Search Results for: Libya

After the Second World War, Europe emerged economically and socially drained. The war had destroyed so much housing, industry and infrastructure and killed millions of people. Unsurprisingly, the societies of countries who had fought – or been fought over – and that was most of the continent – were brought their knees by the conflict.…

Libyan universities are looking to boost research capacity targeted at economic sectors that will be vital as the country attempts to recover from seven years of civil war running since 2014. A tentative peace has been holding so far this year, with an interim government planning elections for this winter.…

President Joe Biden may think he has three main foreign policy priorities this year – China, Russia and Iran – but the truth is, as far as the Middle East is concerned, all these challenges roll into one.

That is because both China and Russia are seeking increased influence in the Middle East, and hoping for potential missteps from the USA over the Iran file to leverage their diplomatic positions.…

Nearly a year on from a spottily-respected UN-brokered ceasefire between Libya’s warring factions, the country’s universities are hoping a planned new national government will deliver sufficient stability to overhaul their higher education system. Their goal is raising standards in both teaching and research.…

MALTA’S only multiple casino operator has been fined over serious AML/CFT failings, with the country’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) ordering Tumas Gaming Ltd to undertake AML control reforms.

The company must pay EUR233,156 for breaching the country’s Prevention of Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism Regulations.…

The medieval scholar Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun, a famous Tunisian historian of the 14^th and 15^th centuries, created a model for the history of states, which he said had a natural life of birth, maturity and death.

His Muqaddimah, published in Arabic in 1377, written as a prelude to an ambitious survey of global history, said states went through three stages, always ending – as the adage about politics says – in failure.…

ARAB COUNTRIES MUST JOIN WEST IN DIPLOMATIC ENGAGEMENT WITH SYRIA TO FORGE NEW PEACE

After a 10-year-old civil war in which an estimated 400,000 people have died, calls for restoring diplomatic relations with the ruthless government of Bashar al-Assad, now controlling around 75% of the country, sound like bitter medicine.…

Tunisia’s textile and clothing industry association, the FTTH (Fédération tunisienne du textile-habillement) has commissioned a report on the impact of Covid-19 on this outsourcing centre, including policy options to enable its companies to recover. It will work with the Middle East and north African wing of the Global Textiles and Clothing Programme (GTEX/MENATEX) over two months to generate a post-pandemic plan.…

COURT documents unsealed yesterday (May 28) containing indictments by a grand jury for the US District of Columbia district court detail an international web of financial deception laundering more than USD2.5 billion towards North Korea, including payments specifically earmarked for the country’s nuclear weapons programme.…

AFRICA is commonly hailed as the world’s next big focus of economic growth, but for the civil aviation industry, this prospect will require significant investment in new intra-African routes and related airport and ATC infrastructure. It will also require governments to remove immigration barriers preventing African air travellers flying to other countries on their home continent.…

NORTH Africa is a region where care for appearance, grooming and personal hygiene is integral to its cultural DNA, so while personal care product majors have a strong presence, it is maybe no surprise that local beauty manufacturers continue to bubble up with fresh ideas and products that capture the imagination of consumers.…

With a new European Commission about to take office (probably on December 1, one month late, with three proposed nominees being rejected by MEPs), one key challenge will be pushing fraud out of the European Union (EU). It is still a huge problem, with in 2018, 1,152 frauds detected and reported.…

The former CEO and chief operations officer (COO) of Monaco-based energy services company Unaoil have pleaded guilty to facilitating millions of US dollars in bribes to officials in multiple countries. Britons Cyrus Ahsani and Saman Ahsani accepted they made illicit payments in countries including Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya and Syria.…

CLOSE links between Tunisian and German higher education systems are boosting Tunisia’s higher education system, but both sides agree importance of encouraging Tunisian graduates to return home after exchange studies.

The opening of a new German library at the faculty of arts, letters and humanities (FAHM), of the University of Manouba, in Tunis on May 29 is a key example of Tunisian-German collaboration in HE.…

MARCH’S approval by the European Parliament of new European Union (EU) electricity market rules, designed to increase consumer choice, boost renewables access and cap power subsidies, were hailed by the European Commission as a new dawn for the creation of the EU’s much vaunted Energy Union.…

THE EGYPTIAN economy is still struggling to overcome the problem of low hard currency reserves, a challenge that has negatively affected the local paints and coatings industry due its high dependence on imports.

“There has been a crisis in terms of availability of US dollars to purchase raw materials and most of the raw materials are imported,” said Himanshu Vasisht, project lead for energy and chemicals at India-based market researcher Mordor Intelligence.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has included four American external territories – Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa – on a proposed blacklist of weak AML/CFT jurisdictions released today (Feb 13).

Brussels’ updated list includes 12 countries that are viewed with concern by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the Bahamas, Botswana, North Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen. …

A SHORTAGE of dairy products is not an experience that consumers in middle-income and wealthy countries are accustomed to – but in autumn 2018, that is what happened in Tunisia, when shop shelves emptied of milk, which was made subject to rationing.…

NORTH Africa offers personal care product majors populous markets, close to European manufacturing centres, with large and growing middle classes (outside troubled Libya) – but trading in these countries is not without complication. Regulatory shifts, counterfeiting and some security concerns make these useful markets a challenge for brands to tap.…

Charities continue to be at risk of being exploited by terrorist groups looking to transfer money and finance their operations, with the Middle East a high-risk area.

These non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are, however, criticising the extra scrutiny the sector is facing from regulators, banks and governments, saying it is driving charity financing into the shadows, actually increasing risks of financing by crime and terror groups.…

THE OUTLOOK for European Union (EU) beef, sheep and goat meat imports looks bleak, with sales tumbling, according to an EU agricultural markets 2018 and 2019 forecast released by the European Commission.

Beef exports started falling by December 2017, and this has continued into this year, with exports almost 15% lower in the first four months of 2018 year-on-year.…

NORTH Africa is never an easy market in which to do business, and the Arab Spring and its turbulent aftermath has not helped ease trade, but as the paint industry looks to 2018, there is optimism that profits can be made.…

DEFERRED Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), that allow companies and individuals that admit to wrongdoing and cooperate with investigators and avoid prosecution, are becoming increasingly common worldwide, including for money laundering offences. The systems are particularly useful sticks to force erring financial and other corporate institutions to improve their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism systems (AML/CFT), with prosecuting agencies deferring criminal cases on condition of sustained AML/CFT reforms.…

STANDARD Chartered Bank has been hit by another enforcement action over past anti-money laundering (AML) failures, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announcing today (March 19) that it was fining local subsidiaries Singapore dollars SGD6.54 million (USD4.85 million). The fines break down to SGD5.2 million on the Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Branch (SCBS) and SGD1.2 million on Standard Chartered Trust (Singapore) Ltd (SCTS).…

PROTECTIONISM and currency problems are posing challenges for north Africa’s beauty and personal care market, often forcing consumers to change their purchasing behaviour and turn to locally manufactured products, when they are available.

In Egypt, the region’s most populous country, the fall in value of the local currency, the Egyptian pound, against the Euro, has helped increase the price of imported products.…

THE FIVE month-long diplomatic and commercial dispute between Qatar and the so-called ‘anti-terror quartet – ATQ’ of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt) continues and revolves around Doha’s alleged financial support for terrorist groups.…

In a move that will disappoint many textile manufacturers and exporters, the government of Pakistan has decided to abandon its plans to build a Pakistan Textile City near Karachi.
A senior government official at Pakistan’s ministry of textile industry confirmed to just-style that the federal cabinet’s economic coordination committee had approved winding up a Pakistan Textile City Ltd (PTCL), a special purpose vehicle for the project, after clearing the company’s liabilities and transferring its land to the Port Qasim Authority (PQA).…

Italian state-controlled oil and gas producer ENI has cemented its role as a major gas player in Mozambique, after further defining in 2017 the scope of its Coral FLNG (floating liquified natural gas) project in this southern African country. However, doubts are emerging that ENI will actually deliver significant volumes of Mozambique’s huge gas reserves to Italy, and consequentially the rest of Europe, as an alternative and more secure source of natural gas.…

THE PAINT and coatings sector in Egypt is growing, but its progress has been unsteady, reflecting its bumpy political progress since its 2011 revolution that brought down long-standing President Hosni Mubarak. While a construction boom dominated by huge public private partnerships (PPPs) is driving up sales of decorative paint, according to industry analysts, a weak automotive sector is holding back overall growth with slow sales of refinishing paint.…

IF the Arab Spring has often disappointed in political terms, leading more to armed conflict, oppression and chaos than civic democracy, it is undeniable that citizens in north Africa at least have often been able to indulge more personal freedom. This is well illustrated by women’s smoking habits, with more women choosing to smoke openly – and whatever the health risks, it is clear that women themselves are making the choice to smoke, a sign of social change in one of the world’s most conservative regions.…

DEMAND for coatings for the Middle East’s oil and gas sector has been sluggish in the wake of lower energy prices. New infrastructure projects and maintenance is ongoing, but with government and national oil companies’ (NOCs) budgets getting tighter, so is the demand for innovative coating solutions.…

Civil war, currency instability and smuggling are hitting the Libyan sheep market and stocks of the key Libyan Barbary Sheep breed are decreasing. It is a key source for both meat and wool. Dr Abdulla Elmansoury, Professor of Physiology at Libyan International Medical University, in Benghazi, where he is Dean of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, who is also a livestock farmer with holdings near Benghazi has seen his lamb business destroyed by the Libyan civil war that has continued since 2014.…

Terrorist financing is continuing in the Middle East, highlighted by the devastating attack in Istanbul over the new year. Radical Islamic groups still operate in Iraq and Syria, notably the Islamic State and the Levant, or ISIL (also known as ISIS), and the source of funding for these terrorist groups is a contentious issue.…

Arab Gulf governments are repeatedly accused of aiding terrorist financing on and, more often, off the record. Calls to get tough on these states have been sidelined by political and economic expediency, while Gulf moves to curb terrorist financing have been lacklustre and there may be risks ahead, reports Paul Cochrane, in Beirut.…

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.…

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed and his regime overthrown in 2011. Billions of dollars in assets and funds stashed away over the years have disappeared. The hunt is still on but with Libya in chaos, there is no effective state to push the investigation and repatriate the cash, while commercial crime in this north African country has reached unprecedented levels.…

Demand for milk is outstripping domestic supply in Egypt, the most populous market in the Middle East and North Africa. The sector has been growing at more than 10% a year as Egypt – whose population is at least 82 million – consume more dairy products, especially milk and yoghurt.…

THE ARAB Spring has certainly been a mixed blessing for North Africa, with political instability as common as progress towards democratisation, and the region’s paint sector has not been insulated from these changes. Sales have swung up and down, with North Africa’s economies performing unevenly as the Arab Spring’s political changes shake out.…

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.…

Gas companies have been asked to comment on a new 10 year strategy for developing European Union (EU) gas distribution released by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).
The network stresses that Europe faces supply and pricing challenges, mitigated by investment in its pipeline and interconnector networks.…

THE MIDDLE Eastern halal meat market is anticipating significant growth in the next few years, driven by rising populations and rising consumer awareness about food content. However, the lack of a common global halal standard is hindering the market’s potential, given that the region is heavily dependent on imports from non-Muslim countries.…

When one authoritarian government after another fell following mass uprisings in the Middle East in 2011, there was optimism that this would usher in an era of greater publishing freedoms. But as the ‘Arab Spring’ enters its fifth year, with conflict in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, book sales have dropped and censorship has rebounded.…

North Africa’s entire paints and coatings market is valued at about USD1.1 billion on approximately 0.5 billion litres of coatings, according to the International Paint and Printing Inks Council (IPPIC). Of this, nearly 60% of the market value and more than 75% of market volume is comprised of decorative paints and coatings, according to data collected for the IPPIC by US-based Orr & Boss Inc.…

THE EXPANSION of Renault’s manufacturing operations in Algeria looks set to continue, providing new jobs in the north African nation, fuelling speculation about its strategic significance. The company has already created 250 direct jobs and 500 indirect jobs according to Guillaume Josselin, chief executive officer of Renault Algeria, through the opening last November 10 (2014) of a car manufacturing plant, based in the coastal city of Oran.…

The Egyptian energy sector is facing numerous challenges in the immediate and long-term, mirroring how the country is struggling to secure political stability. Insufficient power supply is resulting in sporadic power cuts in the major cities, driving up sales of private generators.…

WITH the dust settling in post-revolutionary Egypt, economic reforms are on the agenda as the country seeks more foreign investment to get back on its feet. Improving auditing and accounting standards is on the to-do list, to bolster capital inflows and the domestic economy.…

The Middle East and North African nonwovens sector is in flux. At the same time as extra capacity has come online, regional demand has been affected by political instability, forcing manufacturers to focus on exports and diversify their offerings.

“It is showing clearly now that the Arab Spring and political consequences have definitely delayed investment decisions by potential customers.…

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.…

A leading carpet producer in Gaziantep Province, which lies in Turkey’s Southeastern Anatolia Region, and a major carpet production hub, has told WTiN.com that the industry is facing a number of challenges as the Turkish sector becomes increasingly competitive.

According to data from the Southeastern Anatolia Exporters’ Union (GAİB), Gaziantep’s annual exports of carpets are currently worth around USD1.5 bilion, with 227 carpet companies in Gaziantep that are members of export unions.…

Chinese construction firms have cornered plenty of business in Africa and Latin America, but they need upskilling to consolidate their position. Anyone who observes the queues of nervous young men lining up in the early morning in Beijing’s tree-lined Sanlitun diplomatic district will be in no doubt of the intensity of Chinese activity in Africa and Latin America.…

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.…

Compliance experts believe the sanctions imposed thus far by the USA and European Union (EU) on Russia over the Ukraine crisis will have a mixed effect. One of the biggest criticisms is that the sanctions were publicly discussed before being implemented giving targeted individuals time to get their finances to a safe haven.…

Compliance experts believe the sanctions imposed thus far by the USA and European Union (EU) on Russia over the Ukraine crisis will have a mixed effect. One of the biggest criticisms is that the sanctions were publicly discussed before being implemented giving targeted individuals time to get their finances to a safe haven.…

EGYPT’S paint market is in flux due to the political and economic instability that has raged in the North African country since 2011. This 180 million litre paint market, valued at USD275 million, slumped 10% in 2011, according to paint major Jotun, following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, and has struggled to recover.…

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region ranks poorly in intellectual property rights protection and enforcement. While some countries, notably in the Gulf, are gradually improving, political and economic uncertainty in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings is hampering progress in much of the rest of the region.…

VETERINARY services in the Netherlands are investigating a fresh outbreak of the H5N2 strain of the avian flu, affecting poultry this month.

More than 10,000 susceptible birds have been killed as a result, according to the Office International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) meat demand and production are expected to recover this year, after two years of decline in EU pork and beef supplies, the European Commission predicted yesterday (March 5). In its Winter 2014 Short-Term Agricultural Outlook, the Commission said: “Meat consumption is expected to increase in the short run, thanks to improvements in the economy and of meat availability.”…

THE NORTH African paint market has yet to rebound from the political and economic unrest in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt over the past three years. Demand remains sluggish compared to 2010, with many projects and government tenders on hold.

In Egypt, the 180 million litre paint market, valued at USD275 million, said Yasser Hassan, marketing and national retail sales manager, decorative department, at Jotun Paints in Cairo, dropped 10% in 2011 following the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.…

TURKEY’S paints and coatings industry has set itself the target of becoming the third largest paints and coatings sector in Europe by 2023 as it seeks to become a key regional hub within the international industry as a whole.

According to data from Turkey’s Association of Paint Industry (Boya Sanayicileri Dernegi – BOSAD), the size of the Turkish paints and coatings market reached 840,000 tonnes in 2012, with a value of USD2 billion.…

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.…

By Kaci Racelma, in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria; and Paul Cochrane, in Beirut 

This article appeared last March (2012) in Commercial Crime International, a specialist title run by the International Chamber of Commerce. It foreshadowed the Islamist-related unrest and rebellion that actually occurred later in Mali and Algeria….

COMMERCIAL crime may not be as omnipresent in North Africa as in some other parts of the world, but companies operating in the region have risks to contend with. Corruption is rife, smuggling across the borders with Sub-Saharan countries is a major activity, and terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are in the ascendancy. Kaci Racelma and Paul Cochrane take a detailed look at these problems.

 “CORRUPTION is systemic in all of the Maghreb, and not likely to change,” said Dr Geoff Porter, a political risk and security consultant specialising in North Africa. “We’ll have to see what happens in Tunisia. It was a cesspool of corruption under the previous government and while the new one seems to have a zero tolerance policy to corruption, it has not been in power long enough to gauge its effectiveness,” said Dr Porter, founder of US-based North Africa Risk Consulting.…

THE ARAB Spring may have increased short-term doubts about the political stability of Europe’s southern and eastern Mediterranean neighbours, but the long-term case for energy cooperation between these regions is surely unarguable.

Europe needs more energy than it can generate, and it has (for the time being at least) money to buy energy from north Africa and the Levant.…

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has advised the European Union (EU) to launch a series of studies to help assess the risk of Rift Valley Fever being introduced to livestock and humans in north Africa and the Middle East, potentially threatening Europe.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

THE UPRISINGS in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the past two years have had a negative impact on the construction and paint sectors, throwing a proverbial spanner in the works when the region was striving to come out of recession.…

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 REAL estate market in the Gulf has started to bottom out, with prices stabilising in the commercial and residential categories. However, empty properties still abound, there is more supply than demand and few new projects are being undertaken.…

BY MEGAN DETRIE, IN CAIRO

A YEAR after the break out of the civil war in Libya which ousted Colonel Muammar Gaddafi from power – but paralysed the economy – the north African country’s airports are just now beginning to reopen, with construction projects likely to resume in the coming months.…

BY KACI RACELMA, IN TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA; AND PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

COMMERCIAL crime may not be as omnipresent in North Africa as in some other parts of the world, but companies operating in the region have risks to contend with.…

DESPITE the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May, Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups remain a global money laundering and terrorist financing concern. Yet a decade on from the September 11 attacks, counterterrorism specialists say there has been too much focus on Al Qaeda itself (it means The Base in Arabic) but not enough on associated and other militant groups that pose significant threats.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

THE SYRIAN energy sector is currently reeling from the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) and the United States in the last quarter of 2011 in response to Damascus’ severe crackdown on protests that began in March of last year.…

BY AMELIA SMITH

THE DIRECTOR of a civil aviation safety company has warned an international conference on rebuilding Libya that improving its airport sector poses significant difficulties. Speaking at a London conference in November ‘Libya, The Future 2’, UK-based Advanced Aviation Technology chief Kim O’Neil said Libya was suffering from an "underlying cultural deficit" typical of many wealthier Middle East countries – importing large amounts of expatriate labour for key jobs, upon which they are "highly dependent", with locals lacking technical training and experience.…

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 MEGAN DETRIE and KACI RACELMA

THE IMPACT of the Arab Spring revolution has rattled though North Africa, leaving no economic sector unscathed – including the personal care products industry. Despite the fact that the growth of the cosmetics markets in countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya remains limited in lieu of the year of demonstrations and political upheaval, efforts are currently being made to boost the industry.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT; AND AMELIA SMITH, IN LONDON

THE NEW authorities in Libya are optimistic about the future of oil production and the role of international oil companies (IOCs) in the rebuilding of the country, now the Gaddafi regime has been destroyed.…

BY SERAJ ELALEM and DAVE YIN

LIBYA: Universities face transformation after armed struggle

Seraj Elalem

Full report on the University World News site

LIBYA: Universities face transformation after armed struggle

Seraj Elalem

WITH the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the higher education sector in Libya can look forward to a freer future, where universities have more control over their curricula and hopefully better funding.…

BY BRIAN CONLEY and KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the fall of the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya, civilian flights could soon return to Benghazi’s Benina International Airport, which has been effectively closed to standard commercial flights since the country’s rebellion began in February.…

BY MEGAN DETRIE

LIBYA: New regime plans September university relaunch

Megan Detrie

Major concerns have been raised about a draft European Union (EU) plan to attract highly qualified immigrants because of its ability to fuel an intense brain drain from Africa.…

BY SERAJ ELALEM and BRIAN CONLEY

AS REBEL forces take over Tripoli, a Libyan PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) accountant has told how he fled Tripoli to return home to Benghazi early this February, because he knew a rebellion was coming and he wanted to be with his family when it broke out.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY’S USD2 billion paint market may be forecast by manufacturers to grow between 12% and 13% this year on the back of a resurgent construction sector; however, paint exports are currently struggling. This is because of a combination of lacklustre market demand in Europe along with the troubles companies are facing in terms of implementing European Union (EU) regulations required as Turkey meshes with the EU’s REACH chemical control system.…

BY SERAJ ELALEM and JOSH MULL

ON February 17 as Libya’s revolt against the regime of Col Muamar Gaddafi began, Judith San Pedro, 52, reported to work as head nurse in the intensive care unit of Al-Jala Hospital in Benghazi, Libya.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Energy Agency (IEA) said its 28 developed country members had agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil in July to replace supplies lost from the ongoing disruption production in strife-torn Libya. The IEA said 2 million barrels would be released daily from emergency stocks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ENERGY companies and non-government organisations (NGOs) participating in the development of a European Union (EU) long-term energy plan to 2050, have identified fossil fuel costs as the main motor of change in future public policy. In consultation staged by the European Commission for developing an ‘Energy Roadmap to 2050’, about half of all respondents believed "global fossil fuel prices in relation to costs of domestic energy resources and long term security of supply will be the most likely key drivers…" This conclusion comes in a summary of responses released by Brussels.…

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 KACI RACELMA

THE MOROCCAN textile and clothing industry has been recovering energetically from the 2009 recession, with North Africa’s recent political turmoil yet to significantly impact on its fortunes, although it has prompted concerns in the industry.

Exports to Europe are of critical importance to Morocco’s clothing manufacturers, with the government and industry groups combining efforts to improve standards, promote sales abroad and create a nascent design hub for the sector within this north African kingdom.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled the cost of its ambitious plan for cutting European Union (EU) greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% of 1990 levels by 2050. Brussels says that an additional targeted annual investment over the next 40 years is needed – equalling 1.5% of the EU’s GDP – or Euro EUR270 billion.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF, ALYSSA MCMURTRY, MAKKI MARSEILLES, and KEITH NUTHALL

GLOBAL olive oil manufacturing is on a roll, with the International Olive Council (IOC) saying 2009-10 world production was 3.02 million tonnes, a season-on-season increase of 354,500 tonnes (+13%). This would be the second best olive oil production year ever, next only to the record of 3.17 million tonnes produced in 2003/04.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, BY VÉRONIQUE NARAME AND BY SEYDOU TRAORÉ

North Africa’s tobacco market opens to the world

North Africa’s tobacco markets have long been dominated by state-run companies and monopolies. But change has slowly come to the region through increased economic liberalisation, enabling international brands to gain market share.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DETAILED plans for the European Union (EU) to work with the African Union (AU) on boosting the traceability of minerals shipped from Africa to Europe were welcomed yesterday (Dec 15) by the European Parliament. In a motion, the parliament praised an agreement struck between the EU and the AU in Tripoli, Libya, on November 30, at the third EU-Africa Summit.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A SENIOR US state department official has confirmed that America is sending 50 specialist contractors to Libya to track down an estimated stockpile of 20,000 Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) hidden in this vast desert country. Assistant secretary of state Andrew Shapiro said Washington was "very concerned about the threat…posed" to "civil aviation" by MANPADS missiles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE COLLECTIVE action to increase oil supplies to make up for the loss of Libyan production has been halted by the International Energy Agency (IEA). It said the move had been successful, with 60 million barrels of crude oil and related products being released from public and industrial stocks within IEA member countries during July and August.…

By Keith Nuthall, International News Services

Both projects draw on the eight volume Unesco-coordinated General History of Africa written from 1964 to 1999 which tried to create a standard for the continent written from an African rather than a colonial European perspective.

An evaluation study on using this general history in higher education throughout the continent will be written this year.…

By Keith Nuthall

Historians are working with Unesco and educationalists to try to develop a common African history syllabus, including the teaching approach and pedagogical materials. The ambitious project will initially focus on helping primary and secondary schools across the continent and, this coming year, an assessment will consider how universities in Africa could benefit from such work.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IT has been a tough last few years for north African knitwear, clothing and textile manufacturers, but the signs are that the knitwear sub-sector is outperforming its woven textile partners. With the European Union (EU) the region’s primary export destination, the region’s manufacturers have been hit by the end of restrictive quotas on imports from China in 2008, and then by the impact of the global financial crisis when demand slumped.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HISTORIANS are working with Unesco (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and educationalists to try and develop a common African history syllabus, teaching approach and pedagogical materials. The ambitious project will initially focus on helping primary and secondary schools across Africa, and this coming year an assessment will consider how universities in Africa could benefit from such work.…

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 PAUL COCHRANE

WHEN Libya came in from the diplomatic cold in 2004 after international sanctions were lifted amidst a flurry of good behaviour, oil companies considered the former rogue state a new frontier, keen to return after a 30-year hiatus.…

BY EMMA JACKSON, KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN, PAUL COCHRANE and BILL CORCORAN

WEST Africa is becoming a key region in the booming trade of illicit cigarettes, counterfeit copies of premium brands and smuggled properly branded and manufactured sticks. So much money is being made by criminals using this often-chaotic region as a hub to receive illicit sticks and then distribute them throughout Africa that this trade is becoming a matter of serious concern to the United Nations and even NATO.…

BY GEORGE STONE

GHANA, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are Africa’s latest upstream hotspots as major energy firms seek new provinces outside of regional heavyweight oil producers Nigeria and Angola. But jockeying for position has already led to friction between governments and the industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Find has praised anti-recession strategies amongst Middle East and north Africa oil and gas exporting countries. It said using "reserve buffers for countercyclical spending by [Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen] mitigated the impact on their own economies and generated positive spillovers for neighbours."…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

AGREEMENT has been struck over future European Union (EU) targets for CO2 emissions from cars, with an informal deal being forged by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. The agreement is a compromise, with energy and automobile companies securing a phase-in between 2012 and 2015 of an agreed 120g/km target.…

BY IRINA PRENTICE

WHILE finding accurate statistics about the Libya industry is as easy as finding your way around the country’s vast deserts without a map, it is undeniable that this is a growing paint and coating market: the country is in full economic development which includes construction, boosting demand for coatings of all kinds.…

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 PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

ALGERIA’S paint sector has been experiencing healthy growth in recent years on the back of a petro-dollar fuelled construction boom, yet should the country’s initiatives at modernising and expanding its economy continue at the same pace as over the last decade, there is potential for significantly greater expansion in the paint and coatings market.…

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 MARK ROWE

WHEN the European Union’s (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, visited Turkmenistan last autumn it served notice that this central Asian ex-Soviet republic had come in from the cold. Once a pariah on the international stage, because of the activity of its crazed former president Sapamurat Niyazov (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT), Turkmenistan has become something more than a bit player in the international energy sector.…

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 Tripoli and Beirut

THE OPENING up of Libya’s economy could not have come at a better time for international oil companies, which have been beset in recent years by dwindling easily accessible oil reserves, tighter controls over exploration rights and extraction, and heightened security concerns.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN and PAUL COCHRANE
WITH the European Union (EU) securing around 25% of its gas from Russia and natural gas being an ever more important fuel for thermal power plants, the failure thus far of the European Union and Russia to agree a new long-term energy agreement has to be of concern to the electricity industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the European Union’s (EU) flagship Erasmus student exchange programme approaches its 20th birthday, EU education Commissioner Jan Figel has criticised it for failing poorer students across Europe. The Slovak said: "The Erasmus grant remains far too low to allow students from less favourable financial backgrounds to enjoy the benefits of the programme.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE RUSSIAN government has rejected claims in a NATO economic committee report it is constructing a gas cartel from north Africa to central Asia to lever further concessions from Europe. NATO is warning Russian could form an alliance with Algeria, Libya, Qatar, central Asia and maybe Iran.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a list of priority projects under its 2007-13 trans European network (TENs) energy programme. Three of the 10 gas pipeline projects link Europe to Algeria, a key alternative source to Russia, and there are also priority gas pipelines to Libya and Turkey listed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a list of priority projects that will draw in EU funding and diplomatic support under its 2007-13 trans European network (TENs) energy programme. Agreed with the European Parliament, the schemes are designed to fulfil the EU’s energy policy goals of improving security of supply, especially from outside member states, and underpinning Europe’s internal market in gas and electricity.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

OVER the last five years the Middle East and North Africa region has firmly joined the global effort to fight money laundering and terrorist financing by setting up national financial intelligence units and a regional watchdog, the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA-FATF).…

BY PAUL COCHRANE in Beirut

THE APPEAL hearing of the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for allegedly infecting over 400 Libyan children with HIV has been brought forward to December 25. The hearing was originally slated for January 31, but was altered in response to concerns by the defence team over the health and psychological conditions of the defendants, who have been in jail since 1999.…

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
THE EGYPTIAN paint industry is in a state of flux after the sector was deregulated, with competition increasing both domestically and internationally, and long-term projections hampered by the government’s inability to decide on whether or not to cease subsidising turpentine supplies.…

BY PUAL COCHRANE, in Beirut

THE APPEAL hearing of the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for allegedly infecting over 400 Libyan children with HIV has been brought forward to December 25. The hearing was originally slated for January 31, but was altered in response to concerns by the defence team over the health and psychological conditions of the defendants, who have been in jail since 1999.…

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
INTERNATIONAL Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohamed ElBaradei wants tightened controls stopping terrorists obtaining radioactive matter. Noting 60 trafficking incidents were reported in 2003, with more likely this year, ElBaradei said discoveries in Iran and Libya of illicit nuclear materials markets were “disturbing”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SIX year fishing agreement struck between the European Commission and the Seychelles has reduced access for European Union (EU) tuna boats to answer criticism that similar past deals have been emptying developing world waters of fish. The new agreement with the Seychelles – lasting from January 2005 to 2011 – cuts fishing opportunities for tuna long-liners by 15% by 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) will establish this year a Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Centre in Beirut, Lebanon, to provide macroeconomic and financial management training to Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has called for a redoubling of efforts to create gas networks linking European, north African and Levantine countries. Speaking to a Euro-Mediterranean ministerial conference, in Rome, de Palacio highlighted the available resources of natural gas in the EU’s Mediterranean neighbours and called for cross-border infrastructure to be improved.…

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED States and Britain have formally withdrawn two cases brought against Libya at the International Court of Justice over its liability under the Montreal Convention because of its role in the Lockerbie disaster. The move follows Libya’s offer of compensation to victims’ families.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain flat rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more from Egypt, (mostly 29.2 per cent), Slovakia, (18.6 per cent) and Turkey, (11.5 per cent).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TWO international organisations have highlighted opportunities for European water companies, which may be called upon in the next few decades to boost supplies to arid parts of the world, notably the Middle East.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) World Water Development Report says this region is the poorest in terms of water availability, with Kuwait being the most parched (10 m³ is available per person annually), followed by Gaza Strip (52 m³), the United Arab Emirates (58 m³), Bahamas (66 m³), Qatar (94 m³), Maldives (103 m³), Libya (113 m³), Saudi Arabia (118 m³), and Malta (129 m³).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The UN Environment Programme says that within five years most African countries will be close to phasing out leaded petrol. Egypt, Libya, Mauritius and Sudan – are already lead-free, to be joined this year by Morocco, Reunion and Tunisia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHEN the New Year is upon us, pessimists tend to herald the approach of apocalypse, gloomy tidings and battening down the hatches. And in a year that may see war in the Middle East, the naysayers may say more in 2003 than usual.…