News

Aramex Completes Testing Dubai Drone & Bot Delivery Service

The program is part of the company’s future logistics service, which aims to enhance the efficiency of last-mile deliveries.

Published

4 years ago

February 17, 2023

Nour Nasir

Aramex

Aramex, the Middle East’s largest courier company, has announced the successful completion of tests into a robot and drone delivery service in Dubai. The 16,000-employee company is currently researching emerging delivery technologies in a bid to boost sustainability and reduce its overall carbon footprint.

The initiative is part of the logistics company’s “future delivery program,” which aims to improve last-mile shipping by employing smart solutions for “quicker, sustainable and cost-effective deliveries”.

Initial tests took place at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York in partnership with Barq EV, a commercial drone delivery company based in the Emirates, and Kiwibot, a Colombia-based business specializing in delivery robotics.

“[The project] enables Aramex to further contribute to UAE’s sustainability ambitions as we embark on our mission to transition our fleet to emission-free vehicles and achieve our climate pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2030,” says Alaa Saoudi, Aramex Chief Operating Officer.

Also Read: A First Glimpse Of Dubai’s Air Taxis Flying Past Local Landmarks

Aramex has already revealed plans to scale delivery services further to reach more customers across the MENA region, though there’s no firm timeline at the moment.

aramex delivery bots dubai

The drones and delivery robots used in Dubai will be equipped with multidirectional sensors. At the same time, fleet management software will help to synchronize and plan order placements, dispatch management, flight and road routing, and more.

According to data from research company Markets and Markets, the drone delivery market is estimated to be worth $228 million — a figure that will climb to $5.6 billion by 2030. e-Commerce giant Amazon has already started delivering some California and Texas packages by drone, and Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, already offers autonomous delivery in some areas.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.