Search Results for: saudi arabia

When France’s fast-food chain O’Tacos (www.o-tacos.fr) announced in 2020 that it would be selling in Italy its halal-certified French-style meat and vegetable wraps, Italian Muslims took this as a sign that halal was going mainstream in their country. O’Tacos’ first Italian outpost will open in January 2022 in Rome (delayed by Covid-19) and more openings in 2022 are planned in major Italian cities, including Milan and Bologna, said Yassin Baradai, founder of Milan-based Meem Communication (https://meemcommunication.com/…

Malaysia is expected to launch in January a detailed (although voluntary) halal certification for medical devices in an innovative regulatory move, making the country a world leader in this segment.

Its government published a halal medical device standard in September 2019, known as MS2636, but the halal division of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) agency has since been enhancing “their online system” and staff, since the new “scheme for halal medical devices must comply with other requirements”, Johari Ab Latiff, senior assistant director at JAKIM’s Malaysia Halal Council Secretariat, told Salaam Gateway.…

Fraud in the global halal food sector is emerging as a widespread problem. A series of scandals have rocked the industry worldwide, and shone a spotlight on the difficulty of eliminating non-halal practices from increasingly large and complicated food supply chains. …

Since its foundation, the United States has regularly seen opposition party presidents defeat the candidate of the incumbent ruling party. Indeed, since the 1920s (when Republican presidents held sway), only one ruling presidential candidate won an election to replace a predecessor from the same party – President George Bush Snr in 1988.…

Spain, which in the early Middle Ages was part of Islamic state called Al-Andalus – remembered as a golden age of Spanish tolerance and reason – has finally started to seriously play to win in the global halal market, through tourism and exports.…

Spain has been expanding its halal tourism and food sales, as it leverages its geographical proximity to Muslim countries in north Africa to provide travel and accommodation services.

In the CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2021, by CrescentRating & Mastercard, Spain climbed six positions to the 16th in the top non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations (https://www.crescentrating.com/reports/global-muslim-travel-index-2021.html).…

On November 11 (2021), Indonesia’s National Ulema Council (MUI), the country’s top Muslim clerical body, ruled that “using” cryptocurrency is haram, due to its “uncertainty” and “potential for wagering and harm”. 

The ruling, which was not accompanied by any public clarification of MUI’s position on what constitutes “using” cryptocurrency, sent ripples through the Islamic world and reignited discussions about the role of the rapidly expanding digital assets sector in Sharia-compliant finance. …

A recent verdict (judgement 1751/2021) by Greece’s top court, the Council of State, regarding the ritual slaughter of animals has raised significant concerns to the Muslim and the Jewish communities of Greece, potentially impeding growth in Greek halal exports. The ruling effectively withdraws a permit that has allowed the slaughter of animals without stunning them first, as (usually) required to produce halal and kosher meat.…

The Bangladesh food industry is increasing its efforts to export halal foods to Muslim majority population countries. A senior government delegation is planning to visit Turkey and Indonesia this year to gather facts and advice on improving Bangladesh sales in these countries of halal food.…

For nearly a hundred years, the city of Jerusalem has been the scene of violent confrontations between Jews and Arabs. This is the most recent of struggles over this most disputed city that have continued for more than three thousand years.…

Nearly two-thirds of 86 countries assessed worldwide face a high to critical risk of corruption in their defence and security sectors, according to the 2020 Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI) (1) that the Transparency International defence and security programme published November 16.…

Oil-service provider Petrofac is to pay out a total GBP77 million (USD104.6 million) after pleading guilty to seven separate counts of failure to prevent bribery to win over GBP2.6 billion (USD3.5 billion) in Middle East contracts. In a case brought by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Her Honour Judge Deborah Taylor October 4 sentenced the Jersey-based contractor in Southwark Crown Court to pay GBP47,197,640 (USD64,208,613) in fines, a GBP22,836,985 (USD31,066,704) confiscation order plus the SFO’s GBP7 million (USD9.5 million) costs.…

Global supply chain delivery delays and price tensions continue to disrupt Italy’s otherwise robust food can production sector. With profit margins squeezed, food canners expect prices to rise across the board for these long shelf-life food staples

According to Italian can manufacturing industry association ANFIMA’s most recent data, Italy produced 698,523 tonnes of rigid metal packaging (tinplate and steel) and 24,745 tonnes of aluminium packaging in 2020, up 3.6% and 7% from the same period the previous year, respectively.…

The food halal market for Portugal, a largely Christian country that was in the early Middle Ages part of the Muslim world, has been expanding, serving a growing local Muslim community and Muslim tourists keen to taste Portuguese food.

Between 711 and 1249, most of Portugal was under Muslim rule, which influenced its language and culture.…

Oil-service provider Petrofac is to pay out a total GBP77 million (USD104.6 million) after pleading guilty to seven separate counts of failure to prevent bribery to win over GBP2.6 billion (USD3.5 billion) in Middle East contracts. In a case brought by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Her Honour Judge Deborah Taylor October 4 sentenced the Jersey-based contractor in Southwark Crown Court to pay GBP47,197,640 (USD64,208,613) in fines, a GBP22,836,985 (USD31,066,704) confiscation order plus the SFO’s GBP7 million (USD9.5 million) costs.…

Many friends ask me why, as a businessman and investor controlling pioneering projects, why I am concerned with politics? I always answer that my experience has taught me that the key to progress lies in politics, and this is especially true in Arab countries, where, frankly, politics is everything. …

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.…

Young and aspiring accountants might balk at the idea of working in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region’s oil and gas sector. A connection to hydrocarbons amid growing societal pressure to de-carbonise economies can, in some circles, attract criticism.

But for GCC accountants, the ability to combine financial reporting with every increasing sustainability assessment tool, means oil and gas might be a good long term career bet.…

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.…

Saudi women are taking up professional roles unimaginable a few years ago, and that includes in accounting, a trend encouraged by the government. A new women’s accountancy programme was launched in March (2021) by the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA), supported by the ministry of commerce.…

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.…

When the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in the first half of 2020, China’s textile industry quickly increased its nonwoven-based supply capacity of protective masks, medical protective clothing, isolation clothing and other emergency prevention and control materials.

Data compiled by the China National Textile and Apparel Council show that the country’s output of nonwoven products recorded a robust year-on-year growth of 14.4% in in the first eleven months of 2020.…

Ever since President Joe Biden defeated former US President Donald Trump last November (2020), foreign policy experts have been predicting change regarding American foreign policy. This is especially as regards approaches to the Middle East, notably in dealings with the Gulf states.…

With global markets and daily consumer habits being disrupted for almost a year due to the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, some oils and fats sales have grown – and a key example is soybean oil. This is true worldwide, from North and South America, to Africa, Asia, and Europe.…

The US new administration of President Joe Biden has a real opportunity to help forge peace in Syria, and if it succeeds, it could reap a series of important foreign policy goals.

This Levant country needs calm and reconstruction. For that to happen, the Biden team needs to recognise that the Baathist regime of President Bashar Hafez al-Assad has won this conflict, and still has rights in areas controlled by Kurds.…

The US new administration of President Joe Biden has a real opportunity to help forge peace in Syria, and if it succeeds, it could reap a series of important foreign policy goals.

This Levant country needs calm and reconstruction. For that to happen, the Biden team needs to recognise that the Baathist regime of President Bashar Hafez al-Assad has won this conflict, and still has rights in areas controlled by Kurds.…

E-commerce and digitalisation have needed a good push to really get going in the Gulf. And this has happened through Covid-19. The pandemic has shoved digitalisation into widespread adoption amid an otherwise difficult economic environment.

In the Gulf’s two largest economies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there has been a flurry of digital activity since the pandemic hit.…

Islamic finance is flourishing across parts of the Middle East and south-east Asia. Assets are increasing, there is a greater diversification in product offerings, and Islamic fintech is starting to take off.

Islamic finance assets were estimated at USD2.88 trillion globally in 2020, and are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5% to 2024, to reach USD3.69 trillion, according to New York-based research firm DinarStandard’s State of the Global Islamic Economy (SGIE) 2020-21 report.…

The Saudi Arabian paint market is rebounding after a sluggish 2020, when sales declined due to an economic downturn caused by lower oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well the trebling of value added tax (VAT) across the kingdom. The World Bank has projected that this will cause a 5.4% contraction in national GDP, a highly unusual recession in a fossil-fuel rich country used to robust growth.…

THE ACCESSION to power of President Joe Biden has sparked speculation that the recent shift in USA policy towards Israel and the Palestinian Territories pushed by his predecessor Donald Trump may be over.

Regardless of the justified criticism of Trump’s ethics and unpredictable governing style, the fact remains that his administration moved the needle in the Middle East.…

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 former global head of sales at Jersey-based energy services company, Petrofac, David Lufkin, January 14 pleaded guilty at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, to three counts of bribery to win USD3.3 billion in contracts in the United Arab Emirates.…

German banking giant Deutsche Bank is to pay more than USD130 million in the USA for a string of bribes its “business development consultants (BDC)” paid out in Abu Dhabi, China, Italy and Saudi Arabia, in breach of America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).…

The Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is kicking off 2021 with the grand opening of its new airport passenger terminal, a 210,000 square metre (sqm) building that is four times the size of the existing facility. Following its official opening on January 28, the terminal will be capable of processing 130,000 air traffic movements a year, up from 95,500 in 2019, and will have a handling capacity of 4,700 bags an hour. …

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) July 30 charged Airbus subsidiary, GPT Special Project Management Ltd, former managing director Jeffrey Cook, an alleged accomplice Terence Dorothy and GPT ex-financial officer John Mason, over corruption linked to Saudi defence contracts. The charges come some eight years after the SFO opened its investigation into Riyadh-based GPT in August 2012 for paying GBP14 million (USD18.37 million) in bribes to secure a GBP2 billion (USD2.62 billion) contract for high-level intranet and communications work for the Saudi National Guard.…

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.…

AS governments worldwide loosen lockdowns imposed to impede the spread of Covid-19, energy companies are assessing their health and safety policies to ensure workplaces are not new infection hotspots, protecting workers and hence production.

These changes come as energy industries downscale workloads to reflect a collapse in demand for their output.…

Malawi’s higher education sector will not be open for business as usual this week (from July 13), despite earlier government recommendations that the country’s Covid-19 lockdown (in place since March 23) be lifted. This is because the country is facing spiralling infection rate and death rates from the coronavirus.…

Only a handful of countries in the Middle East and Africa have dedicated whistleblowing laws – South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Liberia, Algeria, Morocco, and the Israel-occupied Palestinian territories, according to Blueprint for Free Speech, a charity promoting freedom of expression (https://www.blueprintforfreespeech.net/).…

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.…

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.…

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.…

THE SAUDI Arabian paint industry’s output grew comparatively slowly in 2019 according to some market data but is expected to experience more robust growth over the next few years as the government invests heavily in new development projects and infrastructure. India-based market researcher Mordor Intelligence said that the Saudi Arabia paints and coatings market generated USD1.164 billion in sales last year (2019), up from USD 1.142 billion in 2018 and USD1.120 in 2017.…

Airbus is to pay out EUR3.6 billion (USD4 billion) under a trio of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) with British, French and United States authorities that were simultaneously agreed by national courts January 31 as part of a global resolution over bribes to clinch civil and military aircraft sales.…

WITH Middle East dairy sales expanding steadily, dairy suppliers from around the world are targeting its consumers, hoping to gain a foothold in an increasingly diverse marketplace that is often open to innovation.

Dairy Industries International attended the 4th Global Dairy Innovation Congress MENA 2020, held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from January 20-21, where participants were encouraged by sales projections as from market researcher Euromonitor International that the Middle East (and Africa) dairy market should expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 3% between 2019 and 2023.…

Time was that the Gulf was a hotspot for paint and coatings sales and production, with frothy demand fuelled by major building projects – most met by locally manufactured product. But today, demand for paint in the Gulf countries is sluggish due to low oil prices, depressing overall economies and a drop in the number of infrastructure and real estate projects under construction.…

A free trade deal between Europe and Australia is in the making but European Union (EU) trade negotiators have managed to generate some serious concerns among Australian dairy industry in the process. The EU wants Australia to recognise the exclusive rights of EU cheesemakers to the traditional names of almost 60 different types of cheeses through Australia recognising EU geographical indications (GI) within any agreement.…

SALES of Indian apparel exports continue to be sluggish even after registering a 11% growth in July compared to June this year, after three months of continuous decline. According to a monthly newsletter issued by the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India on October 5, India exported USD1.36 billion’s worth of apparel in July, which was also 7% more than July 2018.…

THE INCOMING European Commission may seek to further harmonise European Union (EU) food labelling rules on sugar content. This pledge comes from the nominee for new EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, a Cypriot parliamentarian, whose EU role includes being responsible for food safety and standards.…

THE NONWOVENS industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is still struggling with over-capacity, while declining purchasing power has hit the mid- and higher-tier segments, prompting global players to reconsider product offerings.

MENA economies have been impacted by low oil prices and regional instability, with growth forecast at 1.5% this year, down from 1.7% in 2018, according to investment bank JP Morgan.…

Brazilian beef exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) saw an increase of 439.84% year-on-year in the first half of 2019, according to figures issued by the Dubai-based Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. Brazilian beef sales to all Arab countries were up 47.62%.…

GLOBAL food and beverage company Nestlé’s restructure in the EMENA (Europe, Middle East and North Africa) region, which began in 2017, has delivered improved efficiencies and performance, according to Marco Settembri, Nestlé’s executive vice-president and EMENA zone CEO.

“It’s always a question of evolution,” Mr Settembri told just-food before the opening session of the July 4-5 2^nd European Entrepreneurship Education summit in Lille, northern France,* in which he was to speak.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Organization for Standardization (ISO) has launched a series of standards designed to help the cocoa industry ensure its products are both sustainably harvested and processed, but also traceable across their supply chains. Its ISO 34101 series is designed to promote good environmental and labour practices in a sector that involves sophisticated confectionery companies, global commodity traders and small farmers, often in poor countries, notably in west Africa.…

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.…

With more than 5.48 billion (see https://www.worldwidewebsize.com) pages on the internet, fraud investigators have a wealth of material at their fingertips to help trace fraudsters and link target individuals, objects, locations and events. Thankfully, there are also increasingly sophisticated sites and tools available online to make this task more efficient and less time-consuming.…

Women in the Gulf region need to put themselves forward and show the skills they can contribute to organisations if they want to be considered for more senior positions, participants of a recent event hosted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) have said.…

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. …

WITH Bahrain investigating its first major oil find in 86 years, the mineral sector will be keeping a close eye on exploration because this is an offshore shale oil and gas resource that will need fracking inputs to extract hydrocarbons.

“It is definitely very unique, a one of a kind oil find in shallower waters close to shore,” said Edgar van der Meer, senior research analyst at NRG Expert, in London.…

The former global head of sales for Jersey-based oilfield services company Petrofac International Ltd pleaded guilty February 6 to UK Bribery Act violations related to over USD50 million in bribes to agents to gain engineering, procurement and construction contracts in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. …

BAHRAIN’S first oil find since 1932 is of major economic significance to the small Gulf state, which has been less reliant on hydrocarbons than its oil and gas rich Gulf neighbours. But it is also of global significance, being a unique, conventional-unconventional offshore shale find in shallow waters.…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are political and economic heavy-weights in the Middle East, but while they have much in common, their anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes and the risks they face significantly differ, primarily due to the UAE’s greater exposure to the international financial system.…

A TECHNOLOGY entwined with fossil fuels that, by the of 2018, boasted 43 large-scale facilities, (18 in commercial operation, five in construction and 20 in development), and which processed almost 40 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of CO2, is clearly more than a passing fad.…

The conventional arms trade has a reputation for using side payment sweeteners to secure multi-million dollar deals. But despite allegations of corruption in numerous jurisdictions, the legitimate arms trade is not on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) radar. Should it be?…

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.…

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.…

*EU member states have been given temporary permission to use so-called reverse charge mechanisms to collect VAT, involving shifting liability to pay from suppliers to customers, to fight fraud. The EU Council of Ministers has approved a directive allowing governments to reverse charge VAT on domestic supplies of goods and services above EUR17,500 per transaction until June 2022, when a country is losing 25% or more of VAT to carousel fraud.…

A SALES and Services Tax (SST), replacing Malaysia’s now abolished goods and services tax (GST), has come into force (from September 1), via the new Sales Tax Act 2018 and the Service Tax Act 2018. The SST is a single-stage tax, a sales and services tax imposed on manufacturers and service providers rather than end customers, as with the 6% GST.…

A SALES and Services Tax (SST), replacing Malaysia’s now abolished goods and services tax (GST), has come into force (from September 1), via the new Sales Tax Act 2018 and the Service Tax Act 2018. The SST is a single-stage tax, a sales and services tax imposed on manufacturers and service providers rather than end customers, as with the 6% GST.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) paint and coating sector will be keeping a close eye on plans to craft a new EUR94.1 billion Horizon Europe research and development programme operating from 2021 to 2027. These major EU research budgets fund innovation in the sector involving companies from different countries within the EU – proposed industry and natural resources priority spending sections in the 2021-27 programme may especially promote paint and coating studies.…

China seems to have given the world nuclear industry back its mojo this summer with two big moves: the signing in June of an order for four Gen 3+ VVER-1200 reactors from Russia’s Rosatom. This certainly got the bubbly flowing at the World Nuclear Exhibition, in Paris, in late June, following two years of sluggish investment in this globalised industry.…

DEBATES are now underway at the European Union (EU) on a proposed revamp of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a programme for 2021 to 2027 that would exclude Brexited Britain. As a result of losing UK contributions to the EU from next March (2019), funding for the CAP would fall by around 5% to EUR365 billion, with EUR265.2 billion spent on direct payments for food producers, EUR20 billion for market price support measures and EUR78.8 billion for rural development.…

PAKISTAN’S law enforcers and regulators are on the front line when it comes to fighting terrorist financing, money laundering and financial crime in general, both within the country and from across its borders, notably conflict-riven Afghanistan. But its government and state agencies often send mixed messages over their commitment to fight terror finance.…

ACHIEVING regulatory convergence in the USD465 billion global cosmetics industry (Euromonitor 2017 figures) is an important long-term goal, industry experts agreed at European personal care product association Cosmetics Europe’s June 13-14 annual conference 2018 in Brussels. Europe is a key market for this industry – providing EUR77.6 billion’s worth of personal care product sales last year, and supporting more than two million jobs, said Cosmetics Europe president Loïc Armand, also president of L’Oréal France.…

Paul Simmons, Chief Financial Officer, Marriott International Middle East and Africa, provides a glimpse into running the finances of the region’s largest international hotel operator.

The Middle East – particularly the countries of the Arabian Gulf – is known for its impressive skyline of luxury hotels.…

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.…

Enhancing the quality of passenger experience while maintaining maximum security was a recurring theme during the Dubai Airport Show 2018. The annual airport industry event, held from May 7 to 9, drew more than 7,500 visitors.

Covering 15,000 square metres of space across three halls of the iconic Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, its 18^th edition hosted more than 350 exhibitors from 60 countries.…

India’s petrochemicals industry is preparing to exploit its growth potential and can benefit from lessons learned in Europe. Indeed, India’s intertwined petrochemicals and refining sectors received a significant endorsement of their future potential in April 2018 in the shape of major foreign investment in what will be one of the world’s biggest integrated sites for these twin purposes.…

SINCE the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the USA, the UK, Russia, France, China, Germany and the European Union (EU), foreign financial institutions have – in theory – been allowed to do business with Iran.  But the reality – as ever with relations with Iran – is proving to be a good deal more complex.…

AN OFFICIAL from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) has told just-drinks that the growth in free trade zones (FTZ) is boosting the sale of counterfeit drinks.

OECD’s policy analyst Florence Mouradian said the drinks sector that was a target for illicit traders in FTZs.…

A CONSORTIUM led by Singapore’s Changi Airports International (CAI) has lost a contract to operate and manage Saudi Arabia’s new King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA), in Jeddah, which, has been due to open in May (2018). Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said it will launch a new international tendering process.…

Most organisations in the Middle East today acknowledge the importance of gender diversity, yet the current number of females on boards does not reflect this, according to participants at a recent networking breakfast in Dubai, hosted by ACCA.

An important reason for this is the self-perception of women, who feel that they lack the experience to be a board member, according to research from Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), whose CEO Dr Ashraf Gamal El Din addressed the meeting.…

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.…

Most organisations in the Middle East today acknowledge the importance of gender diversity, yet the current number of females on boards does not reflect this, according to participants at a recent networking breakfast in Dubai, hosted by ACCA.

An important reason for this is the self-perception of women, who feel that they lack the experience to be a board member, according to research from Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), whose CEO Dr Ashraf Gamal El Din addressed the meeting.…

TURKEY has become “a powerhouse” in the nonwovens sector and forecasts predict further growth of between 5-10% this year with “game changer” new products coming to market, according to industry insiders – but overcapacity is keeping margins tight, they warn.

Turkey is the largest nonwovens producer in the Middle East, and now the second largest in Europe, according to European nonwovens industry association EDANA.…

THE JORDANIAN cabinet has approved in principle a deal between Jordan’s ministry of energy and mineral resources and Iraq’s oil ministry to build an oil and gas pipeline linking the main southern Iraq oilfields near Basra and Jordan’s port, Aqaba. The Jordanian ministry has said that the 1,680km pipeline could daily pump one million barrels of oil daily and 258 million cubic feet of gas to Jordan.…

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to build 16 nuclear reactors, both small and large, to generate 17GWe by 2040. While no tenders have yet been awarded, the kingdom is working with numerous international partners to develop its nuclear infrastructure and safety systems.…

EXPORTERS of air cargo, including clothing and textiles, from five Middle Eastern countries to the United States are in the process of gearing up to comply with mandatory enhanced screening imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The order, disseminated on January 22, requires six air carriers flying from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to participate in the TSA’s heretofore voluntary Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) programme.…

Morocco’s Fez airport (Fès–Saïs Airport) has opened a new terminal, being inaugurated last May (2017) by King Mohammed VI, enabling it to increase its capacity to 2.5 million passengers per year. The number of passengers passing through the airport has more than tripled in less than 10 years, from 228,399 passengers in 2006 to 892,974 in 2016, so the expansion will allow the airport to manage growing volumes for years to come.…

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.…

THE GULF paint and coatings market has had another year of stagnant growth, with sales impacted by stalled infrastructure projects, government policies and regional turbulence. Sales in 2017 were further impacted by the economic siege of Qatar, now into its seventh month, by its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain.…

THE NONWOVENS market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is increasingly important to the global nonwovens industry, with rising consumer demand being generated by middle classes that are growing in size. Countries in the region are also comparatively young, with high birth rates, boosting demand for diapers and wipes.…

Cynthia Corby is living proof that the sky is the limit for female accounting professionals. An audit partner and construction industry leader at Deloitte Middle East, the South African national has broken every glass ceiling in the industry. Not only was she the youngest audit manager ever in Deloitte South Africa at the age of 23, but 10 years later, she became one of the first female partners at Deloitte Middle East.…

Saudi Arabia’s efforts to liberalise its society and economy are positively affecting the local beauty market. Ever since the global plunge in oil prices that led to the shrinking of the state’s budget, the kingdom’s government has embarked upon major economic reform.…

*The wealthier personal care product markets of the Middle East and Africa are increasingly mature and segmented, with consumers looking for specialist lines such as organic and halal products. Brands need to develop quality formulations that meet these demands, while protecting the image and reputation of their overall product line.…

With its mega shopping malls, opulent standards of living and investor-friendly climate, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has always been a strategic market for international beauty brands. The small nation of 9.27 million was ranked as the seventh biggest consumer of beauty products in the world by research firm Euromonitor International, with a per capita spend of around USD239 in 2016.…

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.…

THE UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) has long been a fertile ground for colour cosmetics brands thanks to its large young population (its median age is just over 30) and the presence of image conscious consumers. Despite the pressure of rising costs and fierce competition among brands, the country’s colour cosmetics market experienced moderate growth in 2017 compared to 2016, increasing an estimated 4% in value terms to reach Emirati Dirham AED1.1 billion (USD299.4 million), according to market researcher Euromonitor International.…

VIETNAM’S textile and clothing and textile sector is looking to sell more product into Asian markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, while solidifying its traditional export bases like the US and EU, the latest trade data indicates. 

Last year, Vietnam exported USD2.28 billion’s worth of clothing and textiles to South Korea – a 7.45% gain compared with 2015, according to Vietnam customs data analysed by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS). …

In a socially-reserved country such as Saudi Arabia where entertainment options are mostly limited to shopping and cafes – the opening of spas and beauty salons offer another avenue for leisure and recreation.

According to market research company Euromonitor International, Saudi Arabia’s spa market was valued at Saudi Arabian Riyals SAR275 million (USD73.3 million) in 2017, growing by 7% over 2016.…

THE UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) may hold an enviable portion of the world’s oil and gas reserves, at 4% and 3.5% respectively. But this has not stopped the country diversifying its long-term energy sources through developing nuclear power. With generation imminent, nuclear energy regulators and companies are watching closely how this rare event – a country embarking on a new civilian nuclear programme – rolls out.…

HONG KONG and Saudi Arabia has struck an agreement on avoiding double taxation so any Saudi Arabian tax paid by Hong Kong companies will be credited against tax payable on the same profits in the special administrative region. The same would apply to Saudi companies paying tax in Hong Kong.…

JAPAN’S paint and coatings sector is putting on a positive face and playing up overseas expansion efforts, as well as its traditional strength in innovation, but analysts are concerned about the longer-term outlook for domestic companies.

Sales of paint in Japan came to Japanese Yen JPY 675 billion (USD6.10 billion) in 2016, a marginal increase of around 1% on the previous year’s figure, according to the Japan Paint Manufacturers Association.…

QATAR is a small country, roughly half the size of Wales and with a population of 2.5 million. But what it lacks in demography and geography, it makes up for in spending power – and its significant cosmetic surgery industry is a key beneficiary.…

A YOUNG population with high disposable incomes coupled with a booming medical tourism sector has created an ongoing demand for cosmetic procedures in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Dubai especially dominates this important market, being a global luxury-centric city with world-class medical infrastructure.…

WHEN the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) released its annual set of global statistics in June (2017), and South Korea was not among the world’s 24 countries that performed the most surgical and nonsurgical procedures in 2016, there was considerable surprise.…

THE GENERAL Authority of Civil Aviation in Saudi Arabia has released information about how it plans to privatise all the kingdom’s 27 airports. It has said it will transfer control to companies owned by the Saudi Civil Aviation Holding Co, whose ownership will be given to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which will handle further sales.…

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).…

THE FIRST phase of expanding the main airport for passengers visiting the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia, is now 88% complete say managers for Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA). New systems will start being trialled early 2018. The USD7.2 billion project integrates domestic and international environment-friendly terminals, stressed KAIA director general Abdullah Alraimi.…

ROYAL Jordanian Airlines and Kuwait Airlines have been given permission to allow air passengers on USA-bound flights to resume carrying personal electronic items, including laptops, onto their planes, after they ramped up security measures. The bans, lifted July 9, had been imposed in March over American concerns that Islamic State members and other extremists could hide bombs inside laptops. …

PUBLIC authorities in the south Asian island nation of Maldives are themselves developing the country’s main Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, after a dispute with India’s GMR Group ended in a costly arbitration ruling.

This dated back to 2010 when GMR Male International Airport Ltd (GMIAL), a subsidiary of India’s GMR Infrastructure Ltd, signed a concession agreement with the Maldives government and the Maldives Airport Company Ltd (MACL) to modernise and operate the airport.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) projected comprehensive trade deal with Japan, agreed in principle at a July 6 EU-Japan summit in Brussels, will benefit exporters of Europe-produced non-ferrous metals, experts have told Metal Bulletin. Japanese non-ferrous metal exporters are more cautious about the potential benefits for their industry, however.…

With an ever-increasing reliance on technology and global shift towards renewable energy to protect the planet’s resources, the Nordic industrial minerals sector finds itself at something of a crossroads in terms of sustainability.

Home to some of the world’s largest reserves of minerals used in critical technologies, with a profitable future predicted, the industry is being closely monitored by Nordic regulatory authorities to ensure mining is conducted as ethically and sustainably as possible.…

Greek savoury snacks specialist company Chipita has refused to confirm or deny reports that it plans to build a new plant for its products in Slovakia. The company told just-food.com that “it is interested in many markets (including Slovakia) and is constantly looking for opportunities.…

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.…

WITH a climate that leaves consumers constantly battling with dry and frizzy hair, and with a sizeable population of 32.6 million people, Saudi Arabia has become a strategic destination for haircare brands. Despite the deceleration of economic activity over the last year and tighter liquidity, the Kingdom’s haircare market experienced moderate growth in 2016 compared to 2015, increasing 1% in value terms to reach Saudi Arabian Riyals SAR2.9 billion (USD746.4 million), according to market researcher Euromonitor International.…

EUROPE’S nonwovens producers again served up a solid performance in 2016 against the background of (uneven and) uncertain trading conditions for the industry.

As usual, the just-published returns from EDANA, the representative organisation for the USD30 billion nonwovens industry in Europe, show some important national variations.…

Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has released a new Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG). This revised guidance encourages the development of corporate governance culture, not just within listed companies, but also state-owned enterprises, small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and licensed intermediaries. This code includes 36 practices to support strong board leadership; effective audit, risk management, and internal controls; and solid corporate reporting.…

THE MIDDLE East and Africa is certainly a promising regional market for nonwovens manufacturers, given the high level of economic growth in many countries and the rise of consumer-culture focused middle classes. But companies need to be sophisticated in their investment and sales tactics given the immense variety of economic and social fortunes experienced by countries in this most diverse region.…

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a comprehensive study into the healthiness of consuming sugar, that could guidance telling consumers when to stop eating sugary foods, such as confectionery. An ad-hoc working group with expertise in dietary exposure, epidemiology, human nutrition, diet-related chronic diseases and dentistry will examine the issue, along with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, which requested the work.…

The oil and gas industry is reshaping its strategies, practices and values as it responds to global agreements on climate change and sustainable development. The 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement on climate change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – which came into effect in January 2016 – are prominent among global governance challenges driving change in the oil and gas industry, but pressure just keeps building.…

THE EUROPEAN wipes market is a complex affair. This is a varied segment, in itself, but wipe use varies between countries with contrasting consumer cultures – meaning that in some states, wipes sales are increasing; in others decreasing; and in others, the kinds of wipes being sold is changing.…

Europe’s nonwovens producers again served up a solid performance in 2016 against the background of (uneven and) uncertain trading conditions for the industry. As usual, the just-published returns from EDANA, the representative organisation for the USD30 billion nonwovens industry in Europe, show some important national variations.…

WHILE Jordan usually has a reputation for reliability, security and stability, the truth is that the Hashemite Kingdom is behind the compliance curve as regards anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) compared to many of its Middle Eastern peers.…

AS the international glass market continues to recover from the global recession, experts predict emerging markets might be tempted to invest in plant development to manufacture their own flat glass rather than paying expensive import fees buying from one of the handful of major suppliers.…

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.…

AN APPRECIATION of interior design along with environmental concerns appear to be driving innovation when it comes to the colouring of nonwovens.

Often used in functional or ‘behind the scenes’ capacities in industrial applications, colour is not always top of the list when consideration is given to nonwovens finishing processes.…

IT has been a tough year for the fragrance industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where competition between international and local brands has intensified, while consumer spending has been weakening. But this has not stopped perfumiers from launching new products nor has it prevented overseas suppliers from expanding their local presence.…

Enhancing the percentage of oil recovered from existing assets is a no-brainer for countries that want to maximise economic gains from their oil reserves.

In an era of apparently ‘lower for longer’ oil prices, it is high up the agenda for oil companies and governments.…

The Arabian peninsula oil-producing nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have long been considered a lucrative consumer market for international brands. Many businesses flourish in the region and the beauty and personal care product industries are no exception.

According to Euromonitor International, the retail value of the GCC region’s beauty and personal care market was USD9.3 billion in 2016 – member countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…

Promoting women to corporate boards within the Middle East and elsewhere can directly improve profitability and change the way a company approaches its market, participants at a recent networking breakfast hosted by ACCA concurred.

Entitled ‘Women in Finance: beyond the numbers’, the event was held on February 2 at the Four Seasons resort hotel in Dubai and attended by senior finance professionals and leaders from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…

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.…

THE OLIVE oil industry has traditionally been dominated by some key major European players, notably Spain, Italy and Greece, but with global consumption rising, production is emerging in countries which have previously relied on imports.

International Oil Council statistics show how new production centres are being created.…

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.…

Saudi Arabia’s economy has been going through tough times ever since oil prices started tumbling in late 2014. Only a few market segments have withstood the effects of the latest downturn – men’s grooming being one of them. Overall, the male grooming market in the kingdom registered a minor value decline of 0.4% in 2016 compared to 2015, reaching Saudi Arabian SAR2 billion (USD533.2 million), according to research company Euromonitor International.…

Indonesian batik producers are turning to social media to boost sales, helping them maintain production when not only standard marketing and distribution channels are not delivering enough revenue but standalone websites and major e-commerce sites.

Rusydi Bawazir, producer of Nargis Batik Podhek, from Madura, East Java province, started online marketing three years ago by using website: nargis.web.id.…

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.…

United Arab Emirates

Population 9.1 million – 2015

GDP 2015 – USD370 billion (up 3.2% on previous year)

Projected 2016 GDP growth – 2%

Size of non-oil economy 2015 – 66% (IMF)

Proportion of local nationals in private sector – 1% (LSE estimates 2014)

Saudi Arabia

Population 31.5 million – 2015

GDP 2015 – USD646 billion (up 3.5% on previous year)

Projected 2016 GDP growth – 1.86%

Size of non-oil economy 2014 – 57% (IMF )

Proportion of local nationals in private sector 2016 – 16% (Oxford Strategic Consulting)

Qatar

Population 2.2 million – 2015

GDP 2015 – USD166 billion (up 2.9% on previous year)

Projected 2016 GDP growth – 3.3%

Size of non-oil economy 2015 – 49% (IMF)

Proportion of local nationals in private sector 2014 – 5% – (Qatar Statistics Authority)

Bahrain

Population 1.3 million – 2015

GDP 2015 – USD32 billion (up 2.9% on previous year)

Projected 2016 GDP growth – 2.2%

Size of non-oil economy 2015 – 76% (IMF)

Proportion of local nationals in private sector 2013 – 18% (Bahrain’s Labour Market Regulatory Authority).…

IRAN’S rose water export sector is facing the potential for rapid expansion now that the country can trade freely globally after the bulk of international banking and economic sanctions imposed over the Iranian nuclear programme were lifted this January (2016).…

Indonesia’s personal care product sector is faring well at first glance, with domestic sales more than doubling in size in value terms over the past five years. Multinational companies see it as a lucrative market, while local firms also seem to hold their own.…

TURKEY’S carpet sector continues to thrive according to recent trade data, with the industry association saying the sector was not harmed by the recent attempted military coup against the elected government.

According to recent figures from the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, Euratex, Turkey was once again Europe’s leading supplier of carpets in 2015, with a 3.5% year-on-year increase in sales from 2014, to EUR378 million last year.…

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) spa market experienced healthy growth in 2015 compared to 2014, increasing 11% in value terms to reach Emirati Dirham AED1.57 billion (USD428 million), according to market research company Euromonitor International.

In 2016, the market is predicted to grow by 9% to hit USD435 million year-on-year, accounting for nearly 14% of the Middle East and Africa’s USD3 billion spa market, according to Euromonitor.…

The male grooming market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has grown significantly over the past decade as men become more image conscious and brand aware.

This MENA market “is growing and performing quite well, at around five per cent growth a year in constant terms,” said Amna Abbas, a research analyst at Euromonitor, in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Dubai.…

Oil and gas owners and operators working offshore in the Middle East face looming corrosion and erosion detection and prevention challenges to continue operating their ageing assets efficiently, safely and within regulatory requirements in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states.…

Brazil will continue to challenge the USA for the position of being the world’s biggest meat producer and exporter over the next 10 years, with chicken leading the way, Brazilian government forecasts indicate. It says that Brazilian meat production in 2025/26 will be 29.8% higher than in 2015/6 – amounting to 7.8 million tonnes in additional production – resulting in 23.6 million tonnes of output.…

MIRRORING how Spain is crawling out of its long recession, the country’s personal care product market is recovering. UK-based market researchers Euromonitor released a report last month concluding: “After years of decline in value terms, beauty and personal care finally saw a positive performance in Spain in 2015.”…

Global travel fraud has been increasing sharply as a result of burgeoning numbers of online travel and accommodation booking websites available to consumers. Vanessa Sinders, senior vice president of government affairs at the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), said there were 15 million online hotel bookings in 2015 in the USA that were affected by fraudulent scams, such as third-party rogue websites that look to the consumer like a hotel website, though they have no actual affiliation, or hacking legitimate accounts on social media and setting up fake advertisements for holiday packages or accommodations that do not exist.…

THE PAKISTAN government has reduced customs duties on importing machinery used in the livestock and meat industry from 5% to 2% to encourage investment and development in the livestock and meat industry.

Incubators, brooders and animal feedstuffs machinery are among the imports that will see duties reduced in this way.…

Outgoing Philippines President Benigno Aquino has signed into law a consolidated measure on halal exports, which may help his country’s meat exporters grow more competitive in the Middle East, as well as in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Currently, most of the Philippines’ meat exports are processed meats, including corned beef and hot dog, while chilled chicken yakitori nuggets and Peking duck are also shipped to overseas markets.…

THE EUROPEAN nonwovens industry has been pushing ahead, maintaining consistent growth above increases in GDP for the whole economy, increasing its international collaboration, and the successfully exploring new markets. And while it is rarely prudent to make anything more than short-term predictions about cost and tariff problems, such difficulties faced by the European nonwovens sector seem have been pushed into the background. …

Pakistan’s largest multi-industry conglomerate, the Fauji Group, has launched the country’s biggest and state-of-the-art halal abattoir and meat processing and exporting unit near Port Qasim, Karachi. The Fauji Meat Ltd (FML) subsidiary-run facility, which has been fully operational since April (2016), has a daily production capacity of 100 tonnes of meat (85 tonnes of beef and 15 tonnes of mutton, according to a company note) in both frozen and chilled categories per day for worldwide export, and cost an estimated USD75 million to build.…

It gets exceedingly hot in Riyadh in the summer, with the mercury rarely below 40 degrees Celsius, but that does not deter Moazam Shah from going for his evening run around the residential compound he lives in with his family.

After six years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Pakistani national Shah has acclimatised to exercising in extreme heat: “It’s a time for myself, to catch up on my thoughts,” he told Accounting & Business at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Manama, Bahrain.…

Saudi Arabia has approached international financial markets for the first time since 1991 to raise funds due to a burgeoning government deficit in the wake of lower oil prices. The April move was followed by the launch from Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of a ‘Vision 2030’ programme to diversify the kingdom’s economy from hydrocarbons, possibly as soon as 2020.…

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 recent start of commercial operations at concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in Africa illustrates the potential for utility-scale CSP to capture an increasing share in the world’s power generation mix.

These plants include the 160 megawatt (MW) Noor 1 in southern Morocco, the foundation of what may become the world’s largest CSP generation site, and the 50MW Khi Solar One in South Africa.…

New Zealand’s butter producers may be a global force in this key dairy segment, but they have regarded the groundbreaking Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with scepticism. Negotiations for the TPP produced a deal last October (2015), and although New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra and the DairyNZ producers association declared they had secured increased access to some key markets – Japan, Canada and the United States all increased butter quotas to varying degrees – there was general agreement that the gains had been modest.…

A MEETING of the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings has grilled multinationals over European Union (EU) member state tax rulings. The European Commission fears they have been abused by governments giving companies low tax rates in return for registering businesses in their jurisdictions.…

THE UNITED Arab Emirates’ (UAE) fragrance retail market (unisex and those targeted at female and male consumers) experienced healthy growth in 2015 compared to 2014, increasing 8% in value terms to reach Emirati Dirham AED2.23 billion (USD607.2 million), according to market researchers Euromonitor International.…

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.…

Natural gas has played an increasing part in meeting the Middle East’s domestic energy needs. Its role and significance vary for each country, but demand is driven mainly by gas-intensive industries and electricity generation, which is strongly seasonal, peaking during the summer due to air conditioning loads.…

Jordan maybe a small country – with a population of just 6.6 million people, but it is one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Middle East. A key reason is that production is export focused, particularly of generics. The country’s USD500 million-a-year turnover manufacturing sector had been steadily growing at 8% to 10% per year until 2012, according to the Jordanian Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Medical Appliances (JAPM).…

A USD13 billion deal agreed by China to build two reactors for Argentina hinges entirely on the Chinese side putting up the financing, with a final arrangement on the cash deal to be inked in 2017. That’s according to sources in the Chinese nuclear industry.…

The Danish Agriculture & Food Council (DAFC/ Landbrug & Fødevarer) has invited the country’s leading meat industry players to round-table talks to deepen collaboration between producers, brokers and marketers regarding halal meat exports.
This DAFC initiative would help create a range of common industry guidelines that take into account country-by-country differences in halal slaughtering conventions.…

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.…

In the highly competitive global lollipops market, manufacturers are creating innovative additions to this traditional confectionery to attract consumers with innovative designs attempting to generate an emotional response to these products. Around the world, lollipop manufacturers are tailoring shapes and designs to match seasonal holiday images; incorporating glow-in-the-dark features; and combining confectionery items such as lollipops and gum.…

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.…

There were high hopes that Egypt was embarking on a new clean financial era following mass protests in January 2011 that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Popular calls for an end to the corruption and cronyism that had characterised Mubarak’s 30 year rule appeared to be heeded.…

DEVELOPMENTS in 3D printing technology are revealing significant opportunities for automotive manufacturers to cut costs, time, and have more freedom in design. From printing entire structures to specific parts, 3D printing can even now build most of an innovative automobile – and could in future build an entire car.…

The UK confidentiality watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has fined the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) GBP180,000 after evidence in a high-profile fraud, bribery and corruption case was sent to a witness.
The SFO had been investigating allegations that senior executives at BAE Systems had received payments in an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.…

In the Gulf, the harsh desert climate has always made agricultural production difficult, so fats in the form of animal lard or milk ‘ghee’, have traditionally dominated diets.
But population growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – UAE), rising affluence, booming ex-patriot populations, and increasing diversity in imports, have driven increases in sales of higher end edible oils in the region.…

Ethiopia’s appointment of the Vitol Group, the Switzerland-based and Dutch-owned physical oil trading major, to supply Ethiopia with petroleum imports in 2015, marks a sea-change for this key sub-Saharan Africa market.
Vitol is replacing the Kuwaiti Independent Petroleum Group after it had supplied the Horn of Africa country with petroleum products for five years.…

MIDDLE Eastern national oil companies do not always spring most readily to mind when demand for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is discussed. The most obvious example of a country ‘least likely to’ need EOR is Saudi Arabia, with its vast oil reserves and a history of being able to rely on natural lift to produce.…

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.…

TOILETRIES sales in the Arab Gulf countries remain robust, an oasis of economic and political stability in a turbulent Middle East. Elsewhere in the region, the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the rise of the Islamic State, has seen toiletries sales plummet.…

As they looks at the rewards of shale gas production seen over recent years in the US, European producers are edging closer to commercial shale gas production. However, it faces a wide range of challenges, and the debate within Europe over shale gas is intensifying.…

COMPREHENSIVE pro-diversity company policies are needed to encourage women in business, participants of the January 21 fourth Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Middle East ‘Women in Finance’ roundtable heard at the Al Murooj Rotana hotel in Dubai. The event was attended by more than 30 female financial executives.…

Iraq and Syria are major hot spots in the fight against terrorism financing. Numerous militant Islamist groups are in operation, most notably the Islamic State (IS), with revenues derived from multiple sources, including extortion, seizures of grain, sales of oil, private donations and charities.…

The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) is reaching out to higher education institutions in other neighbouring countries to establish collaborations that will encourage more foreign students to enroll for distance learning.
University vice chancellor Professor Tolly Mbwette said the institution’s board hoped to spread its influence regionally: “We are now the largest distance learning university in the region and our plan is to take distance learning to most countries in East Africa and those under the Southern African Development Community [SADC] by 2016.”…

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.…

Beef and poultry production in the European Union (EU) have been growing steadily this year, putting the sectors on track for further growth in 2015, says a new report released today by (Wed Oct 8) the European Commission.
Its directorate-general for agriculture and rural development says the EU beef sector has seen impressive growth after a two-year slump, with beef and veal production likely to increase by more than 134,000 tonnes by December 31 to 7.6 million tonnes for all of 2014, compared to 2013.…

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.…

A COLLABORATION between a major Pakistan food company and local non-governmental organisation (NGO) aimed at improving the country’s slaughterhouse standards is set to expand sales abroad.
Pakistan’s Al-Khidmat Foundation, a conservative social welfare organisation, has so far contributed USD2.9 million to maintaining a Karachi slaughterhouse facility run by Tata Best Foods Ltd that complies with international food safety standards.…

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.…

Tech-savvy South Korean publishers were out in force at the Beijing Book Fair this weekend hoping to strike sales and partnerships. South Korea’s e-book players looking for partnerships in China have an edge, said Kim Tae-won, head of ebook sales at Seoul-based Book n Book.…

European Union (EU) meat production is projected to start growing in 2014, according to the European Commission, as Europe’s economic recovery solidifies. This could be up 0.7% year-on-year for beef, veal, pigmeat, poultry, sheep and goat meat. However, exports might fall for pigmeat and poultry, with Russian import bans especially causing problems for pigmeat.…

The global market for halal food is expected to grow from USD698 billion in 2012 to reach USD830 billion in 2016, according to Malaysia’s department of Islamic development, and manufacturers in its country and neighbouring Thailand are competing to service this demand.…

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.…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has secured agreement from its 34 rich world member countries to apply a new single global standard on automatic exchange of tax information. Endorsed by G20 finance ministers, the standard obliges countries and jurisdictions to obtain all financial information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions annually.…

IN 2012, after years of delays, Brazil instated a new money laundering law, finally bringing this economically vibrant and influential country more or less in line with international standards.  Two years later, what difference has it actually made?    

Brazil’s first official money laundering law (Law 9613) was enacted in 1998.…

Bangladesh steel makers are anticipating a rush of orders with the country beefing up efforts to implement new generation infrastructure projects involving billions of dollars. Government data indicates that more than USD13 billion will be invested in projects whose construction is planned over the next 10 years, ranging from a metro railway in the capital Dhaka, to elevated expressways, a deep-sea port and an underwater road tunnel in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.…

TURKEY is the Middle East’s largest oilseed producer, but domestic demand outstrips supply despite efforts to boost production. In olive oil, Turkey is increasing production and exports, being the fifth largest producer globally, with the sector valued at USD500 million, according to Tariş Zeytin ve Zeytinyağı – the union of olive and olive oil co-operatives.…

A FREE trade agreement signed between Canada and South Korea could see increased investment by the nuclear fuel hungry Korea in Canada’s abundant uranium resources.

The agreement – inked on March 11, and Canada’s first with an Asian country – lays down rules on how South Korean investments should be made in Canada, with a focus on boosting transparency and predictability, according to a note from the Canadian government Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).…

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.…

NATURAL and ‘halal’ cosmetics are making gradual inroads into the lucrative Gulf markets, which have some of the highest spending per capita on fragrances and cosmetics in the world. A handful of local companies and distributors are springing up to cater to the growing trend for natural or organic cosmetics, while the development of the ‘halal’ sector is actively being pushed by the Dubai government, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…

IRAN and Turkey are regional giants within the Middle East oilseeds sector, and while their industries have been performing the threat of political instability and unstable energy subsidies threaten their profits.

According to Bill Baker, foreign agricultural service analyst at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Turkey and Iran constitute the two “major producers of oilseed crops in the Middle East.”…

New Zealand has recorded bumper beef exports to Saudi Arabia and Indonesia in the first four months (October 2013 to January 2014) of the meat export year, according to figures from industry body Beef and Lamb New Zealand (BLNZ).

Saudi Arabia took 861 tonnes of New Zealand beef in the first quarter of 2013-14, continuing on last year’s gains.…

Ethiopia’s large livestock industry is set to undergo a shakeup following a new livestock trading bill passed on January 21. The new law, due to be enforced in March, is designed to tighten Ethiopia’s livestock market, increasing its efficiency and value by eliminating middle-men, unregulated animal markets and illegal cross border trades.…

Nearly 18 months since Australian exporters voluntarily suspended sheep exports to Bahrain, the CEO of the Australian Live Exporters’ Council Alison Penfold has told globalmeatnews.com that Australian exporters are keen to resume trading: “Bahrain is a market we value very highly.…

IRAN and Turkey are regional giants within the Middle East oilseeds sector, and while their industries have been performing the threat of political instability and unstable energy subsidies threaten their profits.

According to Bill Baker, foreign agricultural service analyst at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Turkey and Iran constitute the two “major producers of oilseed crops in the Middle East.”…

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.…

AVIATION project management company Bechtel has secured a contract to create an expansion master plan for Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Selected by the Sharjah Airport Authority, the US-based company will this year conduct short-term and long-term analyses of the airport’s future needs.…

AUSTRALIAN beef and veal exporters have been buoyed by data from the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) showing record export numbers for the industry in 2013. The country exported nearly 1.1 million tonnes of chilled and frozen beef and veal in 2013, up 14% from the 963,779t achieved in 2012.…

THE EXPANSION of the Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport (PMIA) in Medina, Saudi Arabia, has long been overdue, with the facility having struggled to handle the spike in pilgrims visiting the two holy sites of Mecca and Medina. In a first for the Gulf region, the expansion is a public-private partnership, with Turkey’s TAV Airports Holding Company operating a 25-year concession that is expected to be rolled out elsewhere in the kingdom.…

SINCE 2007, Turkey has been on the receiving end of repeated warnings from Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to improve its combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime. While an anti-terrorism bill has now been passed, shortcomings still remain and new risks have emerged in Turkey’s difficult neighbourhood.…

Leading Bangladesh steelmaker KSRM has joined rivals BRSM and Abul Khair in building new billet plants, lured by cheaper production at home and prospects of overseas sales.

All three companies now say they hope to start operations of new mills in the coming year (2014), with their combined annual output of billet reaching 3 million tonnes, double the size of the country’s estimated billet imports of 1.5 million tonnes per year, industry insiders have told Steel First.…

PAINT manufacturers have been expecting a major boost to business following the economic stimulus and infrastructure investment projects launched by Gulf governments over the past few years. But projects have not materialised to the degree expected, and while the USD2.26 billion Gulf paint and coating market is still flourishing, it is not meeting expectations.…

PAINT manufacturers have been expecting a major boost to business following the economic stimulus and infrastructure investment projects launched by Gulf governments over the past few years. But projects have not materialised to the degree expected, and while the USD2.26 billion Gulf paint and coating market is still flourishing, it is not meeting expectations.…

THE HIGHLY diverse and emerging markets of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) face major challenges in bringing financial services, accounting and auditing up to international standards. They are often lacking qualified professionals and sometimes overly reliant on expatriate expertise.…

AUSTRALIAN beef exporters are nervous about a decision by the Russian government – confirmed directly to globalmeatnews.com – that it is planning to lift the existing ban on imports of US beef. It has been banned since this February (2013), with the official reason being the use of beta agonists in US beef production – and since then, Australian exports of high-end (chilled, not frozen) high value beef exports to Russia over the last 10 months have soared.…

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.…

PAKISTAN meat sector executives believe their export sector is underperforming, failing especially to seize sales in affluent international halal markets.

With an estimated annual output of 2.2 million tonnes, Pakistan is the 19^th largest producer of meat in the world.…

ANTI-CORRUPTION campaigners Transparency International have criticised sustained cuts in the UK’s Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) budget after the SFO lost 3% of the evidence from a high profile corruption investigation.

“A strong and well-resourced SFO is critical to the fight against corporate bribery,” said Robert Barrington, executive director of Transparency International UK, after the SFO admitted losing data from its investigation into defence contractor BAE Systems over alleged bribery in winning a massive defence contract from Saudi Arabia.…

ISLAMIC banks are big business in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but not thus far in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), however, recently took a USD5 million, 15% equity stake in Kenya’s Gulf African Bank (GAB) to support corporate finance and lending to small and medium businesses – its first in the sub-Saharan Islamic bank sector.…

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.…

FOR some time, scientists have been aware that the concept of something being ‘bigger’ on the inside than outside’ is not entirely locked away in the realms of science fiction. This is particularly the case with researchers working on the storage and utilisation of natural gas who have focused on metal organic frameworks (MOFs), which can store much more gas than an empty cylinder of the same size.…

much of the rest of the Middle East, with political and economic instability causing a slowdown in construction and new projects on hold, Saudi Arabia’s paint sector is expanding fast and attracting international players to this currently stable growing market. A key reason has been a USD131 billion government stimulus package launched in 2012, which is fuelling construction.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) heads of states and governments have urged their ministers to agree important pieces of draft EU legislation that could potentially curb tax evasion in the bloc.

Meeting during a European Council meeting in Brussels last week (May 22), leaders were under pressure to act from media reports revealing how much untaxed incomes politicians, companies and rich business owners have stashed in tax havens.…

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 UK government has reported to European Union (EU) consumer protection network Rapex that its consumer protection authorities have seized and destroyed potentially dangerous henna-based personal care products. In two cases these were hair dyes imported from India under the Moon Star brand’s Herbal Henna line – their copper brown and burgundy products.…

NONWOVENS manufacturing has grown fast in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with most of the major players less than two decades old. With a burgeoning population and strong export potential, MENA production has in general doubled over the past five years, especially in the region’s manufacturing hubs of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which currently have the strongest nonwovens sectors.…

New tantalite ore concentrating equipment will be installed in Ethiopia to boost the value and output volume of existing plant to meet rising demand for the rare earth metal, Metal Bulletin has been told.

It is also pushing ahead with plans to build of a new value added plant, making products such as tantalum salt, powder, bar, sheets, wire, negate and nobiumpentoxide.…

Strengths:

China has a booming e-commerce sector, and growing online drinks retailers are building more warehouses nationwide. They need to balance ‘just-in-case’ and ‘just-in-time’ demands and also the need for flexibility versus low inventory. Negotiating these logistical pressures is vital in this huge yet highly fragmented market.…

WHAT impact could uncertainty in the run-up to a promised British referendum on continued membership of the European Union (EU) have on investment flows from the UK into commercial property and developments in the rest of the EU?

What might the impact be if a referendum did indeed take place and voters told their government loud and clear to quit the EU and free up the UK to make its own laws and regulations covering important aspects of finance, investment and tax?…

SHOULD Middle Eastern oil producers, Saudi Arabia in particular, be price makers rather than takers, confined to influencing prices through OPEC quotas? With OPEC’s contribution to overall oil production dwindling compared to non-OPEC producers’ output, and rising domestic demand in the Arab world, there are strong arguments for price signalling, but the turmoil in the region means any change in strategy will be difficult to implement.…

SO diverse are the Middle East’s oil and gas reservoirs and the environmental conditions encountered that companies focused on optimising exploration and production view the region as a giant laboratory for proving new technologies.

Its oil also varies hugely in viscosity, from the Arab Light crude of Saudi Arabia’s Al Khurais onshore field to the heavy crudes in Oman’s Mukhaizna onshore field.…

ETHIOPIA’S potential as a source of industrial minerals is beginning to be realised, with a growing number of exploration and mining projects underway, and rapidly increasing foreign investment.
To date, its Ministry of Mines has granted 72 industrial minerals exploration licenses – 61 to foreign companies, eight to Ethiopian/foreign joint ventures, and three to local companies; and 52 mining licenses – 28 to foreign companies, 17 to Ethiopian/foreign joint ventures, and seven to local companies.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

AFTER two years from the entry into force of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) between the European Union (EU) and the United States, the European Commission patted itself on the back, claiming the agreement is working.…

BY CARMEN PAUN IN BRUSSELS

THE EUROPEAN Commission is hoping that the recent overhaul of the European Union’s (EU) Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) will increase the flow of rare earth metals and aluminium oxide into the EU. Concerns persist about supplies of these important industrial minerals.…

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 MJ DESCHAMPS

THE SATURATION of mobile devices, telecommunications and social networking in today’s digital age has created a society of real-time connectivity, where the Internet and its applications are no longer confined to a desktop computer. However, an increasing dependency on digital identity has also generated new risks in terms of cybercrime, where technology users have become more susceptible, depending on the number of devices and applications they use.…

BY MARIANI DEWI

BRANCH campuses of established western universities can be major prizes for emerging market higher education systems – but attracting these institutions is not easy, even for economically dynamic countries such as Malaysia.

There are still only six branch campuses in this south-east Asian country.…

BY CARMEN PAUN IN BRUSSELS

Urban mining being carried out in the European Union (EU) today brings more benefits to Chinese traders than to European metal buyers, Guy Thiran the secretary general of the European association of non-ferrous metals industry Eurometaux has claimed.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

THE TURKS used to run the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as colonial overlords – now with the country enjoying its independence since 1991, its government has shown its confidence in welcoming a Turkish company TAV Airports Holding to run its two international airports.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

THREE years ago, the Group of Twenty (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors stated the organisation’s intention was to "rationalise and phase out over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption".…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, IN BOLOGNA

MORE than 110 academics and university administrators met in Bologna, Italy on September 21 for the twenty-fourth anniversary conference of the Magna Charta Universitatum – a declaration on fundamental university principles that has now been signed by over 750 universities worldwide.…

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 PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT, AND BILL CORCORAN, IN CAPE TOWN

Drinks distribution is highly fragmented in the Middle East, and ranges from best practice at leading companies in the Gulf countries to less automated and more labour-orientated methods in the Levant.…

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 RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

Steel First has been told by Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Chief Executive Officer Major General Mohammad Javed that there are no plans to sell off the ailing state-owned industrial giant, backing up recent comments from Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.…

BY ROBERT STOKES IN MÁLAGA

THIS year I have abandoned my premium brand sun screen in favour of a Deliplus private label product sold by the Spanish supermarket group Mercadona for around EUR 5.00, saving around EUR 12.00 into the bargain.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

LEGISLATIVE change and the setting up of green building councils is pushing demand for environment-friendly coatings in the Gulf, but the lack of enforcement of eco-laws in the region and the ongoing recession has hampered potential growth.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT; AND MARK GAO, IN ISTANBUL

MOST states in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) have mulled developing nuclear power over the past decade, from Morocco to Egypt, and Jordan to Saudi Arabia, but only the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is coming close to embarking on the nuclear option thus far.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

CHANTAL Ronceray is targeting fast growth in turnover at Jamal Paris, a small but ambitious halal cosmetics products company she co-founded in 2007. It is an act of faith in the long-term potential for sales among France’s 4.7 million Muslims, Europe’s largest such population.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS AND PAUL COCHRANE

THE ARAB Spring has brought many unlikely changes and not all have been welcome, but one development that is certainly positive for the printing industry is its encouragement of publishing and advertising. Saudi Arabia is a case in point, with the government last year ordering a print run of 1.5 million religious edicts banning protests, which helped drive sales at printing presses.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

THE FINANCIAL crisis, international regulations and the ‘Arab Spring’ have prompted Gulf countries to set up or expand the mandates of public watchdogs to curb corruption and financial malpractice. There have been some notable progress, but enforcement is still lagging.…

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 PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

DESPITE much political turmoil over the course of the past year in Egypt, the country’s ongoing airport expansion projects have not been suffering. For the past decade, major expansion and renovation works have been underway, to handle the surge in foreign tourists to the North African country; which jumped from 5.5 million in 2002 to 14.7 million in 2010.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

THE PAKISTAN government has shied away from selling off Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in its latest privatisation announcement, with court proceedings and opposition within the company deterring a sale. PSM was not among the 23 public sector banks, insurance firms, electricity supply companies, postal services, hotels, railways, and other concerns listed for inclusion by the government’s Privatisation Commission in a new round of sell-offs beginning in April.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

AS the poorest country in the Middle East, with annual gross national income per capita just exceeding USD1,000, Yemen is plagued with chronic economic problems, corruption, smuggling, links to East African piracy, separatist movements and host to militant groups.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE IN BEIRUT

THE ‘ARAB Spring’ uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the past year have had a mixed effect on Arabic publishing. Book sales have plunged due to instability, and while some countries have loosened up on censorship, others have clamped down.…

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 economy is in bad shape: sanctions have been slapped on the country by the United States and the European Union (EU), and the uprisings that began in March last year continue unabated. But while one of Syria’s main revenue earners – fossil fuel oil – has been affected by instability and international sanctions, its olive oil sector has had its best year ever harvest, estimated at 200,000 tonnes.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN ABU DHABI

IT sounds completely bizarre, given their dominant role as global energy players, but the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are facing a chronic energy shortage, with domestic demand growing by an estimated 8.5% and investment in power systems failing to keep pace.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

BACK in the noughties, the Gulf was one of the fastest growing regions for paint companies, thriving on an unprecedented construction boom. But then the financial crisis hit in late 2008, ending years of double-digit growth for paint manufacturers in Gulf countries.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

Saudi Arabia’s failure to secure a wide-ranging atomic energy treaty with the USA, continues to push the oil-rich country into the arms of other nuclear suiters, experts on the kingdom have argued. The Saudi's plan is to invest USD112 billion over the next 20 years to build 16 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to offset rising domestic energy demand and retain its position as a leading hydrocarbons exporter.

A memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy was signed with the US in 2008, but the two countries have yet to sign Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act, essentially a prerequisite for nuclear cooperation between the US and other nations.…

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

THE WESTERN financial system is undergoing profound change, of weakened trust in the sector, heightened tax regulations, pressure to curb banking secrecy and tougher regulatory compliance. As a result, the owners of legal and extra-legal capital who are looking for a safe haven for their money are starting to consider destinations outside the established offshore jurisdictions – the less regulated financial centres of the Middle East and Asia.…

BY GEMMA HANDY

Endemic corruption in a British overseas territory, compounded by claims of bribery and fraud, saw its constitution suspended and it returned to direct UK rule.

The Turks & Caicos Islands are now being prepared for a return for responsible government, but are sufficient checks and balances in place to prevent a backslide to commercial crime?…

BY ROBERT STOKES

NATIONALISM and the energy industry have made uneasy bedfellows throughout history, yet Scotland is attracting substantial international investment in renewables despite having, since May and for the first time, a majority government committed to winning independence from the UK.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY is the fifth largest importer of oils and oilseeds in the world, with demand being driven by its burgeoning economy, sizable food export industry, and a population of 74.8 million people. But while its demand for vegetable oils is outstripping local production, in olive oil production the country has set its sights on rising up the global rankings from its current fifth place to become the second largest producer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is staging a re-evaluation of the sweetener aspartame after it agreed to bring forward from 2020 a scheduled inquiry, despite recent scientific assessments failing to reveal fresh concerns about the sweetener.

Indeed, EFSA reviewed the latest studies on aspartame only in April, but accepted a European Commission request for a new study.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE MULTI-billion dollar beauty market in the Middle East’s Gulf countries is back on an upward trend, thanks to renewed economic growth as this rich region, with avid consumers start spending again. Demand for cosmetics and personal care products are being driven by high disposable incomes, new sales channels and a growing lifestyle trend among both men and women in terms of plastic surgery, personal fitness and body care.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

SAUDI Arabia’s failure to secure a wide-ranging atomic energy treaty with the USA, continues to push the oil-rich country into the arms of other nuclear suiters, experts on the kingdom have told World Nuclear News. The Saudis plan is to invest USD112 billion over the next 20 years to build 16 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to offset rising domestic energy demand and retain its position as a leading hydrocarbons exporter.…

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 MJ DESCHAMPS

THE CANADIAN federal government is planning to scrap the legal monopoly operated by Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) for grains grown in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Columbia. The legal requirement that farmers in this area sell wheat and barley to the CWB would disappear on August 1, 2012.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and DAVE YIN

THIS has been the year where the European Union (EU) considered imposing a draconian origin labelling law that would have been a major headache for knitwear manufacturers and retailers. In the winter, the European Parliament was seriously discussing insisting on a regulation forcing knitwear and crocheted clothes and accessories imports into the EU to carry country of origin labels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRAZIL and Argentina are among almost 100 countries expected to lose tariff breaks for their knitwear exports to the European Union (EU), under a planned reform of the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) system.

The European Commission announced yesterday (May 10) it wanted to focus import duty concessions on poorer countries and so henceforth those regarded by the World Bank as high or upper middle income states would no longer qualify from January 2014.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has told manufacturers of intermediate chemicals – including those used in the paint, coatings and solvent sectors – they may have to submit more information under REACH chemical control system. ECHA screened more than 400 dossiers of substances declared as intermediates and has said that 86% have not proved that this special status should apply – the agency requires less information on intermediates than standard chemical substances.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRAZIL and Argentina are among almost 100 countries expected to lose tariff breaks for their cosmetics exports to the European Union (EU), under a planned reform of the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) system. The European Commission wants to focus import duty concessions on poorer countries and so those regarded by the World Bank as high-or-upper middle income states would no longer qualify from January 2014.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

Turkey taxation hike encourages smuggling

Increases in tobacco taxation in Turkey have helped prompt a surge in smuggling. Turkey is geographically poorly placed to resist illicits given its proximity to Iran and Bulgaria – known sources of contraband.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Iran are among almost 100 countries expected to lose tariff breaks for their plastics exports to the European Union (EU), under a planned reform of the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) system.

The European Commission announced yesterday (May 10) it wanted to focus import duty concessions on poorer countries and so henceforth those regarded by the World Bank as high or upper middle income states would no longer qualify from January 2014.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ARGENTINA, Uruguay and Iran are among almost 100 countries expected to lose tariff breaks for their food exports to the European Union (EU), under a planned reform of the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) system, which lowers EU import duties for emerging market and developing countries for more 6,200 tariff lines, including many food products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRAZIL and Argentina are among almost 100 countries expected to lose tariff breaks for their textile and clothing exports to the European Union (EU), under a planned reform of the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) system.

The European Commission announced yesterday (May 10) it wanted to focus import duty concessions on poorer countries and so henceforth those regarded by the World Bank as high or upper middle income states would no longer qualify from January 2014.…

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 ALAN OSBORN

ECONOMIC sanctions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban were agreed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) 12 years ago (Resolution 1267) and at first enjoyed strong and uncritical support. It was a new kind of sanctions regime, targeting named individuals, businesses and organisations that supported al-Qaeda rather than focusing on countries, as before.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut 

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

May 31, 2009, a quiet Sunday morning at Mumbai’s ChhatrapatiShivaji International Airport: Air India flight 348 to New Delhi and Jet Airways 651 to Calcutta had accelerated on their runways to 180 km per hour when just seconds before take-off they made emergency stops.…

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

Countless times I’ve read analysis and the blurb on the back of books that the Middle East is ‘on the brink’, a ‘tinderbox’ ready to explode due to the nepotistic nature of governments and the dire economic conditions of much of the region.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

As governments wake up to the need of establishing an infrastructure of charging points for electric vehicles (EVs), commercial players are offering anything from the expertise to set up the network down to the individual chargers. Some innovations will clearly make life a lot easier for those with the job of making the EV marketable.…

BY MEGAN DETRIE

A KEY figure in the Egyptian textile industry has called on his government to invest in the two companies recently re-nationalised, following a court decision which ruled illegal their privatisation by the deposed Mubarak regime.

Judges said that the Shebin El-Kom Textile Company (which has major international clothing sector clients), and the Tanta Company for Linen and Derivatives (which does not sell to the clothing sector) had been sold off without sufficient due process, restoring the companies’ ownership to the state.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

SAUDI Arabia is rapidly developing the extraction of its bountiful mineral resources, with international companies inking contracts over the past month to explore for zinc, copper and gold. Australian mining company Alara Resources announced that it is to buy a 50% interest in the Khnaiguiyah (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) zinc and copper project, and the Mutiyah and Umm Hijja projects (all are west of the capital Riyadh) through a joint venture with the Saudi-based United Arabian Mining (Manjem), according to a company statement.…

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

THE MULTI-BILLION dollar cosmetics and fragrances industry in the Middle East’s six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has had a mixed few years in the wake of the global financial crisis, made more unpredictable by demographic change and purchasing behaviour shifts.…

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 MARK ROWE

IS the recession’s worst over for the jet fuel aviation industry? Passenger traffic during this late spring and summer has risen sharply compared with flights year-on-year, giving hope to an industry that Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), described last year as "structurally sick".…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

CORRUPTION, bribery and cronyism have long been a part of business in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with media reports of such malpractice few and far between yet alone prosecutions. But this taboo topic has started to hit headlines in the Gulf over the past year as prominent businessmen have been arrested for fraud, bribery cases investigated and governmental units set up to tackle the problem.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

THE TOWN of Asbestos in French-speaking Québec, Canada – named after the mineral that underpins its economy – is waiting to see whether its provincial government will approve a Canadian dollar CAD58 million (US dollar USD56 million) loan enabling an underground mine to tap an immense deposit.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

DEMAND for more environmentally-friendly coatings and paints is on the rise in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, driven by government-backed infrastructure projects that are forcing paint manufacturers to comply with strict requirements.

Still a specialised product, ‘green’ paints account for less than 10% of sales in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) US dollar USD$300 million paint market and the USD$1 billion Saudi Arabian market, according to Bassam Bizri, general manager of Chemipaint in the UAE (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT).…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, AHMAD PATHONI, GAVIN BLAIR, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, WANG FANGQING, HELEN FLUSFELDER, KARRYN MILLER, KEITH NUTHALL and ALAN OSBORN

THE BRITISH writer Oscar Wilde wrote: "A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE KINGDOM of Saudi Arabia’s USD$1 billion paint sector market is projected to return to double-digit growth this year on the back of massive government spending, following static growth in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has been pushing for more synchronised RNAV 5 area navigation within the Middle East. A regional meeting in Cairo has agreed there is a "need to harmonise the implementation of RNAV 5 in the MID [Middle East] Region."…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

INTRODUCTION

There are signs around the world that the textile market is beginning to recover from the global economic crisis, and developing markets will be leading that recovery. Asia is, of course, at the forefront, but many countries in Latin America have also weathered the crisis and have come out in a surprisingly decent position, with their dynamic textile and apparel industries well positioned for future expansion.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE ISLAND Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain has embarked on a US$4.7 billion (Euro 3.45 billion) expansion of its one and only commercial airport, the Bahrain International Airport (BIA), to handle rising passenger traffic and regain its position as an aviation hub in the region.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON and ERIC LYMAN

THE COPENHAGEN climate change conference ended on December 18 with an accord where key world economies promised to make binding agreements to cut carbon emissions. But detail on exactly how much will be settled at a later date, meaning its long term effects on the oil and gas industry are unclear.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

In Syria, a quarter of the country's population, some 5.3 million people, are enrolled in schools, while 38% of Saudis, 46% of Yemenis, 31% of Jordanians and 31% of Egyptians are below 14 years of age. Altogether, including Iran, half of the MENA's 300 million-plus people are under 24 years old.

While all these kids are in school, there is no pressing socio-economic problem. But over the next decade as students graduate and want to enter the workplace, finding employment for them all will be difficult. Already the Middle East and North Africa have among the highest unemployment rates in the world at 9.4% and 10.3% respectively, according to an International Labour Organisation report.…

By Alan Osborn, International News Services

Nature has dealt a string of savage blows to the world’s hungry and poor over the past year or so but just when we might have hoped for rich countries and individuals to help out by digging a bit deeper into their pockets, along comes the economic recession. The crunch may or may not have imposed genuine limits on the cash available to alleviate drought and famine but it has certainly given cautious people a wonderful excuse for doing less, especially after the record food aid donations of 2008.

By Paul Cochrane

With the end of the summer holidays, children and young people across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) once again donned uniforms, packed satchels and headed to school, amounting to more than a quarter of the region returning to class.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

A DETAILED European Commission report has listed trade barriers impeding European Union (EU) automobile, parts and components sales imposed to protect export market industries from the recession. Brussels fears that while these restrictions were designed to help vulnerable businesses survive the recession, they could cause long-term damage to Europe’s auto manufacturers.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IN the Persian Gulf, the traditional dress of the ‘dishdasha’ or ‘thobe’ is still a staple of most men’s wardrobes. In the region’s short, three- to four-month winter the typically white cotton dishdasha is replaced by light wools and cashmere dishdashas, with the season’s trend influenced by the Gulf’s monarchical rulers.…

BY KASHMIR HILL

TEXAS financier R Allen Stanford built an US$8.5-billion Caribbean banking empire catering to 30,000 customers in 131 countries, but this year Stanford was indicted for swindling those investors in a massive, ongoing fraud. The US government is calling it a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of US$7 billion, making it the second largest of the era after Bernie Madoff’s.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank is to advise on improving the operation of the Maldives’ Malé airport, hoping to attract private investors willing to run the country’s national hub. In a communiqué, the IFC said it would help the government-owned "Maldives Airport Company Limited attract private investors…" It would structure an operating company that could be privatised "and develop a tariff framework and an appropriate investment plan."…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

OVER the past five years steel production has struggled to keep pace with demand in the Gulf, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as hundreds of billions of dollars worth of construction projects sprung up in the desert.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, is to help Saudi Arabia create a public-private partnership to build a new terminal at Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Medina. The airport is a key gateway for the annual Moslem Haj pilgrimage, and has long been the focus of Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation plans to boost transport to this major religious event.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

STANDFIRST

The Indian clothing sector is emerging from its traditional image as an outsourcing-hub image and establishing its own brands that sell modern design and high quality garments in the international market. A resurgent economy still growing during the current global economic downturn and the official encouragement of entrepreneurial freedom have brought forward talented designers to challenge established names in the business.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

WITH a quarter of the world’s reserves the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the most influential member of OPEC and able to put an extra two million barrels of oil on the international markets within days. But the kingdom is notoriously opaque about its oil policy and reserves, with decisions made at the highest level by the ruling House of Saud.…

BY DOMINIQUE PATTON

DEMAND for halal cosmetics worldwide is on the rise, driven not only by more affluent Muslim consumers but also growing interest in high quality, safe products.

Sales of all kinds of halal-certified goods have surged in recent years alongside higher purchasing power in Muslim countries.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Muscat, Oman

While construction workers are downing tools throughout most Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf and the future of massive infrastructure projects is in jeopardy, the Sultanate of Oman is bucking the regional trend by investing billions of dollars to bolster its nascent tourism sector, aviation and industrial base.

Compared to its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) neighbours that have spent lavishly over the past decade on infrastructure and real estate projects, the Sultanate, at the south-east of the Arabia and thus far, the relative poor man of the GCC, has lagged behind in infrastructure roll out.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

"THE STONE Age did not end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil," said Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani in 2003, former oil minister of Saudi Arabia. Six years on Mr Yamani’s words appear to ring true more than ever before – with alternative fuels becoming a viable petroleum substitute.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIA’S cosmetics industry appears to have taken the international economic downturn in its stride as the US$950 million market grew by more than 15% in 2008-09, according to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

All the major brands speaking to Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics are registering a positive growth and companies remain confident about the future prospects.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

VEHICLE sales in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plunged by up to 45% in the first two months of the year compared to 2008, according to Ford, a remarkable change in fortunes from the years of double-digit growth when the US$3.6 billion sector was one of the fastest growing in the world.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE COSMETICS and personal care sector in the Middle East is one of the fastest growing in the industry worldwide, registering 12% annual growth in the three years to 2008, and valued at US$2.1 billion, according to trade experts Epoc Messe Frankfurt (EMF).…

BY JAMES FULLER

THE TWIN island republic of Trinidad & Tobago is many people’s idea of a tropical idyll but Sunita Kissoon, senior nurse/midwife at the Gulf View Medical Centre in San Fernando, says medical care in her country is fundamentally lacking when compared to the UK.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A SAUDI Arabia firm committed to developing energy projects in the Middle East, north Africa and south Asia is investing in a Pakistan 585-megawatt gas-fired combined cycle power project with the help of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.…

BY GEORGE STONE

WHAT a difference a year has made in the African oil industry. With sky rocketing oil prices fuelling an expansion boom in 2007 and 2008, this year will be much tougher for the oil and gas sector in sub-Saharan Africa.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE MIDDLE East and North Africa region (that economists like to award the acronym ‘MENA’) consumes 6% of the global vegetable oil market and sucks in 15% of global imports, with strong growth across the board on the back of rising per capita GDP and a burgeoning population.…

BY GEORGE STONE

SOUTHERN Africa has always been rich in natural resources, but its ability to process and manufacture them has not always matched this bounty. Oil refining capacity is a case in point and the governments of South Africa, Angola and Mozambique are trying to push forward.…

BY ERIC LYMAN

THE OIL and gas industry worldwide will closely follow a technical debate to be staged throughout 2009 over whether or not to include carbon capture and storage technologies in the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The issue was tabled at December’s 14th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-14) in Poznan, Poland, and may not be resolved until January 2010.…

BY ERIC LYMAN

BATTLE lines have been drawn in negotiations to renew the Kyoto Protocol over the future shape of energy policy within future United Nations efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At December’s climate change summit, in Poznan, Poland, a key power industry issue has emerged as a primary point of discord: whether or not carbon capture and storage technologies should be allowed in a revised Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

BANGLADESH’S fledgling anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing regime faces an uphill struggle, with the country ranked as one of the most corrupt on earth and money laundering equivalent to 13% of the country’s GDP. Furthermore, Abul Barkat, Professor of Economics at Dhaka University told the Money Laundering Bulletin, an estimated US$7 billion flows into Bangladesh through illegal alternative remittance systems, and there is an ‘economy within an economy’ generating some US$300 million in profits every year for Islamist political parties linked to fundamentalist and terrorist activities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed re-erecting anti-dumping duties on imports of polyester staple fibres from Belarus, China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea after concluding that lifting them would lead to further dumping of this yarn on European Union (EU) markets.…

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 MARK GODFREY

IT has been a bad year to be a fuel retailer in China. Local retailing leader Sinopec has had its profits squeezed by government price controls on petrol prices. Prices at Chinese pumps have risen by 9% in the last 12 months, even though the cost of crude has jumped 40% in the same time span.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has swiftly approved the re-establishment of anti-dumping duties on imports of polyester staple fibres from Belarus, China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Ministers agreed with the European Commission that lifting them would lead to further dumping of this yarn on EU markets.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

THE KUWAIT Project, the country’s multi-billion dollar plan to boost oil production capacity to 4million/bpd (barrels per day) by 2020, is still lagging way behind schedule, with the opposition in its parliament preventing progress while international oil companies are getting cold feet due to the delay.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI, in Thimphu, Bhutan; JUHEL BROWNE, in Port of Spain, Trinidad; BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg; and KEITH NUTHALL

THE RISING price in oil has hit the prosperity of many companies, communities and countries, but it is the world’s poorest people, living in what the United Nations calls least developed countries that are suffering the most.…

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 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 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 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 KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) seven-year-old Doha Development Round maybe drawing towards a close, the pharmaceutical industry might start to consider that a final deal could lead to the elimination of most import duties on drugs and medicines, traded worldwide.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE, in Auckland; LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas; MONICA

DOBIE, in Ottawa; and BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg

NEW Zealand has long retained a position of prominence in the global butter products

industry, despite the fact that competitors are always looking to seize export markets in

what is an increasingly competitive market.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait City and Beirut

THE AUTO sector and market of the Middle East’s Gulf region experienced yet another boom year in 2007 on the back of high oil prices, a rising population and strong economic growth. But although sales were uniformly high among the six Gulf Arab states that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kuwait had a noticeably slower year, particularly for American and European brands.…

BY BILL CORCORAN, in South Africa

SOUTH Africa is in a race against time to ensure the country’s

burgeoning economy is not crippled by fuel shortages, forcing its oil and gas companies to innovate to ensure security of supply, notably from neighbouring countries.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait City

KUWAIT is set to follow Dubai by banning smoking in public places, a move that is expected to further hit local struggling non-premium tobacco distributors, who are still reeling from a hike in duty and advertising bans imposed five years ago.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait City

THE KUWAIT National Petroleum Company is pushing ahead with multi-billion dollar energy projects, recently green lighting a US$14 billion budget for the 615,000 bpd Al Zour refinery, the world’s largest purpose built facility of its kind.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

FOLLOWING the late-November OPEC summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited Tehran to discuss joint ventures over oil refining and then chuckle with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, over the weakened US dollar.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHINA has been baldly accused of hosting much of the world’s booming counterfeit auto parts production. A detailed report by the planet’s largest think tank – the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – said: "China has been repeatedly identified as the principal source of counterfeit activity in the automotive sector, involving both trademark and design infringements.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

SAUDI Arabia, the Middle East’s largest economy and a major political player internationally, has been linked to terrorist financing, but despite AML and CTF measures put in place by the kingdom, very little is known about the country’s implementation and adherence to regulations.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
WITH demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) surging across the globe, the Persian Gulf is at the epicentre of LNG developments due to its vast gas resources. But the rapid expansion of the sector is not without complications.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

WITH demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) surging across the globe, the Persian Gulf is at the epicentre of LNG developments due to its vast gas resources. But the rapid expansion of the sector is not without complications.…

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 PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
Bahrain has a population of less than 800,000 and is not a major market for the international players, but with a growing economy sales are consistent and should increase as the retail environment develops. No soaps or cosmetics are made in Bahrain, imported from plants in neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as from Asia, Europe and North America.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
SALES of cosmetics, perfumes and toiletries are surging in the Middle East, with sales reaching US$2.1 billion last year according to official statistics.

German cosmetics and toiletries manufacturing giant Beiersdorf estimated regional growth at 10% percent last year.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
The cosmetics and personal care market in the UAE was worth more than US$414 million in retail sales last year, according to market data group Euromonitor. Demand is being driven in the UAE by an estimated 6.2 million tourists a year, a 23.5% rise in GDP in nominal terms in 2006, and by radical changes in the UAE’s population- from 2.4 million in 1995 to 4.3 million this year.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
Saudi Arabia is the Middle East’s largest economy and, as a result, the biggest market for cosmetics, toiletries and perfumes, estimated at US$1.2 billion last year, according to the Saudi-American Business Council. With the birth rate at 3% growth a year, one of the highest in the world, and the population doubling every 25 years, companies expect significant growth in the near future as this young population ages.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai and Manama, Bahrain
THE CAR market in the Arab Gulf, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is experiencing stellar growth across the board, fuelled by a surge in population and strong economic growth.

In the last five years, the UAE market has grown by over 300% to reach 2.5 million cars on the road, said Guy Edmunds, General Manager of Honda.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai
CURBING the counterfeiting and smuggling of established companies’ goods has become a pressing concern for international businesses wanting to protect their brands in the growing economies of the Middle East.

Although certain sectors are suffering more than others, the issue has been deemed serious enough for leading multinationals to team together last year to create a Brand Owners’ Protection Group (BPG) in the Middle East to tackle the region’s part in generating the US$500 billion global counterfeit trade.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States’ diplomatic service is surely the largest and best resourced international network of experts in the world, and this is born out by the depth of the narcotics strategy report – or INCSR to use its acronym.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GULF Cooperation Council (GCC), representing Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, has published a common veterinary quarantine law which would cover the movements of fish farm livestock to the region. The law insists on adequate health checks being made on imported fish and also their feed, as well as proper documentation such as bona fide certificates of origin.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A BID by a South Korea fibre exporter to have low melt polyester staple fibres (LMP) excluded from existing European Union (EU) antidumping duties on synthetic polyester staple fibres (PSF) has been refused by the European Commission. These particular duties are levied on exports from China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus and South Korea, but South Korea exporter and producer Saehan Industries Inc claimed LMP should be excluded, claiming they “have different basic physical and chemical characteristics and end-uses” to other PSF types, having “inherent binding properties.”…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
WITH every new piece of European Union (EU)-inspired road and vehicle-safety legislation brings a new opportunity to make and sell the kit to local authorities so that they can comply. Speed limiters may not be the newest story in safety equipment, but the requirements to fit them had a further boost on January 1 this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) working group on bribery has strengthened its criticism of Britain’s dropping a bribery investigation concerning BAE Systems and the Al Yamamah defence contract with Saudi Arabia. At a March meeting, the committee “reaffirmed its serious concerns” about the matter and alleged “continued shortcomings in UK anti-bribery legislation”, for instance over the liability of legal persons to foreign bribery charges.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai
THE UNITED Arab Emirates’ (UAE) highly competitive food sector is expecting double-digit growth this year, driven by 7% annual population growth, booming foodservice and tourism sectors, and rapid economic growth.

Food producers and retailers in this economic powerhouse of the oil-rich Gulf say there is strong growth across the board, from fresh fruit to ready-made meals in the modern retail environment of the UAE, particularly in Dubai, which is undergoing a construction boom and the top destination for most expatriate workers and tourists.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DETAILED plans are now being laid for the development of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) coordinating the management of long term concessions. A joint venture involving the Saudi Binladin Group and Aeroports de Paris Management has been chosen as the preferred bidder for a US$250 million to expand, rehabilitate and operate over 20 years a specialised passenger terminal for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims who flood into the region annually.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
HUNTING with falcons has been part of Arab culture for thousands of years, but with wild falcons declining because of trapping and Middle Eastern hunters also shooting falcons for sport, what do Arabs think about imposing tougher restrictions?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S Serious Fraud Office dropping a major foreign bribery investigation concerning BAE Systems and the Al Yamamah defence contract with Saudi Arabia could lead to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) censure. The OECD working group on bribery admits “serious concerns as to whether the decision was consistent with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention”, and will discuss the case in March.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SAUDI Arabia health minister has publicly warned American and European tobacco manufacturers that his oil-rich government will sue them for compensation over health problems caused through smoking.

Speaking at the 12th Gulf Symposium Against Smoking, in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Dr Hamad Al-Manie said: "I have met with representatives from tobacco companies in the kingdom at my office before.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi

"REFINERY Process Outsourcing" or simply RPO is an exciting buzzword in the otherwise hard-pressed Indian petroleum industry, as the term represents newly found and highly profitable venture of operating refineries to fulfil surging international demand.…

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

WITH the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the midst of an unprecedented construction boom, the paint sector is flourishing with contracts of up to half a million dollars underway, 200% growth in fire-resistance paints, and over 16% growth predicted for the sector as a whole this year.…

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, 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 KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is offering a comprehensive European Union (EU) free-trade deal to Russia, to secure cheaper and more reliable gas and oil supplies. Commission president José Manuel Barroso said the EU will offer this to Russia once it has joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), maybe this year.…

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 Damascus

THE SOFT drinks market in Syria is undergoing unprecedented growth, expected to surge 17%-18% this year over last year’s 12% growth, and Pepsi’s share of the market growing after just under a year of operations in the country.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

SAUDI Arabia’s paint sector is expanding vigorously – it is expected to grow by up to 10% this year on the back of high oil prices spurring on consumer spending, and a multi-billion dollar construction boom.…

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 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 Cairo

WITH the fight against money laundering and counter terrorism financing relatively new to the Middle East (the first plenary session of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force

– MENA-FATF – was only held last year), financial institutions from the US and MENA met in Cairo for a Private Sector Dialogue (PSD) conference to discuss the implementation of international regulations in the region.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

ONGOING recruitment of South African nurses to the UK is pushing South Africa’s already hard pressed public health system close to the brink of collapse and putting patient care at risk, the country’s lead nursing union and health experts have warned.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) competition commissioner has indicated she could push for regulatory reform to improve competition in EU energy markets, in parallel with legal enforcement action using existing rules. Neelie Kroes highlighted "bundling of generation, supply, pipelines, grids, and distribution (as) at the heart of the current EU energy market failure."…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Cairo

FOREIGN investment in Egypt is on the rise, spurred on by new legislation, deregulation and a pro-business Cabinet under Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, although there are still plenty of pitfalls for the unwary and unprepared.

Indeed, the door has only recently opened wide to overseas investors, with Egypt in 1997 allowing foreign companies 100% ownership of Egyptian companies, the repatriation of dividends and tax exemptions.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

THE NUMBER of Syrians studying in the US has dropped a steep 32% over the past five years, with sometimes-criticised universities in Syria the direct beneficiaries, even attracting foreign students from around the Middle East.

The move comes as Arab students are increasingly shunning top ranked US universities because of anger about its government’s foreign policy, and as Syria’s ossified university system opens up to the private sector.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

OUT of 60 recommendations made in a report last December by the European Parliament on strategies to prevent human trafficking only one specifically mentioned money laundering and even there the message was essentially "carry on as before" and "keep your eyes open".…

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
FACILITIES for the new permanent secretariat for the International Energy Forum (IEF) have been launched in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The secretariat will help run biannual summits for the IEF, which links oil producer and importing countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has admitted Saudi Arabia as a member, a move making Riyadh remove rules preventing overseas oil and gas companies from serving its wealthy petroleum sector. All WTO member countries would have equal access, under the WTO ‘most favoured nation’ principle.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SAUDI Arabia will open its valuable oil sector to foreign suppliers, to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In a bilateral deal with the US, which will have to be matched for other WTO members, the Saudis, said the US Trade Representative (USTR), will allow US companies to compete against local energy service providers for “oil and gas exploration and development, pipeline transport of fuels, management consulting technical testing and analysis, and repair and maintenance of equipment, among others”.…

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 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 KEITH NUTHALL
SAUDI Arabia is eliminating a ban on importing food products with less than half of their remaining official shelf life, via commitments made to join the WTO. In a key deal with the United States, the Saudis have promised to accept “internationally-recognised manufacturer-determined use-by dates, with the exception of certain perishable foods and baby foods”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN USA-Saudi Arabia agreement, easing the oil-rich kingdom’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will liberalise the international meat trade with Saudi buyers. Saudi Arabia is eliminating a ban on imported meat containing growth hormones, and will recognise USDA food safety certificates.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BARRIERS preventing the insurance industry from penetrating one of the world’s last largely-untapped insurance markets are to be demolished, with Saudi Arabia agreeing to liberalise a strict regulatory system to gain World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership.

In a key deal with the US, Saudi Arabia has promised to sweep away restrictions hindering insurers from offering standard western-style services previously deemed un-Islamic under the country’s strict Wahabist Sunni Muslim system.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled that European Union (EU) institutions have the legal authority to freeze the funds of private individuals “in connection with the fight against international terrorism”, if such action is sanctioned by the UN Security Council.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank has launched an energy conservation fund for Bulgaria, that is expected to spend US$200 on taming the country’s notoriously profligate electricity consumers over 15 years. The bank is initially injecting US$10 million into this Bulgaria Energy Efficiency Fund it thinks will create so much spare energy, the country will be prosper from the leftovers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports into the European Union (EU) of polyester staple fibres from China and Saudi Arabia. It has also proposed extending (at a lower level) duties imposed against South Korea in 2000 and scrapping 13% duties levied since 1999 on Taiwanese exporters, who are now dumping at very low levels, said the Commission.…

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.…

Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, has agreed to advise the Saudi Presidency of Civil Aviation in securing private investment for two projects improving the King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah. One plan will rehabilitate or replace the airport desalination plant that currently supplies too little water, expensively and unreliably.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT could be the most underestimated commercial crime in the world, the illegal trade in wildlife and their products. Some estimates put its value at US$5 billion-a-year, but governments do not really seem to care. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY EDWARD PETERS, in Hong Kong
HONG Kong might be renowned for being one of the safest cities in the world – mugging and other forms of street violence are practically unknown – but that’s not to say that commercial crime doesn’t rear its ugly head in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, reports Edward Peters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
*Bulky and long-necked, it has a 140cm wingspan, brown above and white below, with a black stripe down the sides of its neck.

*Three sub-species, in the Canary Islands, North Africa, and the Sinai Peninsula to Arabia, into Central Asia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ARAB sheik and his camel, riding the desert with a trained falcon, hunting for bustard migrating south to Africa; with skill and tenacity, he could catch 10 plump prey, a feast in a land where little grows.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE WORLD is a small place when it comes to business these days. Increasingly, multi-nationals, as well as medium-sized companies are setting up shop in all four corners of the world. Outsourcing work and creating offices in developing countries is de rigueur to cut costs.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE RECENT sharp rise in the price of petrol and petro-chemicals has inevitably threatened prices and profit margins in the paint manufacturing industry but the effect is far from straightforward according to leading figures in the industry. This is because paint and coatings manufacturers do not buy oil directly, but products further down the chain such as vinyl acetate monomer and others where impact of higher crude oil prices tends to be muted.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOBODY likes to be on a blacklist, especially one written by the American government. But every year, the US state department issues a comprehensive rogues gallery of countries involved in the narcotics trade and related criminal problems. One surprising entrant: the United States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SAUDI Arabia may be admitted to the World Trade Organisation before the end of this year, its director general Supachai Panitchpakdi has predicted, opening its economy to foreign goods and services via the WTO’s GATT and GATS agreements.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE 19th century saw imperial rivalry create the “Great Game”, when Russia and the British Empire tweaked one another’s tails in the region that following Russia’s Bolshevik revolution became known as Soviet Central Asia. The old Great Game was tied to control of India, and to gems and gold.…

BY MARK ROWE
PEPSICO, which is marking 50 years of operations in the Middle East, finds itself at something of a crossroads. An all-American company, in a region where anti-Americanism has rarely been so widespread, it faces several challenges to ensure that it will continue to operate successfully in the Middle East for a further half a century.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
THE FLOCKS of sheep floating about in a livestock ship in the Middle East will be brought back to Australia or killed at sea. Desperate negotiations to give them away to various Middle Eastern countries as a goodwill trade gesture have so far failed.…

BY MARK ROWE
UZBEKISTAN has been at the forefront of international AML efforts in the central Asia region, a spokesman for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told the Money Laundering Bulletin. Uzbekistan has the most advanced AML legislation and apparatus of all the former Soviet Central Asia and has signed more than 20 bilateral and multilateral agreements on cooperation in fighting illicit drug trafficking with its Central Asian neighbours, as well as with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey, according to the International Money Laundering Information Network (IMOLIN), (whose contributing members include the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, the United Nations and the World Customs Organisation).…

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED Nations body established to settle claims made against Iraq because of its illegal occupation of Kuwait in 1991 has awarded a further US$315 million in compensation, bringing the total amount of money paid out under its authority to US$46.6 billion.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS with many projects inspired by the start of the next 997 years and the last three, the framing of the United Nations’ (UN) Millennium Development Goals was an ambitious enterprise.

Imposing statistically measurable targets for international organisations and national governments in making improvements in global poverty, education, gender equality, health, the environment and education, they have proved tough to attain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PHD in rocket science is not required to understand that corruption is a problem worldwide. But such a qualification – and more – would be required to devise an effective plan to fight this financial plague. The United Nations’ (UN) is drafting an international convention on corruption and asked a string of experts to write reports to illuminate some issues.…

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
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.…

BY MATTHEW WELLS
A UNITED Nations (UN) envoy is urging the Saudi Arabian government to speed up an unprecedented, yet tentative, judicial reform process.

Speaking after a week-long mission to the country, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Dato Param Cumaraswamy, said the kingdom’s legal system was improving following the introduction of a new criminal procedure code in May.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation has welcomed the development of a privately funded fish farming sector in Saudi Arabia, following 20 years of research to identify the ideal fish for local aquaculture.

A note published by the FAO says that the Saudi Fish Company, at Al-Shaqiq near the southern Red Sea, is already producing 1,500 tonnes of fish-a-year; the National Shrimp Company, in the Al-Laith area, also on the Red Sea, is expecting to produce 10,000 tonnes annually soon; and the Gizan Agricultural Company is building farming facilities for 1,000 tonnes-a-year.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund is to help set up an Islamic Financial Services Board to regulate and lay down standards for financial transactions throughout the Islamic world. A key aim of the project is to incorporate the special insurance tenets that exist in the Islamic business world into the wider capitalist system.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
TALISMAN Energy Inc. are in talks with Asian companies and Saudi princes interested in buying the firm’s controversial Sudanese oil assets, reports the London Financial Times.

It says Jim Buckee, the companies’ CEO, claimed “issues would be resolved by Christmas,” and that projects in Malaysia and Trinidad would replace Sudanese oil production, which contributes 11 per cent, of Talisman’s worldwide output.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AFRICAN livestock disease has spread beyond its home continent to hit Saudi Arabia and Yemen, from where it is threatening to infect sheep, goats and cattle in Iraq. Rift Valley Fever is a highly contagious disease spread mainly by mosquitoes and the movement of animals; it causes abortion and death and can also infect humans, sometimes killing them.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
DEMAND for ostrich leather, particularly from south Asia, has been one the result of the recent spread of foot-and-mouth disease across the globe, notably to Britain, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The problems have created a scarcity in the market for bovine leather and there have been industry reports from India saying that there has been a resulting good demand for printed leathers, especially ostrich leather print, reflecting positive opinions that it is distinctive and elegant.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SO SWEEPING has been the foot-and-mouth tragedy in the UK, that British farmers might be forgiven for assuming that they have been singled out for retribution by the Almighty, in return for long forgotten sins.

This is far from being the truth, of course.…