b'First Person InterviewInterview with Ms Noryate Abdul Rahman, Emirates Cargo Manager, Singapore Noryate Abdul RahmanHowhasthecurrentmacroenvironmentimpacted Emirates cargo business?Global macroeconomic conditions have undoubtedly been tough over the last few quarters and the air freight industry islikelytoremainextremelycompetitiveoverthenear future as well. In addition to the slowdown in economic activity, the looming trade wars, there has also been a drop in consumer confidence. All of these factors have an impact on global trade flows which also means that they have an impact on the airfreight industry. However, despite the turbulent market conditions, we had a strong performance during the 2018/19 financial year. Our global uplifted tonnage increased by more than 1%. Our performance was helped by a few key factors including our move to focus on building specialised air transportation solutions for specific industry verticals like pharmaceuticals and perishables. This diversification has been one of the keys to our successful performance and will continue to remain a priority area for the years to come. Our investment in developing purpose built infrastructure, processes and?traininghasalsobeenimportantinunderscoringour performance.WhatisEmiratesviewsofthecargoprospectsinASEAN? In line with the global economy, we have also felt an impact2018/19in the ASEAN markets on demand for air cargo. However,1%we are a global carrier with a destination network of over155 cities across the world including a good coverage of theAsia Pacific market.In recent times we have realigned some of our capacitytomeettheshiftinmanufacturingsupplychainand distribution intheAsianmarkets.Wearequiteagileinterms of being able to ramp up or scale down cargo capacity to our key markets. We have been working in some of thesemarkets for a long time so we are familiar with the marketdynamicsandoperationalrequirements.Customersare155also well aware of the Emirates brand and our capabilities. Westillseenewbusinessopportunitiespoppingupand remain convinced that our firm focus on deliveredaspromisedisappreciatedbycustomersinneedofdependable services. What are the current major trends and disruptors for the air cargo industry? How is Emirates re-investingyour cargo business? As mentioned before, product specialization is somethingthat our customers expect and over the last 2-3 years wehave introduced a number of specialised products including Emirates Pharma, our suite of solutions for the transport oftemperature sensitive pharmaceuticals; Emirates Fresh, ourEmirates Pharmasolutions for transportation of food and other perishableEmirates Fresh items; Emirates Safe for the transportation of valuable and Emirates 14 Changi Cargo Insight'