helping local businesses align with international standards. By combining financial tools with technical assistance, we are unlocking new opportunities for innovation and resilience in Albania’s private sector.”
Established in 1996, Tirana Bank was the first privately owned bank in Albania. As a universal bank, it offers a comprehensive suite of financial services, with a strong focus on both corporate and retail banking. Over the years, Tirana Bank has solidified its position in Albania’s financial market, consistently delivering innovative products and solutions tailored to the evolving needs of its clients.
CEO of Tirana Bank, Dritan Mustafa commented: “We are proud to partner with the EBRD for two impactful initiatives which serve as testament to our long-term vision of empowering Albanian businesses. The SME Reboot Programme loan helps small businesses invest in green technologies, while the trade finance facility strengthens our ability to support cross-border trade. These programmes reflect our commitment to driving inclusive, sustainable growth and positioning Tirana Bank as a catalyst for innovation and competitiveness in the Albanian market.”
The EBRD has been active in Albania since 1991, investing over €2.3 billion through 168 projects across various sectors of the economy to date.
