Search Results for: Lebanese

A former DEA agent who laundered money undercover to attack the Medellín and Cali cartels has called for a root-and-branch reform of AML, so that its vast resources target the most suspicious transactions and the professional launderers who facilitate them. Speaking to MLB, Robert Mazur, who offered ML services to drug kingpins such as Pablo Escobar in the 1980s and 1990s to undermine their criminal networks, said that many laundering techniques used then are still in use today.…

A friend from Syria once told me of a 20-year-old man, an only child, who left his country, having been ordered to emigrate by his father in fear of the frenzy and killing in his country’s civil war. He moved to the comparative calm of Beirut, Lebanon.…

The Covid-19 pandemic has delivered experience about how an external crisis – in this case health – that forces AML officers to work at home, poses challenges in maintaining professional excellence. According to the Bank for International Settlements’ Financial Stability Institute an estimated 300 million office workers worked from home in May 2020, including 90% of banking and insurance workers.…

WHILE the imposition of age limits on the consumption of tobacco and other nicotine products remains very much a national, and in some cases sub-national jurisdiction decision, there is no doubt that the general trend worldwide is for tighter restrictions on younger consumers, even if they are often tough to enforce.…

“Yes, to coexistence.” It sounds like a platitude – yet sometimes, it is simply a statement describing a most important principle of real life. This statement is written on the entrance of the Max Rayne Hand in Hand School in Jerusalem, that teaches Jews and Arab students side-by-side.…

Brief:

The Lebanese economy has been suffering from a set of complex crises that became acutely evident by the end of 2019. At that time, a dramatic financial system collapse started, affecting various aspects of public life. The damage caused by this crisis is examined by this paper.…

IT is not easy to make a living as a fine artist. So many talented painters, sculptors, illustrators and engravers pay their bills through teaching, and indulge their creativity as a sideline. Others move into commercial graphic design where their scope is confined by the demands of selling products, contrasting with the unbound freedom of imagination enjoyed by the independent artist.…

The Syrian tobacco sector has been hard hit by the civil war and associated social conflicts, now stretching into their tenth year. Tobacco leaf volumes and planted areas have dropped by around a third since the start of these troubles, factories have been destroyed, and sanctions have forced international brands from formal trading channels in Syria.…

Two former Iraq managers for Monaco-based energy major Unaoil were convicted July 13 in Southwark Crown Court, London of paying over USD500,000 in bribes to officials at the Iraqi South Oil Company to clinch a USD55 million contract for offshore mooring buoys.…

As Syria enters its 10th year of civil conflict, the economy is in tatters, foreign currency is in short supply, and sanctions have not only been renewed, the USA has introduced new secondary sanctions. Illicit crime and sanctions busting abounds.

In May (2020), the USA issued further guidance on Syria, while the European Union (EU) extended its sanctions on Syria for a further year, to 1 June 2021.…

• 1MDB SCANDAL IN MALAYSIA SEES USD BILLIONS STOLEN AND HIDDEN

Malaysia 1MDB scandal is one of the largest money laundering cases ever, worldwide, with Malaysian courts considering charges over how at least USD4.5 billion was stolen and then spent or laundered from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad by former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his associates.…

The large-scale civil protests that erupted across Lebanon in October 2019, and which continue today, have promoted large scale money laundering thought concerted and often successful attempts to avoid capital controls imposed by Lebanese banks to head off failure. Billions of dollars have flown out of the country, the Banque du Liban, the central bank, has warned, while Lebanese consumers have frantically withdrawn deposits as the Lebanese Pound LBP)  has devalued against the US dollar – in October it was officially pegged to the US dollar at LBP1,507 and began to trade above that rate after the protests began, reaching LBP2,700 to the USD in March 2020.…

In a market long dominated by well-established players, the success of ‘masstige’ beauty brands, which combine elements of mass and luxury products, is creating fierce competition in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Consumers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman looking for skincare and cosmetics are increasingly shopping from South Korean brands such as Etude House, which opened a branch in Dubai Mall in 2018 and is known for its quirky kitsch products, and The Face Shop, which arrived in Dubai in 2008 and recently renovated its four concept stores in the city.…

Sales of new cars in Lebanon have plunged 74% in the last two months of 2019 (compared to November and December 2018) as the country has faced financial and political chaos following the eruption of mass demonstrations in October. these prompted the resignation of the government – and while a new administration under Prime Minister Hassan Diab Took office on January 22, business transactions continue to be hampered by restricted access to US dollars.…

ISRAEL faces a particularly high terrorist-financing risk from outside its borders, while fraud, tax offences, organised crime, public sector corruption and the use of cash heighten domestic money laundering risks. The Israeli government has integrated these risks into its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) policies and laws.…

MONEY service businesses (MSBs) are having a tougher time operating in compliance with international AMF/CFT rules, especially those in emerging market countries, where they have to deal with a double challenge of tighter controls and derisking by banking partners.

MSBs throughout the Middle East, for instance, have been hit by derisking from correspondent banks as well as designations by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).…

TRADE-based money laundering (TBML) continues to be a complex typology that is tough for law enforcement to detect and ML regulators to control.

The risk is that with Iran being subject to new USA sanctions, the use of TBML is going to grow in the short term, warn experts.…

Paint markets throughout much of the Middle East are experiencing a downturn due to the region’s political instability and economic slowdown. However, manufacturers are nonetheless betting on a rebound as larger projects re-start and reconstruction begins in certain markets.

In the oil-based economies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, lower oil prices have hit government budgets, causing state-backed projects to be suspended or delayed, while having a knock-on effect on the wider economy.…

Egypt’s anti-money laundering AML regime is being undermined by the lack of an independent judiciary and the economically-active military increasingly above the law, despite reforms to the law governing an Administrative Control Authority charged with curbing corruption.

Another concern voiced by AML experts is the weakening of Central Bank of Egypt’ independence under the government of strongman President Abdel-Fattah Al Sisi, a former field marshal.…

Egypt’s attempts to crack down on corruption, commercial crime and money laundering are real. But they are being undermined by low existing standards, government authoritarianism and blind-eyes turned to military wrong-doing, anti-crime experts argue. Paul Cochrane reports.

The Egyptian government talks a good game when it comes to fighting financial crime.…

THE LEBANESE government has moved to ban the sale of certain Turkish products, including textile imports worth USD123.3 million a year, to protect local production.

However, Lebanon’s textile manufacturing sector is small, raising questions as to why Turkish textile imports should be banned.…

The Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam, a religious duty every Muslim should perform once in their lifetime. But with 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide and the Hajj only occurring over five days every year, the event is a logistical challenge for the Saudi Arabian government, tour operators, hospitality service providers, retailers and accountants.…

CONSUMERS do not like sales tax, and they are particularly sensitive to tax-based price increases when new taxes are introduced. So, it is maybe no surprise that personal care product sales in the Middle East have been dampened by the introduction of value added tax (VAT) in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2018, inflating beauty product prices.…

PANAMA has been reforming its anti-money laundering (AML) regulations at a rapid rate as it tries to change perceptions of the country as a hub of money laundering and tax evasion. However, with serious loopholes remaining and grave doubts over its lack of investigative capacity, it remains some way from shedding its unwanted reputation.…

NON-governmental organisations (NGO), aid agencies and charities are under increased pressure to abide by international and domestic anti-money laundering and terrorist finance regulations, such as those imposed by the UK, US and European Union (EU), including international sanctions. But it can be tough for NGOs to comply with such rules when operating in countries where there is civil conflict or civil war.…

SAUDI Arabia’s hot and humid desert climate has made it a high-priority higher income market for international deodorant brands. With temperatures regularly exceeding 45 degrees Celsius in the summer and 30 degrees in the winter, staying fresh all day is a social necessity.…

THE LEBANESE haircare market has been in a state of flux over the past six years, reflecting the instability in the Levant. Following the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the country’s haircare market grew as Lebanon took in more than 1 million Syrian refugees.…

NON-GOVERNMENTAL Organisations (NGOs), international aid agencies and charities are under increased pressure to abide by international and domestic regulations that ensure their financial probity and avoidance of corruption. But while there is often effective oversight in their home countries, when in the field, especially in conflict zones, NGOs can struggle to navigate local rules and adapt to difficult circumstances to ensure appropriate auditing is in place.…

THE USA Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has provided USD650,000’s worth of security screening equipment for Rafiq Hariri International Airport, Beirut, Lebanon. This included one mobile x-ray screener for vehicles; six hand-held explosive trace detection (ETD) systems; six liquid aerosol and gel scanners; and six shoe scanners.…

THE ANCIENT Celts has a saying: “To the brave belong all things.” And in business, this remains true. Companies prepared to take big risks, can reap big spoils. But they can also stumble into disaster. Such calculations are always made when foreign companies consider trading or investing in so-called ‘failed states’ or those at risk of failure.…

THE ISRAELI natural gas sector is undergoing significant expansion, with the country pushing ahead to plan to develop and commercially exploit new fields. Indeed, “this past year in energy has been the most dynamic year we have ever had,” said Dr Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of energy, at the annual Energy & Business Convention, held in Tel Aviv in November (2016).…

The Syria conflict is into its sixth year, as are the multilateral sanctions imposed on the government in Damascus. How effective have the sanctions been, given the Syrian regime’s survival? And where may have funds from members of the regime, and those linked to it, gone?…

NORTH Africa has never been a particular easy place to do business, but female and male consumers are prepared to spend on personal care products, and profits are there for the taking for companies that take time to understand these vibrant and often contrasting markets.…

ONE of the wealthiest countries in the world, Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was estimated at USD73,653 in 2015, according to the World Bank. Close to 85% of the country’s 2.5 million population are expatriates and this has influenced the skincare products on offer, while high levels of disposable income continue to drive consumption.…

MAJOR delays are expected at Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after an Emirates airline plane crash-landed and burst into flames on a runway at Dubai International Airport just after 12:45pm local time today (August 3). Flight EK521 was arriving from Trivandrum International Airport, Thiruvananthapuram, India.…

WITH 4.8 million Syrian refugees registered by the UN, and many more displaced without registration, their impact on consumer markets outside their home country has been significant. The tobacco sector has been no exception. Indeed, even before the civil war, Syrians were keen smokers – with 2004 Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies research indicating that 56.9% of men smoked cigarettes and 17% of women; 20.2% of men smoked waterpipes (shisha) and 4.8% of women; 29% smoked daily – 51.4% of men and 11.5% of women).…

AT a time when the world is regularly sickened by the web-cast beheadings and civilian bombings by Islamic State (IS), it is perhaps hard to recall when Lebanon Shia militant Hizbullah group was regarded as maybe the world’s most notorious international terror group.…

Five years since the start of the Arab uprisings in 2011, instability is still impacting cosmetics sales in the Levant and north Africa. Last year saw a slight improvement on overall sales in 2014, the year the Islamic State spread through northern Iraq and Syria, but figures are down on 2013, and the growth projected in 2010, according to figures from market researcher Euromonitor International and estimates from cosmetics companies.…

THE JORDANIAN and Lebanese confectionery markets are both in a state of flux due to the conflict in neighbouring Syria, now into its fifth year. Local production has faced major competition from Syrian entrants fleeing the chaos of their home country, particularly in Jordan; while in Lebanon imports of parallel goods have soared over the past few years.…

The professional coaching sector is booming in the Middle East. Over the past decade the region has become increasingly interconnected in the global business system, and accordingly adopted international standards. This has driven the need for professional coaching and training. But with coaching modelled on US and European norms, there is a need for greater localisation, while more coaching accreditation is needed to develop further confidence in the fledgling sector.…

The conflict in Syria has seriously impacted trade and business in the Levant. The millions of Syrian refugees that have fled to neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan are putting economies under serious strain, causing the authorities to turn a blind eye to illicit trade and unregulated business.…

With the conflict in Syria entering its fifth year, there are 7.6 million Syrians internally displaced, and 3.8 million refugees, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – their health needs require specialist nursing skills.…

One of the biggest expanding markets for cosmetics and personal care products is sub-Saharan Africa. A key exporter to the region, L’Oréal has estimated that the overall African beauty and personal care market generated EUR6.93 billion (USD8.61 billion) in 2012, growing at between 8% and 10% annually, compared to a global market growth rate near 4%.…

With the conflict in Syria into its fourth year, the pharmaceutical and health care sectors in the country have been decimated, while an estimated 9 million people have been displaced. More than 3 million refugees have fled Syria to neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office.…

THE TOBACCO sector and trade in the countries neighbouring Syria have been impacted by the flight of more than 3 million (some reports say 5 million) from its civil war. Due to the Syrian conflict, smuggling has increased to supply the Syrian market (still at least 17 million people), while the lack of governmental controls has promoted illicit sales in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, while the influx of refugees has led to growth in lower priced legitimate cigarettes.…

SYRIA’S civil war has led to a major reduction in tobacco production in the country and a rise in smuggling of tobacco products, but at the same time the national tobacco company’s profits have surged due to the lack of competition from foreign brands.…

THE CONFLICT in Syria, which has entered its fourth year, has had a major impact on the cosmetic market and industry, both in the troubled country itself and the neighbouring region. Exports to Syria, and distribution of cosmetics, has been severely hampered by the civil war, while the conflict’s spillover is impacting other countries, compounded by the 2.9 million Syrian refugees currently registered in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.…

THE MIDDLE East cosmetics market is weathering the region’s current political and economic instability in the region. While the markets in the Levant are experiencing tough times, Gulf sales continue to grow. Retailers and manufacturers are also offsetting the losses incurred in depressed and unstable countries by exporting to burgeoning African markets.…

AS peace-talks finally got underway in Geneva, aimed at ending Syria’s bloody civil war, one economically devastating consequence is all too clear: Syria’s energy sector has come to a near standstill. The government has lost control of key oil producing areas to the rebels, international oil companies have left the country, and the regime has had to resort to round-about methods to secure energy imports to offset production losses.…

Lump new car sales with the larger used car market, which accounts for around 60 percent of total sales, and overall sales are down 7 percent on last year, according to the Automobile Importers Association.

Yet while a drop in second-hand car sales is a boon to dealerships – and an environmental plus when it comes to the country’s carbon emissions, with fewer fuel-inefficient clunkers on the roads – the market has gone through a radical change in recent years that can be summed up in one word: downsizing.…

Given its location, political actors and recent history, Lebanon has long been under the international regulatory spotlight. The US Treasury’s fingering of the Lebanese Canadian Bank in 2011 for money laundering concerns rocked its financial sector. Beirut has since been scrambling to address any short-comings, while at the same time dealing with sanctions on neighbouring Syria.…

While Syria is mired in its bloody civil war, it remains targeted by multilateral sanctions. But despite being essentially cut off from the international banking system, Damascus is evading these sanctions by using Russian banks, and is being financially propped up by Iran.…

LEBANON’S personal care product market, estimated by local industry executives to be worth USD80 to USD100 million-a-year, has been struggling over the past two years due to an economic downturn, political instability, and a drop in tourists. The civil war in neighbouring Syria has had a clear impact, while the conflict has resulted in Syria’s personal care market grinding to a halt, with the exception of essentials such as shampoo.…

PERSONAL care product market in the Middle East can be divided into two current trends: sales in the affluent Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are booming, while on the other side of the region, in the Levant, markets are feeling the effects of the Syrian conflict, with the loss of tourists and low consumer confidence impacting bottom lines.…

IRAN is under sanctions from the United States, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations, and last year the US tightened the screws even more. As President Barack Obama said following his re-election in November, 2012: “We’ve imposed the toughest sanctions in history.”…

LEBANON was an important shop window for Middle East and North Africa manufacturers of tobacco molasses used in hookahs until a public smoking ban was implemented in 2012. And while the ban has dented Lebanon’s strategic positioning, as a popular regional tourist destination and with the Lebanese travelling widely, the country is still an important market.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

It has been a been a turbulent time in the Middle East since the Arab uprisings swept much of the region over the past year-and-a-half, with not only sales of cosmetics, toiletries and perfumeries being depressed by losses in consumer confidence, but also distribution being harmed, especially by the protracted conflict in Syria.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

The economic sanctions imposed on Syria last year by the United States and Europe to pressure Damascus to end its violent crackdown on protesters has made doing business in Syria difficult, especially financial transactions. But the sanctions are being evaded, with Lebanon a prime conduit for goods and capital outflows.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT; AND HELENA FLUSFELDER, IN JERUSALEM

IT is not often that a country that has serious energy security issues gets to choose about whether it wants an energy export industry – but the State of Israel is in this relatively happy situation.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

UPRISINGS in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this year have hit demand for printers in Lebanon, which has long been the printing hub of the region. Lebanese printers canvassed privately for Print Week MEA report that the upheavals have seen demand from Egypt and Syria decline, while transportation has been marginally affected from Lebanon due to the situation in neighbouring Syria.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

INTELLIGENCE agencies by their very nature are secretive. So too are budgetary expenses and the ways in which agencies finance operations, especially in foreign jurisdictions and where they carry out so-called ‘black ops’. The techniques to quietly transfer funds do not in fact differ that widely from organised crime or terrorist groups, using banking services, front companies, charities and the like.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

EARLIER this year, the Lebanese-Canadian Bank (LCB) was designated by the United States as a prime money laundering concern, for alleged connections to drug traffickers and acting as a financial conduit for Lebanese political party Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

UNDER the United Nations’ Al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctions regime, more than 30 states have frozen at least US dollars USD90 million in assets as of September 2010. But Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other designated terrorist groups in the Middle East and Central Asia continue to receive funding despite the region’s widespread adoption of international regulations on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF).…

BY SAMI HALABI

BEFORE the county’s 1975-90 civil war Lebanon was an oil transit nation, with pipelines running through its territory from Saudi Arabia, and export terminals on its shores. Today, the country cannot even produce the electricity it needs to power its cities and is completely dependent on imports of oil and gas for energy.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

OLIVE oil production in the Levantine counties of the Middle East has moved away from traditional methods to bolster exports and develop domestic sales. But where Syria has risen to be the fourth largest producer in the world, Jordan’s modernisation of the sector is being undermined by cheap smuggled olive oil from Syria, and Lebanon needs major investment to bring the sector up to speed.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

SYRIA and Iran are both designated by the US state department as sponsors of terrorism, while the countries’ major state-run banks are blacklisted by the US Treasury Department, which places the banks under scrutiny and prevents them from dealing with the American financial system.…

BY SAMI HALABI

THE LEBANESE government is preparing tenders for around US$13 million security improvements at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, after a stowaway incident prompted a review. In July, maintenance crews in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia found the deceased body of 20-year old Firas Haidar in the landing gear of a flight from Beirut.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

MUSLIM fashion is traditionally conservative – a far cry from the often flashy fashion runways of the West. But a younger Muslim generation of female ‘hijabistas’ is combining Islamic values with high fashion, working hijabs and other head coverings into high-end, high fashion knitted and crocheted outfits.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

CONFECTIONERY manufacturers in the Middle East are not only ideally placed geographically to sell their products to the rich European Union (EU) market, they are assisted by a series of free trade agreements either in place, or in the works.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

PIRACY has increased exponentially off the coast of Somalia in recent years, with ships hijacked deep into international waters despite the presence of a multi-national naval task force, and pirates demanding ever higher ransoms from shipping companies. But while the spoils of piracy are evident in coastal Somali towns, tracking down where the remaining millions of dollars disappear to is hard to pin down, with allegations circulating of ransom money entering the real estate markets of Kenya, to money laundering in Yemen and Dubai.…

By Katherine Dunn, International News Services

The travails of Roman Polanski in Switzerland this autumn have offered some lessons to the world’s wanted over extradition laws and how to deal with them. The Polish director has of course been living in France, with little fear of extradition, since 1978, when he fled the USA facing statutory rape charges. Only now of course this autumn was he arrested on an American warrant on a visit to Switzerland, while movie stars and directors crowed for his release.

Now, he is out on bail, secured with the help of French president Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, who intervened on Polanski’s behalf. 

As Polanski languishes in Alpine house arrest in a luxury Swiss chalet, it’s clear that extradition is still, at base, a political decision – and to avoid it, one key is not supporting international causes unpopular with powerful governments.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

June has been a month of elections in the Middle East. As happens every now and again in a region pretty thin on democracy and heavy on dynastic rule, there are elections that matter. The outcome of the Lebanese and Iranian elections fall in this rather rare category, with the Lebanese result retaining a status quo the West is happy with, while the Iranian 'result' is further souring relations with the US and Europe.

For despite being on either side of the Middle East, with Beirut and Tehran being as geographically far apart as London and Rome, the results play into the region’s fractious politics. The common ground is Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE EURO-MASHREQ gas pipeline that runs 1,200 kilometers from Egypt through Jordan and Syria to Turkey has taken 20 years to come to fruition. The end is in sight however, with the project awaiting a final tender for the last leg through northern Syria.…

By Paul Cochrane

June has been a month of elections in the Middle East. As happens every now and again in a region pretty thin on democracy and heavy on dynastic rule, there are elections that matter. The outcome of the Lebanese and Iranian elections fall in this rather rare category, with the Lebanese result retaining a status quo the West is happy with, while the Iranian ‘result’ is further souring relations with the US and Europe.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

PAINT sales in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are forecast to fall by 25-30% this year, a remarkable change in fortunes from the years of double-digit growth when the country’s US$300 million coatings sector was one of the fastest growing in the world.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IRAN has been under international financial and other trading scrutiny since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago, with sanctions by the United States tightened under the Clinton administration through the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. And since Iran’s decision to embark on a nuclear programme, US sanctions have intensified, but in the face of such restrictions Iranian banks and individuals are increasingly using joint venture banks in the Middle East and South America to bypass scrutiny.…

By Katherine Dunn

The travails of Roman Polanski in Switzerland this autumn have offered some lessons to the world’s wanted over extradition laws and how to deal with them. The Polish director has of course been living in France, with little fear of extradition, since 1978, when he fled the USA facing statutory rape charges.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, JAMES BURNS, and JULIAN RYALL

With technological change being forced upon the auto manufacturing industry by high oil prices, plants are being retooled faster than in living memory. At such a time, companies are always looking for new ideas and technology.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 attacks on the US resulted in a raft of regulations to curb terrorist financing, but seven years on Al Qaeda is still at large, has adapted to the new regulatory environment to raise funds, and morphed into an international terrorist Hydra.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

As a demonstration of how the top higher education people from across the world can meet, debate, agree and disagree without ever losing sight of their common goals as academic leaders you would find it hard to better the 4-yearly conference of the UNESCO-based International Association of Universities (IAU).…

By Paul Cochrane, Beirut

And with Lebanese political leaders looking to outside powers to consolidate their domestic position, whether you are pro- or anti- Western depends on the politics of the day.
But that, like any brief summary of Lebanon, is a simplification, as although the Hizbullah led opposition is ostensibly anti-Western, strongly backed by Iran and ardently anti-Zionist, fellow opposition party the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) is predominantly Christian and pro-Western.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus

RISING passenger figures and economic reforms have prompted expansion at the Damascus International Airport and have also inspired plans to build three more airports in Syria, while private airliners are taking to the sky for the first time in decades.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus and Beirut, and HELENA FLUSFELDER, in Jerusalem

INTRODUCTION AND THE GULF

THE DENIM sector in the Middle East is as diverse as it is fragmented, with strong demand in the Gulf and Israel for major brand names and the latest trends, while in the less economically developed parts of the Levant international brands are of less importance than style.…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas; ALAN OSBORN, in London; KARRYN CARTELLE, in Tokyo; BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg; PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut; RACHEL JONES, in Caracas; MARK ROWE; and KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round being slow to proceed since its 2001 launch – and only this year approaching something resembling and end game – free traders wanting to encourage global commerce have looked to bilateral and regional trade deals.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Tripoli and Beirut

THE MARKET for cosmetics and toiletries in North Africa has been growing annually by a steady 5-6% over the last five years according to market participants and official data. Overall market value for the five countries – Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco – combined is more difficult to come by due to a dearth of data, but reasonable estimates put it slightly above US$1 billion, less than half the value of the Middle East and Gulf markets.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut, and HELENA FLUSFELDER, in Jerusalem

THE DRINKS market in the Middle East continues to increase on the back of population growth, economic development, improvements in distribution and retail, and more aggressive advertising campaigns.

But like much of the rest of the world, younger and better educated market segments within the region are shifting away from carbonated soft drinks (CSD) towards fruit juices and bottled water as people become increasingly health conscious according to independent industry analysts and the drinks sector.…

By Alan Osborn

As a demonstration of how the top higher education people from across the world can meet, debate, agree and disagree without ever losing sight of their common goals as academic leaders you would find it hard to better the 4-yearly conference of the UNESCO-based International Association of Universities (IAU).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

AS a demonstration of how the top higher education people from across the world can meet, debate, agree and disagree without ever losing sight of their common goals as academic leaders you would find it hard to better the 4-yearly conference of the UNESCO-based International Association of Universities (IAU).…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

BEIRUT’S re-named Rafik Hariri International Airport (RHIA) is still reeling from last year’s conflict between Israel and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, with passenger numbers down and some US$19 million needed to acquire a second radar and upgrade communications and security systems.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
Lebanon’s cosmetics, toiletries and perfumery sector, excluding shaving creams and soaps, is estimated to be worth US$180 million a year, according to L’Oréal.

The sector was seriously affected by the month long war between Israel and Hizbullah last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IMPORT duties on tobacco products shipped from the Lebanon to the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries have become duty free under a wide-ranging commercial agreement, which came into force on January 1. The EFTA-Lebanon Free Trade Agreement will also see Lebanese duties being cut from 2008, to be abolished entirely by 2015.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
AN ARAB language newspaper has reported that British clothing retail giant Marks & Spencer is investigating opening a branch in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The Al Balad newspaper said talks have been suspended however over Lebanon’s ongoing political instability and concern over the possible store location.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
IN an already charged political atmosphere a verbal argument between students at the Beirut Arab University on Thursday turned violent, spreading out onto the streets and leaving two students dead and over 160 students and protesters wounded.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

FOR nearly two months this summer, Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport was out of action, crippled by Israel’s aerial attacks on the runways during its war with Hizbullah and by an air blockade that lasted long after the ceasefire was in place.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

CONTRARY to all assumptions, Lebanese universities have not experienced the student exodus they thought might happen following the month long war between Israel and Hizbullah, but the conflict did cost lives, financial losses and a sizeable reduction in the number of Western students.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

LEBANON’S food manufacturing sector took a heavy blow during the 34-day conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hizbullah, recording tens of millions of US dollars in direct damages and more than US$500 million in indirect losses.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

LEBANON’S clothing sector – manufacturing and retail – was crippled by the month long war between Israel and Hizbullah, and the knock-on effects of the conflict have proved equally problematic for a sector that was just recovering from a slump caused by political turbulence in 2005.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

LEBANON’S paint sector took a heavy blow during the 34-day conflict between Israel and Hizbullah this summer, recording millions of dollars in direct and indirect losses.

Shaker Saab, business development manager for Tinol Paints, said July and August sales dropped 95%.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus and Amman

JORDAN and Syria both have large tobacco markets, with a third of Jordan’s population, and around 60% of Syria’s male population, being smokers. Both markets are growing, spurred on by large young populations and the cultural prevalence of smoking cigarettes and nargileh (water pipes), but not all is rosy in the sector.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

BEIRUT: The month long war waged by Israel against Hizbullah has caused considerable damage to Lebanon’s environment.

The coastline is marred by an oil spill, the air has been polluted by burning fuel oil, destroyed factories, forest fires and dust kicked up from bombings, and there is the possibility that depleted uranium (DU) and phosphorous bombs were used by the Israeli military.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

CONTRARY to Islamic stereotyping, lingerie sales are extremely healthy in the Middle East, although the brand is not as important as the style.

Indeed, there is lingerie openly on display that in Europe would usually be confined to sex shops.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

CONTRARY to Islamic stereotyping, lingerie sales are extremely healthy in the Middle East, although the brand is not as important as the style.

Indeed, there is lingerie openly on display that in Europe would usually be confined to sex shops.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

ONE month into the Israel-Hizbullah conflict, multinational food companies operating in Lebanon have ground to a halt, with the country facing a near total economic blockade and fuel supplies running out.

Since July 12, around 85% of all factories have been forced to close, 35 have been destroyed and distribution is increasingly difficult with over 60 bridges out of action, roads pock-marked with craters and over 450 trucks having been targeted by Israeli warplanes.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus

CLASSES at all of Lebanon’s universities have been cancelled and international students and faculty are being evacuated following Israel’s air and sea bombardment of the country.

The American University of Beirut’s (AUB) provost Peter Heath announced Sunday that all classes for the summer semester were cancelled until further notice.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

THE COSMETICS and toiletries market in the Middle East is booming with 12% growth expected this year in a US$2.1 billion sector. Market trends differ from country to country, but the general trend is rising demand for European cosmetics over local products in the wealthier Arab countries, largely due to aggressive marketing campaigns by the major brands, and high demand for unregistered, fake brand name perfumes in countries with sizeable low-income populaces, such as Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.…

BY MARK ROWE AND PAUL COCHRANE

INTRODUCTION

JUST as chocolate sells well in cold countries, so do soft drinks flourish in hot countries, which would suggest that North Africa and the Levant presents an inviting face to the international drinks market.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE
FOLLOWING the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon at the end of April 2005 the country’s tobacco industry has encountered certain setbacks, largely connected with the exodus of Syrian workers. These migrants were Lebanon’s primary source of cheap labour, particularly in agriculture and construction, and their departure has affected the tobacco picking season, particularly in the Bekaa Valley, one of Lebanon’s main tobacco growing areas.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE
IN the Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian paint markets there is always an extra ingredient that must be thrown into the mix: politics. The political situation, internal or external, can have positive knock-on effects, such as Jordan’s booming construction market due to an influx of Iraqi refugees, or negatively, such as in Lebanon, where the sector is experiencing something of a slump due to political instability.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

THE LEBANESE car market experienced its worse summer in decades as a result of the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a two-month sea blockade and an economic downturn, with the number of new registered cars dropping 81% in August alone.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LEBANON has an international reputation far greater than its geographical size and population, much like its national debt. At US$38 billion it is equivalent to over a 100% of the country’s GDP, with a significant chunk of this staggering sum attributed directly to corruption and commercial crime.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
BUSINESS has not always been easy for American soft drinks companies operating in the Middle East in the past five years. Companies have had to grapple with campaigns boycotting American products, political instability, war and alternative colas trying to gain market share.…

BY MARK ROWE AND PAUL COCHRANE

INTRODUCTION

JUST as chocolate sells well in cold countries, so do soft drinks flourish in hot countries, which would suggest that North Africa and the Levant presents an inviting face to the international drinks market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL team of experts has successfully controlled a newly discovered species of parasitic wasp that was threatening to destroy the Lebanon’s iconic cedar woodlands, descended from Levantine forests probably walked by Jesus Christ. From Biblical times to the Nineteenth Century, much of the steep Mount Lebanon range that towers over the eastern Mediterranean was cloaked in ancient cedars.…

BY MARK ROWE
WARS are usually fought over coveted resources, such as oil, diamonds or fertile land. Now water, the most indispensable of mankind’s needs, is seen as the resource which may spark the armed conflicts of the 21st century.

Indeed, United Nations (UN) cultural and scientific organisation UNESCO is stepping up efforts to calm tension in some of the world’s most water-stressed areas.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A LONG-LIST of nine names was being considered this month (January) by the World Health Organisation as potential successors to Gro Harlem Brundtland as director general next year. Dr Brundtland has conducted a relentless campaign against smoking and the organisation may be difficult to elect a similar anti-tobacco crusader given the differences she has had with the US.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE UNITED Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced it will give Lebanon a US$3.4 million grant to finance a new initiative aimed at boosting renewable energy generation, as well as increasing energy efficiency and environmental protection in this eastern Mediterranean country.…