The wide, smiling face of Sheikh Mohammed – the absolute ruler of Dubai – beams down on his creation. His image is displayed on every other building, sandwiched between the more familiar corporate rictuses of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. This man has sold Dubai to the world as the city of One Thousand and One Arabian Lights, a Shangri-La in the Middle East insulated from the dust-storms blasting across the region. He dominates the Manhattan-manqué skyline, beaming out from row after row of glass pyramids and hotels smelted into the shape of piles of golden coins. And there he stands on the tallest building in the world – a skinny spike, jabbing farther into the sky than any other human construction in history.
But something has flickered in Sheikh Mohammed's smile. The ubiquitous cranes have paused on the skyline, as if stuck in time. There are countless buildings half-finished, seemingly abandoned. In the swankiest new constructions – like the vast Atlantis hotel, a giant pink castle built in 1,000 days for $1.5bn on its own artificial island – where rainwater is leaking from the ceilings and the tiles are falling off the roof. This Neverland was built on the Never-Never – and now the cracks are beginning to show. Suddenly it looks less like Manhattan in the sun than Iceland in the desert.
Once the manic burst of building has stopped and the whirlwind has slowed, the secrets of Dubai are slowly seeping out. This is a city built from nothing in just a few wild decades on credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery. Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing – at last – into history.
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* The Desert Blogger: Jamie Stewart's dispatches from Dubai
I. An Adult Disneyland
Karen Andrews can't speak. Every time she starts to tell her story, she puts her head down and crumples. She is slim and angular and has the faded radiance of the once-rich, even though her clothes are as creased as her forehead. I find her in the car park of one of Dubai's finest international hotels, where she is living, in her Range Rover. She has been sleeping here for months, thanks to the kindness of the Bangladeshi car park attendants who don't have the heart to move her on. This is not where she thought her Dubai dream would end.
Her story comes out in stutters, over four hours. At times, her old voice – witty and warm – breaks through. Karen came here from Canada when her husband was offered a job in the senior division of a famous multinational. "When he said Dubai, I said – if you want me to wear black and quit booze, baby, you've got the wrong girl. But he asked me to give it a chance. And I loved him."
All her worries melted when she touched down in Dubai in 2005. "It was an adult Disneyland, where Sheikh Mohammed is the mouse," she says. "Life was fantastic. You had these amazing big apartments, you had a whole army of your own staff, you pay no taxes at all. It seemed like everyone was a CEO. We were partying the whole time."
Her husband, Daniel, bought two properties. "We were drunk on Dubai," she says. But for the first time in his life, he was beginning to mismanage their finances. "We're not talking huge sums, but he was getting confused. It was so unlike Daniel, I was surprised. We got into a little bit of debt." After a year, she found out why: Daniel was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
One doctor told him he had a year to live; another said it was benign and he'd be okay. But the debts were growing. "Before I came here, I didn't know anything about Dubai law. I assumed if all these big companies come here, it must be pretty like Canada's or any other liberal democracy's," she says. Nobody told her there is no concept of bankruptcy. If you get into debt and you can't pay, you go to prison.
"When we realised that, I sat Daniel down and told him: listen, we need to get out of here. He knew he was guaranteed a pay-off when he resigned, so we said – right, let's take the pay-off, clear the debt, and go." So Daniel resigned – but he was given a lower pay-off than his contract suggested. The debt remained. As soon as you quit your job in Dubai, your employer has to inform your bank. If you have any outstanding debts that aren't covered by your savings, then all your accounts are frozen, and you are forbidden to leave the country.
"Suddenly our cards stopped working. We had nothing. We were thrown out of our apartment." Karen can't speak about what happened next for a long time; she is shaking.
Daniel was arrested and taken away on the day of their eviction. It was six days before she could talk to him. "He told me he was put in a cell with another debtor, a Sri Lankan guy who was only 27, who said he couldn't face the shame to his family. Daniel woke up and the boy had swallowed razor-blades. He banged for help, but nobody came, and the boy died in front of him."
Karen managed to beg from her friends for a few weeks, "but it was so humiliating. I've never lived like this. I worked in the fashion industry. I had my own shops. I've never..." She peters out.
Daniel was sentenced to six months' imprisonment at a trial he couldn't understand. It was in Arabic, and there was no translation. "Now I'm here illegally, too," Karen says I've got no money, nothing. I have to last nine months until he's out, somehow." Looking away, almost paralysed with embarrassment, she asks if I could buy her a meal.
She is not alone. All over the city, there are maxed-out expats sleeping secretly in the sand-dunes or the airport or in their cars.
"The thing you have to understand about Dubai is – nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing – a modern kind of place – but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship."
II. Tumbleweed
Thirty years ago, almost all of contemporary Dubai was desert, inhabited only by cactuses and tumbleweed and scorpions. But downtown there are traces of the town that once was, buried amidst the metal and glass. In the dusty fort of the Dubai Museum, a sanitised version of this story is told.
In the mid-18th century, a small village was built here, in the lower Persian Gulf, where people would dive for pearls off the coast. It soon began to accumulate a cosmopolitan population washing up from Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and other Arab countries, all hoping to make their fortune. They named it after a local locust, the daba, who consumed everything before it. The town was soon seized by the gunships of the British Empire, who held it by the throat as late as 1971. As they scuttled away, Dubai decided to ally with the six surrounding states and make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The British quit, exhausted, just as oil was being discovered, and the sheikhs who suddenly found themselves in charge faced a remarkable dilemma. They were largely illiterate nomads who spent their lives driving camels through the desert – yet now they had a vast pot of gold. What should they do with it?
Dubai only had a dribble of oil compared to neighbouring Abu Dhabi – so Sheikh Maktoum decided to use the revenues to build something that would last. Israel used to boast it made the desert bloom; Sheikh Maktoum resolved to make the desert boom. He would build a city to be a centre of tourism and financial services, sucking up cash and talent from across the globe. He invited the world to come tax-free – and they came in their millions, swamping the local population, who now make up just 5 per cent of Dubai. A city seemed to fall from the sky in just three decades, whole and complete and swelling. They fast-forwarded from the 18th century to the 21st in a single generation.
If you take the Big Bus Tour of Dubai – the passport to a pre-processed experience of every major city on earth – you are fed the propaganda-vision of how this happened. "Dubai's motto is 'Open doors, open minds'," the tour guide tells you in clipped tones, before depositing you at the souks to buy camel tea-cosies. "Here you are free. To purchase fabrics," he adds. As you pass each new monumental building, he tells you: "The World Trade Centre was built by His Highness..."
But this is a lie. The sheikh did not build this city. It was built by slaves. They are building it now.
III. Hidden in plain view
There are three different Dubais, all swirling around each other. There are the expats, like Karen; there are the Emiratis, headed by Sheikh Mohammed; and then there is the foreign underclass who built the city, and are trapped here. They are hidden in plain view. You see them everywhere, in dirt-caked blue uniforms, being shouted at by their superiors, like a chain gang – but you are trained not to look. It is like a mantra: the Sheikh built the city. The Sheikh built the city. Workers? What workers?
Every evening, the hundreds of thousands of young men who build Dubai are bussed from their sites to a vast concrete wasteland an hour out of town, where they are quarantined away. Until a few years ago they were shuttled back and forth on cattle trucks, but the expats complained this was unsightly, so now they are shunted on small metal buses that function like greenhouses in the desert heat. They sweat like sponges being slowly wrung out.
Sonapur is a rubble-strewn patchwork of miles and miles of identical concrete buildings. Some 300,000 men live piled up here, in a place whose name in Hindi means "City of Gold". In the first camp I stop at – riven with the smell of sewage and sweat – the men huddle around, eager to tell someone, anyone, what is happening to them.
Sahinal Monir, a slim 24-year-old from the deltas of Bangladesh. "To get you here, they tell you Dubai is heaven. Then you get here and realise it is hell," he says. Four years ago, an employment agent arrived in Sahinal's village in Southern Bangladesh. He told the men of the village that there was a place where they could earn 40,000 takka a month (£400) just for working nine-to-five on construction projects. It was a place where they would be given great accommodation, great food, and treated well. All they had to do was pay an up-front fee of 220,000 takka (£2,300) for the work visa – a fee they'd pay off in the first six months, easy. So Sahinal sold his family land, and took out a loan from the local lender, to head to this paradise.
As soon as he arrived at Dubai airport, his passport was taken from him by his construction company. He has not seen it since. He was told brusquely that from now on he would be working 14-hour days in the desert heat – where western tourists are advised not to stay outside for even five minutes in summer, when it hits 55 degrees – for 500 dirhams a month (£90), less than a quarter of the wage he was promised. If you don't like it, the company told him, go home. "But how can I go home? You have my passport, and I have no money for the ticket," he said. "Well, then you'd better get to work," they replied.
Sahinal was in a panic. His family back home – his son, daughter, wife and parents – were waiting for money, excited that their boy had finally made it. But he was going to have to work for more than two years just to pay for the cost of getting here – and all to earn less than he did in Bangladesh.
He shows me his room. It is a tiny, poky, concrete cell with triple-decker bunk-beds, where he lives with 11 other men. All his belongings are piled onto his bunk: three shirts, a spare pair of trousers, and a cellphone. The room stinks, because the lavatories in the corner of the camp – holes in the ground – are backed up with excrement and clouds of black flies. There is no air conditioning or fans, so the heat is "unbearable. You cannot sleep. All you do is sweat and scratch all night." At the height of summer, people sleep on the floor, on the roof, anywhere where they can pray for a moment of breeze.
The water delivered to the camp in huge white containers isn't properly desalinated: it tastes of salt. "It makes us sick, but we have nothing else to drink," he says.
The work is "the worst in the world," he says. "You have to carry 50kg bricks and blocks of cement in the worst heat imaginable ... This heat – it is like nothing else. You sweat so much you can't pee, not for days or weeks. It's like all the liquid comes out through your skin and you stink. You become dizzy and sick but you aren't allowed to stop, except for an hour in the afternoon. You know if you drop anything or slip, you could die. If you take time off sick, your wages are docked, and you are trapped here even longer."
He is currently working on the 67th floor of a shiny new tower, where he builds upwards, into the sky, into the heat. He doesn't know its name. In his four years here, he has never seen the Dubai of tourist-fame, except as he constructs it floor-by-floor.
Is he angry? He is quiet for a long time. "Here, nobody shows their anger. You can't. You get put in jail for a long time, then deported." Last year, some workers went on strike after they were not given their wages for four months. The Dubai police surrounded their camps with razor-wire and water-cannons and blasted them out and back to work.
The "ringleaders" were imprisoned. I try a different question: does Sohinal regret coming? All the men look down, awkwardly. "How can we think about that? We are trapped. If we start to think about regrets..." He lets the sentence trail off. Eventually, another worker breaks the silence by adding: "I miss my country, my family and my land. We can grow food in Bangladesh. Here, nothing grows. Just oil and buildings."
Since the recession hit, they say, the electricity has been cut off in dozens of the camps, and the men have not been paid for months. Their companies have disappeared with their passports and their pay. "We have been robbed of everything. Even if somehow we get back to Bangladesh, the loan sharks will demand we repay our loans immediately, and when we can't, we'll be sent to prison."
This is all supposed to be illegal. Employers are meant to pay on time, never take your passport, give you breaks in the heat – but I met nobody who said it happens. Not one. These men are conned into coming and trapped into staying, with the complicity of the Dubai authorities.
Sahinal could well die out here. A British man who used to work on construction projects told me: "There's a huge number of suicides in the camps and on the construction sites, but they're not reported. They're described as 'accidents'." Even then, their families aren't free: they simply inherit the debts. A Human Rights Watch study found there is a "cover-up of the true extent" of deaths from heat exhaustion, overwork and suicide, but the Indian consulate registered 971 deaths of their nationals in 2005 alone. After this figure was leaked, the consulates were told to stop counting.
At night, in the dusk, I sit in the camp with Sohinal and his friends as they scrape together what they have left to buy a cheap bottle of spirits. They down it in one ferocious gulp. "It helps you to feel numb", Sohinal says through a stinging throat. In the distance, the glistening Dubai skyline he built stands, oblivious.
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Showing posts with label Dubai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dubai. Show all posts
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Now forgotten, the place where, the UAE was born
Roughly half way along the highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, there is an interchange at a place called Semeih. One can turn off here to a large camel-racing track hidden in the desert behind the plantations and small farms, but otherwise, it doesn’t appear of much interest to the passer-by: no houses, no roadside cafe, simply a small plantation of trees and a lake formed by surplus irrigation water draining out of other, larger, plantations nearby. Occasionally I and other birdwatchers will pull off here to look at the lake, but it’s rarely produced anything of interest in the way of rare birds. For the most part, travellers just speed past, and one can’t really blame them for doing so.
Yet this unremarkable place was the site of one of the most important events in the history of the United Arab Emirates. It was here, 41 years ago tomorrow, that the two fathers of the UAE federation, Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Rashid of Dubai, met on February 18 1968, to lay the foundations of the state of today.
A few weeks earlier, a British Foreign Office minister had visited what were then known as the Trucial States to inform the Rulers that, contrary to promises made as recently as a couple of months before, Britain would be bringing an end to its presence in the Gulf, in December 1971. In consequence, it would be terminating the agreements signed in 1820 – and subsequently supplemented by others – that had ensured protection for, and had guaranteed the sovereignty and survival of, the emirates. The seven states, still poor and underdeveloped – though Abu Dhabi had commenced oil exports six years earlier – would henceforth have to make their own way in the world.
The timing was scarcely auspicious. The previous year, the June war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and Syria had ended in disastrous defeat for the Arab side, with the West Bank and Gaza, both parts of Palestine, and the Sinai peninsula coming under Israeli occupation. In December 1967, the British had withdrawn in haste from Aden and the former protectorates of South Arabia, with the radical, Marxist-inspired, National Liberation Front coming to power and supporting a spreading of insurgency into Oman. Three of the emirates, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, had parts of their territory being claimed by neighbouring states.
Sheikh Zayed, who had become Abu Dhabi’s Ruler in August 1966, and Sheikh Rashid were taken aback by the British decision, and by the explicit advice that they and their fellow Rulers should now plan for a future on their own.
Deciding to meet to discuss what to do next, they fixed on Semeih as the meeting point. Half way between the two towns – for they were not yet cities – it was a place replete with symbolism. The small well at Semeih had, for generations, been the place where Abu Dhabi’s tribes had gathered before engaging in warfare. The last time that had occurred was only just over 20 years earlier, prior to a conflict between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in which both Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid had taken part.
At their meeting at Semeih on February 18 1968, the two rulers agreed to form a union of their two emirates, with a common approach to foreign affairs, defence, security and social services, as well as to immigration. Settling a long-standing disagreement over their land and maritime borders, they also invited the rulers of the other Trucial States to join their union, as well as Qatar and Bahrain, which were also to be affected by the termination of the agreements with Britain.
There was a prompt response. On February 25, a week later, the rulers of all nine states met in Dubai and agreed to form a federation. Qatar and Bahrain eventually, in mid-1971, decided to go their own way, and the federation of the United Arab Emirates was formally established in December 1971, with Sheikh Zayed as the first President and Sheikh Rashid the first Vice President. Thus the Semeih meeting can, rightly, be said to have represented the birth of the federation.
Yet if one stops at Semeih, there is nothing to mark this historic event. The modest rest-house that once existed there was demolished years ago, and its role in the modern history of the country is largely forgotten.
We hear much about efforts to preserve the country’s history and heritage, and, of course, to promote the country’s national identity. Billions of dirhams are being spent on planning new museums, which, in some cases, have little if anything to do with the UAE itself. Welcome though these projects may be, would it not also be a good idea to create a small museum at Semeih? It needn’t be a dramatic or expensive structure – a simple building with a commemorative display of photographs and a few old film clips of the federation’s founding fathers would suffice, supported by staff members who could explain the displays and the significance of the location to visitors.
It probably wouldn’t attract many tourists, although one might hope that some travel agencies might pick it as a regular stop for their tour buses – but it should become a place that is a focus of trips by any school, whether for Emiratis or expatriates, that has a programme of teaching local history. What better location to talk about the wisdom and vision of Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid than Semeih, where they together, in simple surroundings in what was then just desert, laid down the keel of what has become today’s ship of state?
Peter Hellyer is a writer and consultant specialising in the UAE’s heritage and environment. He has also written extensively on the country’s social, political and economic development.
Yet this unremarkable place was the site of one of the most important events in the history of the United Arab Emirates. It was here, 41 years ago tomorrow, that the two fathers of the UAE federation, Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Rashid of Dubai, met on February 18 1968, to lay the foundations of the state of today.
A few weeks earlier, a British Foreign Office minister had visited what were then known as the Trucial States to inform the Rulers that, contrary to promises made as recently as a couple of months before, Britain would be bringing an end to its presence in the Gulf, in December 1971. In consequence, it would be terminating the agreements signed in 1820 – and subsequently supplemented by others – that had ensured protection for, and had guaranteed the sovereignty and survival of, the emirates. The seven states, still poor and underdeveloped – though Abu Dhabi had commenced oil exports six years earlier – would henceforth have to make their own way in the world.
The timing was scarcely auspicious. The previous year, the June war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and Syria had ended in disastrous defeat for the Arab side, with the West Bank and Gaza, both parts of Palestine, and the Sinai peninsula coming under Israeli occupation. In December 1967, the British had withdrawn in haste from Aden and the former protectorates of South Arabia, with the radical, Marxist-inspired, National Liberation Front coming to power and supporting a spreading of insurgency into Oman. Three of the emirates, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, had parts of their territory being claimed by neighbouring states.
Sheikh Zayed, who had become Abu Dhabi’s Ruler in August 1966, and Sheikh Rashid were taken aback by the British decision, and by the explicit advice that they and their fellow Rulers should now plan for a future on their own.
Deciding to meet to discuss what to do next, they fixed on Semeih as the meeting point. Half way between the two towns – for they were not yet cities – it was a place replete with symbolism. The small well at Semeih had, for generations, been the place where Abu Dhabi’s tribes had gathered before engaging in warfare. The last time that had occurred was only just over 20 years earlier, prior to a conflict between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in which both Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid had taken part.
At their meeting at Semeih on February 18 1968, the two rulers agreed to form a union of their two emirates, with a common approach to foreign affairs, defence, security and social services, as well as to immigration. Settling a long-standing disagreement over their land and maritime borders, they also invited the rulers of the other Trucial States to join their union, as well as Qatar and Bahrain, which were also to be affected by the termination of the agreements with Britain.
There was a prompt response. On February 25, a week later, the rulers of all nine states met in Dubai and agreed to form a federation. Qatar and Bahrain eventually, in mid-1971, decided to go their own way, and the federation of the United Arab Emirates was formally established in December 1971, with Sheikh Zayed as the first President and Sheikh Rashid the first Vice President. Thus the Semeih meeting can, rightly, be said to have represented the birth of the federation.
Yet if one stops at Semeih, there is nothing to mark this historic event. The modest rest-house that once existed there was demolished years ago, and its role in the modern history of the country is largely forgotten.
We hear much about efforts to preserve the country’s history and heritage, and, of course, to promote the country’s national identity. Billions of dirhams are being spent on planning new museums, which, in some cases, have little if anything to do with the UAE itself. Welcome though these projects may be, would it not also be a good idea to create a small museum at Semeih? It needn’t be a dramatic or expensive structure – a simple building with a commemorative display of photographs and a few old film clips of the federation’s founding fathers would suffice, supported by staff members who could explain the displays and the significance of the location to visitors.
It probably wouldn’t attract many tourists, although one might hope that some travel agencies might pick it as a regular stop for their tour buses – but it should become a place that is a focus of trips by any school, whether for Emiratis or expatriates, that has a programme of teaching local history. What better location to talk about the wisdom and vision of Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid than Semeih, where they together, in simple surroundings in what was then just desert, laid down the keel of what has become today’s ship of state?
Peter Hellyer is a writer and consultant specialising in the UAE’s heritage and environment. He has also written extensively on the country’s social, political and economic development.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Festival of literature to tackle illiteracy
DUBAI // The inaugural Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature next year aims to encourage young people to read and write more.
Organisers yesterday spoke of widespread illiteracy in the Arab world.
“The statistics regarding illiteracy in the Middle East are frightening and the first thing we need to do is admit that there is an issue,” said Saeed Al Nabouda, the chief projects officer of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.
“What we need to do is educate children and their parents on the beauty of reading, because at the moment many people do not understand the importance of it.
“According to the Arab League, there are 100 million Arabs who still do not know how to read and write. We want to use this initiative to help improve this statistic.”
The festival has been scheduled for Feb 26 to Mar 1, and would be attended by more than 60 international and Arab authors.
Among the international writers who have committed to attend are Anthony Horowitz, Margaret Atwood, Ranulph Fiennes and Wilbur Smith.
Arab authors including Turki al Dakhil, Khaled al Khamissi and Ibrahim Nasrallah have agreed to come.
The festival is to include discussions, debates, readings, book signings, workshops and an education day for students.
Organisers said they would try to reach every student in Dubai on that day. If students could not attend the festival, authors would go to the schools and universities.
“We are working with all educational institutions across Dubai where the whole purpose is, ‘If you can’t make it, don’t worry, we’ll come to you’,” said Isobel Abulhoul, director of the festival and Magrudy’s book shops.
“We want to touch thousands of children on the same day... The festival is a celebration of literature and we want children to enjoy it and see its benefits, as they are our future.”
The Saudi-based children’s writer and publisher Nahed al Shawa, who will attend the festival, said: “It is estimated on average that every Arab child reads one page a year, in comparison to European children who read 10 books a year.”
Shawa began reading at the age of 10 when her father gave her the classics. “There were no children’s books available then,” she said.
So she started writing books for her own children. “It is so important for children to read. Every household must have books, and every parent should take 10 minutes out of their day to read with their children.”
Shawa said illiteracy among Arab youth was caused by lack of good books available; lack of encouragement from parents; and the lack of reading libraries.
“There is a lack of authors too,” she said. “We want to use the festival to encourage young writers to come out. My personal mission is to spread awareness.”
Shawa said lack of organisation in the Arab world’s literary market made it hard for authors to be heard and make a name for themselves.
Horowitz, who wrote the Alex Rider book series, as well as screenplays for Midsomer Murders, Murder in Mind and Foyle’s War, was also at yesterday’s launch.
He said literary festivals were an important opportunity to encourage children to read and write through meeting their favourite authors. “It is important to have that human contact.”
Horowitz said UK studies have shown there seemed to be a link between children who do not read from an early age and delinquency.
“It is vitally important for children to be reading at an early age and this festival provides that opportunity and that interest,” he said.
nsamaha@thenational.ae
Organisers yesterday spoke of widespread illiteracy in the Arab world.
“The statistics regarding illiteracy in the Middle East are frightening and the first thing we need to do is admit that there is an issue,” said Saeed Al Nabouda, the chief projects officer of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.
“What we need to do is educate children and their parents on the beauty of reading, because at the moment many people do not understand the importance of it.
“According to the Arab League, there are 100 million Arabs who still do not know how to read and write. We want to use this initiative to help improve this statistic.”
The festival has been scheduled for Feb 26 to Mar 1, and would be attended by more than 60 international and Arab authors.
Among the international writers who have committed to attend are Anthony Horowitz, Margaret Atwood, Ranulph Fiennes and Wilbur Smith.
Arab authors including Turki al Dakhil, Khaled al Khamissi and Ibrahim Nasrallah have agreed to come.
The festival is to include discussions, debates, readings, book signings, workshops and an education day for students.
Organisers said they would try to reach every student in Dubai on that day. If students could not attend the festival, authors would go to the schools and universities.
“We are working with all educational institutions across Dubai where the whole purpose is, ‘If you can’t make it, don’t worry, we’ll come to you’,” said Isobel Abulhoul, director of the festival and Magrudy’s book shops.
“We want to touch thousands of children on the same day... The festival is a celebration of literature and we want children to enjoy it and see its benefits, as they are our future.”
The Saudi-based children’s writer and publisher Nahed al Shawa, who will attend the festival, said: “It is estimated on average that every Arab child reads one page a year, in comparison to European children who read 10 books a year.”
Shawa began reading at the age of 10 when her father gave her the classics. “There were no children’s books available then,” she said.
So she started writing books for her own children. “It is so important for children to read. Every household must have books, and every parent should take 10 minutes out of their day to read with their children.”
Shawa said illiteracy among Arab youth was caused by lack of good books available; lack of encouragement from parents; and the lack of reading libraries.
“There is a lack of authors too,” she said. “We want to use the festival to encourage young writers to come out. My personal mission is to spread awareness.”
Shawa said lack of organisation in the Arab world’s literary market made it hard for authors to be heard and make a name for themselves.
Horowitz, who wrote the Alex Rider book series, as well as screenplays for Midsomer Murders, Murder in Mind and Foyle’s War, was also at yesterday’s launch.
He said literary festivals were an important opportunity to encourage children to read and write through meeting their favourite authors. “It is important to have that human contact.”
Horowitz said UK studies have shown there seemed to be a link between children who do not read from an early age and delinquency.
“It is vitally important for children to be reading at an early age and this festival provides that opportunity and that interest,” he said.
nsamaha@thenational.ae
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
The road less-travelled
I am waiting for Abbas Kiarostami to join me at our appointed rendezvous, a dusty villa in the Tehran suburbs set amid the lush foliage and crumbling grandeur of the diplomatic quarter. The director of over 40 films, the recipient of numerous prestigious cinema awards, the winner of a clutch of global polls declaring him the greatest film maker of the 1990s, the man who Bernado Bertolucci claimed was responsible for a new “birth in cinema”, is running late.
But then there is a small hubbub at the doorway and Kiarostami finally lopes in, grumbling, a victim of Tehran’s notorious traffic. At 68, he cuts an imposing figure. Fatigue is etched on his face, no doubt due in part to his recent traffic battle. Despite his trademark dark spectacles, he looks tired and immediately calls for coffee and ibuprofen pills. However, he is polite, gracious and during the subsequent interview unbends and relaxes as he warms to his themes. Kiarostami’s status in his homeland reached iconic status long ago. For film buffs and Iran’s intelligentsia, his first films from the early 1970s, made at the children’s film co-operative Kanun, immediately pointed out an auteur with an artistic manifesto and a wilful manner who insisted on stylistically and intellectually subverting and confounding preconceived notions of filmmaking.
"With an experience of loneliness, it will help you to understand my loneliness through these roads," says Abbas Kiarostami. Courtesy Baharak Raoufi
His range of subjects – children, the delicate threads of society, the absurdities and incongruities of everyday life – were laced with a strange mix of pessimism and idealism, filmed with a peculiar reserve, a sense of distance. His coruscating social documentary style features and shorts were merciless in their relentless dissection of a society in flux. Later films reveal a fascination with cars, roads and journeys, using car interiors as backdrops for emotional drama, metaphors for a sense of alienation and isolation.
From his first short in 1970, The Bread and Alley, a story of a boy encountering a fierce dog in an alleyway, through to masterpieces such as Close-Up, the Kokar trilogy, the prize-winning A Taste of Cherry, the socio-realist Ten and most recently, Shirin, he has continued to stubbornly plough his own furrow. By gradually eliminating all extraneous matter from his narratives, using digicams and untrained actors, his films seem to pursue a search of purity. There is, especially in his more recent works, a freedom from conventional narrative structures and a fascination with the stranger, more unpredictable corners of the human condition.
This image recalls the starkness of his Snow White series. Courtesy Baharak Raoufi
Kiarostami not only decided to stay in Iran following the 1979 revolution, but in doing so, became a vital force in pushing Iranian cinema out of the doldrums, creating a body of work that would become internationally acclaimed. Like Godard in France or the late Satyajit Ray in India, his films are at once entwined with his country’s cultural fabric, yet transcend limitations to speak to audiences universally. In his poetry too – he has had a volume of recondite, haiku-style poetry published – his trademark emotional drive and solitary soul emerges from inspiration borne of centuries of Persian poetry and modern Iranian existence.
However, it is mainly his photography that has occasioned our encounter today. The Road exhibition at the Basement gallery sees 47 prints drawn from over 25 years of photography on the roads of Iran. The show was first seen as part of a multimedia retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York last year, alongside a number of films and his monochromatic Snow White series.
“These images were taken over the past 20, 25 years,” says Baharak Raoufi of the Basement Gallery. “The Road series is emotional for him, as he is deeply attached to the feelings expressed in this collection. When we invited him to show his work in Dubai, this is the series he chose. He chooses not to sell work in Iran any longer, so he will be selling here.”
Since he began taking photographs of the Iranian landscape in the late 1970s, Kiarostami has generated hundreds of these deceptively simplistic pictures of roads, through rain-flecked windscreens, isolated trees, vast snow plains, and motionless tableaux, each suffused with a heavy emotional payload. Looking at the motives and reasons behind Road is as good a place as any to delve into a career that has spanned over 40 years in a relentless, methodical and occasionally haphazard pursuit of inner peace and creative satisfaction.
“My photographic career started as a matter of fact, when I went to buy a camera for a friend,” he begins. “It was a 1,000-something dollars, and I thought, I want to buy one for myself too. It was the exact year of the revolution, 1979. That is when I started taking photographs. We had a lot of spare time because of the revolution. We couldn’t make films and we were very depressed. So we took ourselves out of the town to deal with our depression. I had this camera, a Yashica, and started shooting. It was a cheap camera.”
In these observations of the world, Kiarostami eschews the conventions of landscape photography and instead forges an emotional relationship with his surroundings, channelling himself from behind the lens. The documentary element of his work is there – echoing the style he favours for his films – but through repetition and subtle shifts in perspective, small fragments of detail emerge that differentiate and define the pieces. Again, this echoes his modus operandi with filmmaking.
In his best-known series of images, the Snow White collection, in which he repeatedly shoots high contrast black and white images of smooth, undulating snow-laden terrain occasionally broken by the stark blackness of a tree or road, the sense of cold isolation is complete. Yet in their frozen silence these pictures resonate with a deep humanity and a fundamental engagement with nature.
Since Kiarostami began his photographic career with no intention of publishing the work, it came as a mild surprise when a decade or so later, a friend asked him to collect a series of images for an exhibition. Interest in what the maverick filmmaker had produced was strong, and critical consensus overwhelmingly positive. Now, he is a veteran of over 30 major photography exhibitions worldwide, all of them based on the quantities of images he repeatedly shot in and around Tehran – the roads, the trees, the empty desolate landscapes. His work is in a number of key museum permanent collections, including the V&A in London.
“Two topics have been always inviting for my photography – trees and roads,” reflects Kiarostami. “You should know that the external revolution, the Islamic revolution which was going on at that time, was hardened by an internal revolution going on in my personal life, with my home and family (Kiarostami’s marriage was breaking down during this time). With the Road photographs, that was my way of thinking, my emotions at that moment made them this way. When you look at them now, your own emotion is coming in and influencing it. For instance, if you know nothing about the experience of loneliness, then you wouldn’t understand these photographs. But with an experience of loneliness, it will help you to understand my loneliness through these roads.”
The minimalism he emphasises in his images, the natural purity, is also the dominant driving force in his film career. Since gaining international acclaim from directors ranging from Tarantino to Scorsese for the semi-documentary Close-Up in 1990, to winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes for A Taste of Cherry in 1997, he has been balancing an increasing global profile with continued artistic experimentation, refining his practise, honing his technique down to the bare essentials. Experiments with digital cameras, a non-professional cast, improvisation and reliance on chance have paid off. However, despite success, he is frequently irritated with critics and audiences who, in his view, lazily fail to grasp his vision.
“Why are we always trying to define cinema separately from photography and music?” he argues. “They are connected, they mingle and are interwoven. Why do we like to have something very specific and defined? If that was the case, then the person who likes cinema shouldn’t go to the gallery or vice versa. We have to have them all together.”
Still, as with the case of his latest film, Shirin, Kiarostami’s uncompromising vision can cause mass confusion. Shirin is a series of close-ups of 117 women’s faces as they watch a play. We hear the play happening off screen and see the natural responses – laughter, sadness, suspense, relief – on the features of these faces. At Venice, where it was screened this summer, there was pandemonium in the auditorium, with confused viewers storming out and slating the film bitterly. Kiarostami has a spirited defence.
“The reaction in Venice was very predictable, actually. What was not predictable was the bad quality of the projection and organisation. The film for the media screening was actually projected with English subtitles, which were going on and off all the time and, at one point, for about 10 minutes, there was a total absence of subtitles. In spite of that, glory to the audience, because they were very patient! Shirin is a very difficult film which needs a lot of patience. So Venice was really a mess, an uncontrollable mess.”
Nevertheless, Kiarostami remains driven, determined. Describing Shirin as the end of a cycle that began back in 1970 with The Bread and Alley, he is currently working on an undefined new project. At this stage, he isn’t sure what the end result will be, but he is hoping he can eliminate as much narrative as possible, leaving most of it to be inferred by the viewer. Scraps of ideas are discussed – one scene he describes, sees a shy couple on the day of their wedding, reluctant to be photographed, left alone in a room with a camera with the plan that they will take their own portrait. Their off-screen conversation and inability to control the camera makes up the action. It is typically Kiarostami – wry, bittersweet, visually perplexing, yet quite rational.
Returning to the topic of Shirin, he delivers a final reflection. “Taking a picture is just freezing a moment, taking it out. That’s why I like photography, I don’t have to tell stories. In cinema, I am putting the storytelling outside the main frame of what is really happening and what you can see is your own story, being seen on the face of the person you are looking at. Therefore, you have so many different stories, so many complicated stories, that you know the story but yet you don’t know it. It leaves a lot of space, for you the viewer to look at it. I am not telling you the exact story, but it is there for you to find out about. That is my idea of the art of cinematography.”
Road, Basement Gallery, Dubai. www.basementdubai.com Until Nov 5.
But then there is a small hubbub at the doorway and Kiarostami finally lopes in, grumbling, a victim of Tehran’s notorious traffic. At 68, he cuts an imposing figure. Fatigue is etched on his face, no doubt due in part to his recent traffic battle. Despite his trademark dark spectacles, he looks tired and immediately calls for coffee and ibuprofen pills. However, he is polite, gracious and during the subsequent interview unbends and relaxes as he warms to his themes. Kiarostami’s status in his homeland reached iconic status long ago. For film buffs and Iran’s intelligentsia, his first films from the early 1970s, made at the children’s film co-operative Kanun, immediately pointed out an auteur with an artistic manifesto and a wilful manner who insisted on stylistically and intellectually subverting and confounding preconceived notions of filmmaking.
"With an experience of loneliness, it will help you to understand my loneliness through these roads," says Abbas Kiarostami. Courtesy Baharak Raoufi
His range of subjects – children, the delicate threads of society, the absurdities and incongruities of everyday life – were laced with a strange mix of pessimism and idealism, filmed with a peculiar reserve, a sense of distance. His coruscating social documentary style features and shorts were merciless in their relentless dissection of a society in flux. Later films reveal a fascination with cars, roads and journeys, using car interiors as backdrops for emotional drama, metaphors for a sense of alienation and isolation.
From his first short in 1970, The Bread and Alley, a story of a boy encountering a fierce dog in an alleyway, through to masterpieces such as Close-Up, the Kokar trilogy, the prize-winning A Taste of Cherry, the socio-realist Ten and most recently, Shirin, he has continued to stubbornly plough his own furrow. By gradually eliminating all extraneous matter from his narratives, using digicams and untrained actors, his films seem to pursue a search of purity. There is, especially in his more recent works, a freedom from conventional narrative structures and a fascination with the stranger, more unpredictable corners of the human condition.
This image recalls the starkness of his Snow White series. Courtesy Baharak Raoufi
Kiarostami not only decided to stay in Iran following the 1979 revolution, but in doing so, became a vital force in pushing Iranian cinema out of the doldrums, creating a body of work that would become internationally acclaimed. Like Godard in France or the late Satyajit Ray in India, his films are at once entwined with his country’s cultural fabric, yet transcend limitations to speak to audiences universally. In his poetry too – he has had a volume of recondite, haiku-style poetry published – his trademark emotional drive and solitary soul emerges from inspiration borne of centuries of Persian poetry and modern Iranian existence.
However, it is mainly his photography that has occasioned our encounter today. The Road exhibition at the Basement gallery sees 47 prints drawn from over 25 years of photography on the roads of Iran. The show was first seen as part of a multimedia retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York last year, alongside a number of films and his monochromatic Snow White series.
“These images were taken over the past 20, 25 years,” says Baharak Raoufi of the Basement Gallery. “The Road series is emotional for him, as he is deeply attached to the feelings expressed in this collection. When we invited him to show his work in Dubai, this is the series he chose. He chooses not to sell work in Iran any longer, so he will be selling here.”
Since he began taking photographs of the Iranian landscape in the late 1970s, Kiarostami has generated hundreds of these deceptively simplistic pictures of roads, through rain-flecked windscreens, isolated trees, vast snow plains, and motionless tableaux, each suffused with a heavy emotional payload. Looking at the motives and reasons behind Road is as good a place as any to delve into a career that has spanned over 40 years in a relentless, methodical and occasionally haphazard pursuit of inner peace and creative satisfaction.
“My photographic career started as a matter of fact, when I went to buy a camera for a friend,” he begins. “It was a 1,000-something dollars, and I thought, I want to buy one for myself too. It was the exact year of the revolution, 1979. That is when I started taking photographs. We had a lot of spare time because of the revolution. We couldn’t make films and we were very depressed. So we took ourselves out of the town to deal with our depression. I had this camera, a Yashica, and started shooting. It was a cheap camera.”
In these observations of the world, Kiarostami eschews the conventions of landscape photography and instead forges an emotional relationship with his surroundings, channelling himself from behind the lens. The documentary element of his work is there – echoing the style he favours for his films – but through repetition and subtle shifts in perspective, small fragments of detail emerge that differentiate and define the pieces. Again, this echoes his modus operandi with filmmaking.
In his best-known series of images, the Snow White collection, in which he repeatedly shoots high contrast black and white images of smooth, undulating snow-laden terrain occasionally broken by the stark blackness of a tree or road, the sense of cold isolation is complete. Yet in their frozen silence these pictures resonate with a deep humanity and a fundamental engagement with nature.
Since Kiarostami began his photographic career with no intention of publishing the work, it came as a mild surprise when a decade or so later, a friend asked him to collect a series of images for an exhibition. Interest in what the maverick filmmaker had produced was strong, and critical consensus overwhelmingly positive. Now, he is a veteran of over 30 major photography exhibitions worldwide, all of them based on the quantities of images he repeatedly shot in and around Tehran – the roads, the trees, the empty desolate landscapes. His work is in a number of key museum permanent collections, including the V&A in London.
“Two topics have been always inviting for my photography – trees and roads,” reflects Kiarostami. “You should know that the external revolution, the Islamic revolution which was going on at that time, was hardened by an internal revolution going on in my personal life, with my home and family (Kiarostami’s marriage was breaking down during this time). With the Road photographs, that was my way of thinking, my emotions at that moment made them this way. When you look at them now, your own emotion is coming in and influencing it. For instance, if you know nothing about the experience of loneliness, then you wouldn’t understand these photographs. But with an experience of loneliness, it will help you to understand my loneliness through these roads.”
The minimalism he emphasises in his images, the natural purity, is also the dominant driving force in his film career. Since gaining international acclaim from directors ranging from Tarantino to Scorsese for the semi-documentary Close-Up in 1990, to winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes for A Taste of Cherry in 1997, he has been balancing an increasing global profile with continued artistic experimentation, refining his practise, honing his technique down to the bare essentials. Experiments with digital cameras, a non-professional cast, improvisation and reliance on chance have paid off. However, despite success, he is frequently irritated with critics and audiences who, in his view, lazily fail to grasp his vision.
“Why are we always trying to define cinema separately from photography and music?” he argues. “They are connected, they mingle and are interwoven. Why do we like to have something very specific and defined? If that was the case, then the person who likes cinema shouldn’t go to the gallery or vice versa. We have to have them all together.”
Still, as with the case of his latest film, Shirin, Kiarostami’s uncompromising vision can cause mass confusion. Shirin is a series of close-ups of 117 women’s faces as they watch a play. We hear the play happening off screen and see the natural responses – laughter, sadness, suspense, relief – on the features of these faces. At Venice, where it was screened this summer, there was pandemonium in the auditorium, with confused viewers storming out and slating the film bitterly. Kiarostami has a spirited defence.
“The reaction in Venice was very predictable, actually. What was not predictable was the bad quality of the projection and organisation. The film for the media screening was actually projected with English subtitles, which were going on and off all the time and, at one point, for about 10 minutes, there was a total absence of subtitles. In spite of that, glory to the audience, because they were very patient! Shirin is a very difficult film which needs a lot of patience. So Venice was really a mess, an uncontrollable mess.”
Nevertheless, Kiarostami remains driven, determined. Describing Shirin as the end of a cycle that began back in 1970 with The Bread and Alley, he is currently working on an undefined new project. At this stage, he isn’t sure what the end result will be, but he is hoping he can eliminate as much narrative as possible, leaving most of it to be inferred by the viewer. Scraps of ideas are discussed – one scene he describes, sees a shy couple on the day of their wedding, reluctant to be photographed, left alone in a room with a camera with the plan that they will take their own portrait. Their off-screen conversation and inability to control the camera makes up the action. It is typically Kiarostami – wry, bittersweet, visually perplexing, yet quite rational.
Returning to the topic of Shirin, he delivers a final reflection. “Taking a picture is just freezing a moment, taking it out. That’s why I like photography, I don’t have to tell stories. In cinema, I am putting the storytelling outside the main frame of what is really happening and what you can see is your own story, being seen on the face of the person you are looking at. Therefore, you have so many different stories, so many complicated stories, that you know the story but yet you don’t know it. It leaves a lot of space, for you the viewer to look at it. I am not telling you the exact story, but it is there for you to find out about. That is my idea of the art of cinematography.”
Road, Basement Gallery, Dubai. www.basementdubai.com Until Nov 5.
Saturday, 4 October 2008
'Consumerism and foreigners' greatest identity threats
Residents of the UAE say the burgeoning expatriate population and consumerism are the greatest threats to national identity, according to a study published today.
In the survey, conducted by the market-research company YouGov Siraj, 60 per cent of Emiratis questioned said they felt a sense of isolation as their cultural identity became increasingly diluted by large numbers of expatriates. In contrast, 71 per cent of the western expatriates surveyed said that the biggest threat to Emirati culture and
identity was the country’s “highly materialistic and consumerist society”.
Despite those sentiments, 81 per cent of the 628 respondents – Emirati and expatriate – said they belonged in the UAE. More than half said the country’s safety record was the main attraction.
Most of those surveyed agreed that a sense of national identity could be developed by creating a “consolidated vision across the emirates that all citizens and residents can relate to equally” and by communicating traditional values.
High rents, traffic and inflation emerged as the three main problems residents have. Traffic was considered the biggest problem in Sharjah, where 56 per cent of those surveyed said it reduced the quality of their lives.
The survey found that nationals were the most likely group to say the UAE is a good place to raise a family. A fifth of all Asians questioned cited discrimination as a key complaint.
Most Western and Asian expatriates said their inability to speak Arabic had not been an obstacle to their career aspirations.
The survey will be featured this evening on Emirates Tonight, on the Arabic-language Emirates Channel.
In the survey, conducted by the market-research company YouGov Siraj, 60 per cent of Emiratis questioned said they felt a sense of isolation as their cultural identity became increasingly diluted by large numbers of expatriates. In contrast, 71 per cent of the western expatriates surveyed said that the biggest threat to Emirati culture and
identity was the country’s “highly materialistic and consumerist society”.
Despite those sentiments, 81 per cent of the 628 respondents – Emirati and expatriate – said they belonged in the UAE. More than half said the country’s safety record was the main attraction.
Most of those surveyed agreed that a sense of national identity could be developed by creating a “consolidated vision across the emirates that all citizens and residents can relate to equally” and by communicating traditional values.
High rents, traffic and inflation emerged as the three main problems residents have. Traffic was considered the biggest problem in Sharjah, where 56 per cent of those surveyed said it reduced the quality of their lives.
The survey found that nationals were the most likely group to say the UAE is a good place to raise a family. A fifth of all Asians questioned cited discrimination as a key complaint.
Most Western and Asian expatriates said their inability to speak Arabic had not been an obstacle to their career aspirations.
The survey will be featured this evening on Emirates Tonight, on the Arabic-language Emirates Channel.
Our big worries: rent, traffic, prices
ABU DHABI // High rents, traffic and inflation are the three most pressing problems facing UAE residents, a wide-ranging survey on life in the Emirates finds.
The survey, conducted by the market research company YouGov Siraj, asked Emiratis and expatriates to list the best and worst aspects of life in the country.
Respondents were divided by emirate of residence, age, income group, gender and ethnic group.
While they praised the country’s safety, and cited job opportunities as the reason for moving here, the survey highlighted the different perceptions among Emiratis and other ethnic groups.
“Emiratis, Asians and westerners seem to have quite different experiences,” said Maria Joao Neves, a regional research director at YouGov Siraj.
For example, the fact that the UAE is an Islamic country was one of the top three things praised by Emiratis and expatriate Arabs. That was low on the lists of Westerners, who said better career opportunities and lack of taxation were the things they liked most.
Expatriates from the subcontinent also cited tax-free status, as well as the clean environment and lack of political conflict.
Nationwide, high rents were the most commonly expressed problem, although heavy traffic was the main complaint from residents of Sharjah.
“Inflation is a big concern for everybody, including Emiratis,” Ms Neves said. “If the Government were to do something to check the rate of inflation, that would improve people’s perception.”
Westerners also referred to encountering rude and arrogant behaviour and uncertainty over legal rights.
Ms Neves said Westerners were probably more concerned about legalities because they were more likely than other expatriates to buy property. “Until very recently they didn’t know where they stood in terms of land rights.”
The third most popular reason for living in the UAE was that the respondents were born and brought up here.
“Locals do have privileges that a lot of expatriates don’t have and that does make people feel like they are outsiders,” Ms Neves said. “Expatriates can’t become citizens and that’s important to a lot of people.”
Khalid, a Yemeni born in the UAE who was not among the survey respondents, said inequality between Emiratis and residents like himself was troubling. He complained about the lack of citizenship rights for those who have no other home.
“I’ve never been to Yemen and I’m not going any time soon,” he said. “I’ve lived here all my life. My brother has lived here. He just went to university and now to come back he needs a visit visa.”
Recent changes to the visa system require those seeking visit visas to await the paperwork in their home countries. For people like Khalid, that would mean going to Yemen.
“I don’t know anyone there,” he said.
Sixteen per cent of the Emiratis surveyed said the country was too liberal.
Emiratis were the most likely group to say the UAE is a good place to raise a family.
One fifth of all Asians said they most disliked the discrimination against them.
While 59 per cent of all the people surveyed said they would recommend to others that they move to the UAE, the country’s most avid supporters lived in either Abu Dhabi or the Northern Emirates.
The lower the respondents’ monthly income, the more likely they were to say they felt a sense of belonging in the UAE. Less than 34 per cent of those who earned more than US$8,000 (Dh29,400 a month) said they felt at home here, compared with 59 per cent of those who made less than US$1,066.
“Before, people would stay for three to four years and then leave. Now the UAE is moving toward a more stable community,” Ms Neves said.
“It’s interesting that despite the transitory nature of the community … there was a sense of belonging. When asked ‘Do you feel at home?’ 85 per cent of people said yes, or that they felt a little at home … that means the country is certainly moving in the right direction. People are staying longer in Dubai and the UAE.”
The survey, conducted by the market research company YouGov Siraj, asked Emiratis and expatriates to list the best and worst aspects of life in the country.
Respondents were divided by emirate of residence, age, income group, gender and ethnic group.
While they praised the country’s safety, and cited job opportunities as the reason for moving here, the survey highlighted the different perceptions among Emiratis and other ethnic groups.
“Emiratis, Asians and westerners seem to have quite different experiences,” said Maria Joao Neves, a regional research director at YouGov Siraj.
For example, the fact that the UAE is an Islamic country was one of the top three things praised by Emiratis and expatriate Arabs. That was low on the lists of Westerners, who said better career opportunities and lack of taxation were the things they liked most.
Expatriates from the subcontinent also cited tax-free status, as well as the clean environment and lack of political conflict.
Nationwide, high rents were the most commonly expressed problem, although heavy traffic was the main complaint from residents of Sharjah.
“Inflation is a big concern for everybody, including Emiratis,” Ms Neves said. “If the Government were to do something to check the rate of inflation, that would improve people’s perception.”
Westerners also referred to encountering rude and arrogant behaviour and uncertainty over legal rights.
Ms Neves said Westerners were probably more concerned about legalities because they were more likely than other expatriates to buy property. “Until very recently they didn’t know where they stood in terms of land rights.”
The third most popular reason for living in the UAE was that the respondents were born and brought up here.
“Locals do have privileges that a lot of expatriates don’t have and that does make people feel like they are outsiders,” Ms Neves said. “Expatriates can’t become citizens and that’s important to a lot of people.”
Khalid, a Yemeni born in the UAE who was not among the survey respondents, said inequality between Emiratis and residents like himself was troubling. He complained about the lack of citizenship rights for those who have no other home.
“I’ve never been to Yemen and I’m not going any time soon,” he said. “I’ve lived here all my life. My brother has lived here. He just went to university and now to come back he needs a visit visa.”
Recent changes to the visa system require those seeking visit visas to await the paperwork in their home countries. For people like Khalid, that would mean going to Yemen.
“I don’t know anyone there,” he said.
Sixteen per cent of the Emiratis surveyed said the country was too liberal.
Emiratis were the most likely group to say the UAE is a good place to raise a family.
One fifth of all Asians said they most disliked the discrimination against them.
While 59 per cent of all the people surveyed said they would recommend to others that they move to the UAE, the country’s most avid supporters lived in either Abu Dhabi or the Northern Emirates.
The lower the respondents’ monthly income, the more likely they were to say they felt a sense of belonging in the UAE. Less than 34 per cent of those who earned more than US$8,000 (Dh29,400 a month) said they felt at home here, compared with 59 per cent of those who made less than US$1,066.
“Before, people would stay for three to four years and then leave. Now the UAE is moving toward a more stable community,” Ms Neves said.
“It’s interesting that despite the transitory nature of the community … there was a sense of belonging. When asked ‘Do you feel at home?’ 85 per cent of people said yes, or that they felt a little at home … that means the country is certainly moving in the right direction. People are staying longer in Dubai and the UAE.”
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Journalists Association calls for press freedom
DUBAI // Journalists observed the first UAE Press Freedom Day at a majlis last night with a call for more openness in the media and further legal protection for reporters and editors.
Mohammed Youssef, the head of the UAE Journalists Association, said there was growing acceptance by government officials and businesses that the media need to be free, but that there was a long way to go before journalists could get the same access to information as their counterparts in other parts of the world.
“Things are improving; people realise now that if they do not tell the truth and give journalists the information they need, there is more chance of inaccurate rumours appearing on the internet,” Mr Youssef said before the majlis.
“When people are looking for information about the UAE, if they do not find it here, they will find it on Reuters or Bloomberg in London or New York, so it does not make sense to keep things hidden from the press in this country.”
“Still, we are not given information on a silver plate. We have to fight for it. In some ways it is harder now because more government departments are using PR firms, so you are passed on to someone who knows nothing about the topic.
“It still takes too long to get information, but I think now if a journalist has information that he knows is 100 per cent correct, it is easier for him to print the story without waiting for weeks. That makes people more willing to talk, and if they will not talk before you do the story, they will give a response the day after you print it.”
On Sept 25 last year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, in his capacity as UAE prime minister, said journalists should not be threatened with imprisonment for doing their jobs. The Journalists Association designated the date as UAE Press Freedom Day.
During the majlis, Mr Youssef said that to his knowledge, no journalists had been arrested or taken to court since.
However, he warned that journalists still needed to exercise caution as newspapers can be still be reprimanded for printing incorrect or libellous information.
The majlis, which was also attended by Abdul Hamid Ahmad, editor in chief of Gulf News, and Abdul Hamid al Kumati, a legal consultant to the UAE Journalists Association, also discussed the proposed revision of the UAE media law.
Mr Ahmad said at the meeting the authorities had been “more civilised” in dealing with complaints against journalists since Sheikh Mohammed’s proclamation last year that said reform of the media law was essential.
Reports on the draft of the new law suggested that its authors ignored many of the suggestions made by journalists, Mr Youssef said, speaking before the majlis.
As an example, he said he understood that in the draft law, “if a journalist is to be taken to court, it is still to the criminal court, not the civil courts as we have asked for”.
Mohammed Youssef, the head of the UAE Journalists Association, said there was growing acceptance by government officials and businesses that the media need to be free, but that there was a long way to go before journalists could get the same access to information as their counterparts in other parts of the world.
“Things are improving; people realise now that if they do not tell the truth and give journalists the information they need, there is more chance of inaccurate rumours appearing on the internet,” Mr Youssef said before the majlis.
“When people are looking for information about the UAE, if they do not find it here, they will find it on Reuters or Bloomberg in London or New York, so it does not make sense to keep things hidden from the press in this country.”
“Still, we are not given information on a silver plate. We have to fight for it. In some ways it is harder now because more government departments are using PR firms, so you are passed on to someone who knows nothing about the topic.
“It still takes too long to get information, but I think now if a journalist has information that he knows is 100 per cent correct, it is easier for him to print the story without waiting for weeks. That makes people more willing to talk, and if they will not talk before you do the story, they will give a response the day after you print it.”
On Sept 25 last year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, in his capacity as UAE prime minister, said journalists should not be threatened with imprisonment for doing their jobs. The Journalists Association designated the date as UAE Press Freedom Day.
During the majlis, Mr Youssef said that to his knowledge, no journalists had been arrested or taken to court since.
However, he warned that journalists still needed to exercise caution as newspapers can be still be reprimanded for printing incorrect or libellous information.
The majlis, which was also attended by Abdul Hamid Ahmad, editor in chief of Gulf News, and Abdul Hamid al Kumati, a legal consultant to the UAE Journalists Association, also discussed the proposed revision of the UAE media law.
Mr Ahmad said at the meeting the authorities had been “more civilised” in dealing with complaints against journalists since Sheikh Mohammed’s proclamation last year that said reform of the media law was essential.
Reports on the draft of the new law suggested that its authors ignored many of the suggestions made by journalists, Mr Youssef said, speaking before the majlis.
As an example, he said he understood that in the draft law, “if a journalist is to be taken to court, it is still to the criminal court, not the civil courts as we have asked for”.
Saturday, 6 September 2008
A rich man learns Dubai is not the place to commit a crime
The accusations of corruption within the ruling Egyptian National Democratic Party (NDP) manifested themselves in two very different ways this summer. In July an Egyptian court stunned the Arab world when it acquitted NDP member Mamdouh Ismail, the owner of the 35-year-old ferry boat, Salam Boccacio 98, that sank off the shore of Egypt killing one thousand low -income Egyptians on their way back to their home country. Even though a parliamentary investigation found “a wicked collusion” between the boat operator and the Egyptian Commission of Maritime Safety that should have prevented the ferry from operating because it failed to meet minimum safety requirements, no person from either side was indicted.
The tragedy was compounded by the fact that most of those who perished were returning with savings that they earned while working abroad; savings that their families were eagerly anticipating to alleviate their poverty. Among the acquitted were three employees of the ferry boat company along with the owner’s son who fled Egypt with his father upon hearing the news of the sinking in 2006. Many doubted that the court would find the latter guilty as both the prosecutor and ferry boat owner were officials appointed by the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Among the numerous examples that illustrate how being a parliamentary member of the NDP brings with it many opportunities and windfall profits is the case of Ezz Steel. The Chairman of the company, Ahmad Ezz happens to head the influential NDP’s Committee of Organisational and Membership Affairs. The billionaire’s company reported a considerable jump in net profits to $191 million in the first half of 2008, up 63 per cent from the same period last year despite the fact that fuel prices have increased significantly. This may be due to the fact that the NDP heavily subsidises fuel to the tune of $11 billion a year, based on the recommendation of the budget committee that is also led by Mr Ezz. The subsidies contribute to the steel giant’s hold on 75 per cent of the steel production sector, a figure the NDP states is “not considered a monopoly”.
The list of names of parliamentary officials who have been accused of benefiting financially from their political affiliation in various ways is only growing. In fact, so attractive was the prospect of joining the NDP that the last elections in 2005 saw a rush by scores of Egyptian businessmen to enter parliament on the NDP ticket. Among them was Dr Hani Surour, an MP and the deputy chairman of the NDP’s Economic Affairs Committee who this summer was also acquitted of the charges of supplying Egyptian public hospitals with “200,000 contaminated blood bags infected with bacteria and fungi likely to cause cancer and hepatitis”. No wonder Transparency International rankings ties Egypt with Burkina Faso and Albania in the corrupt states index.
After this summer’s acquittals of Mr Ismail and Dr Surour, one could be forgiven for forming the impression that NDP membership offers a degree of immunity. That was until one of them crossed the border and allegedly committed a crime on foreign soil where the NDP is unable to pull the necessary strings.
The arrest of billionaire businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa on charges of ordering the murder of the Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim in Dubai was an unprecedented step forward in the history of the country. So much so that fellow businessmen and NDP members lobbied unsuccessfully in order to keep Mr Moustafa’s immunity from being revoked, perhaps because of the serious precedent it established. The truth is if this heinous crime had taken place in many other Middle Eastern states Mr Moustafa might not have been indicted, along with the former Egyptian State Security officer Mohsen el Sukkari whom he allegedly paid $2 million to carry out the execution.
Dubai Police aren’t just any police force after all. Fresh from their investigations into corruption among officials within their own emirate, the Dubai police force put their skills into practice to investigate the murder of Ms Tamim. If the alleged killer and his backer had done their homework they would have learned for example that the Dubai Police have been consistently undergoing rigorous training in criminal behaviour and strategic planning conducted by the FBI Academy. They would have learned that Dubai Police are the very first in the Arab world to use DNA testing in criminal investigations as well as electronic fingerprinting. And they would have learned to keep their murderous hands away from my country – because in Dubai, crime doesn’t pay.
Sultan Al Qassemi is a Sharjah-based businessman and graduate of the American University of Paris. He is the founder of Barjeel Securities in Dubai
The tragedy was compounded by the fact that most of those who perished were returning with savings that they earned while working abroad; savings that their families were eagerly anticipating to alleviate their poverty. Among the acquitted were three employees of the ferry boat company along with the owner’s son who fled Egypt with his father upon hearing the news of the sinking in 2006. Many doubted that the court would find the latter guilty as both the prosecutor and ferry boat owner were officials appointed by the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Among the numerous examples that illustrate how being a parliamentary member of the NDP brings with it many opportunities and windfall profits is the case of Ezz Steel. The Chairman of the company, Ahmad Ezz happens to head the influential NDP’s Committee of Organisational and Membership Affairs. The billionaire’s company reported a considerable jump in net profits to $191 million in the first half of 2008, up 63 per cent from the same period last year despite the fact that fuel prices have increased significantly. This may be due to the fact that the NDP heavily subsidises fuel to the tune of $11 billion a year, based on the recommendation of the budget committee that is also led by Mr Ezz. The subsidies contribute to the steel giant’s hold on 75 per cent of the steel production sector, a figure the NDP states is “not considered a monopoly”.
The list of names of parliamentary officials who have been accused of benefiting financially from their political affiliation in various ways is only growing. In fact, so attractive was the prospect of joining the NDP that the last elections in 2005 saw a rush by scores of Egyptian businessmen to enter parliament on the NDP ticket. Among them was Dr Hani Surour, an MP and the deputy chairman of the NDP’s Economic Affairs Committee who this summer was also acquitted of the charges of supplying Egyptian public hospitals with “200,000 contaminated blood bags infected with bacteria and fungi likely to cause cancer and hepatitis”. No wonder Transparency International rankings ties Egypt with Burkina Faso and Albania in the corrupt states index.
After this summer’s acquittals of Mr Ismail and Dr Surour, one could be forgiven for forming the impression that NDP membership offers a degree of immunity. That was until one of them crossed the border and allegedly committed a crime on foreign soil where the NDP is unable to pull the necessary strings.
The arrest of billionaire businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa on charges of ordering the murder of the Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim in Dubai was an unprecedented step forward in the history of the country. So much so that fellow businessmen and NDP members lobbied unsuccessfully in order to keep Mr Moustafa’s immunity from being revoked, perhaps because of the serious precedent it established. The truth is if this heinous crime had taken place in many other Middle Eastern states Mr Moustafa might not have been indicted, along with the former Egyptian State Security officer Mohsen el Sukkari whom he allegedly paid $2 million to carry out the execution.
Dubai Police aren’t just any police force after all. Fresh from their investigations into corruption among officials within their own emirate, the Dubai police force put their skills into practice to investigate the murder of Ms Tamim. If the alleged killer and his backer had done their homework they would have learned for example that the Dubai Police have been consistently undergoing rigorous training in criminal behaviour and strategic planning conducted by the FBI Academy. They would have learned that Dubai Police are the very first in the Arab world to use DNA testing in criminal investigations as well as electronic fingerprinting. And they would have learned to keep their murderous hands away from my country – because in Dubai, crime doesn’t pay.
Sultan Al Qassemi is a Sharjah-based businessman and graduate of the American University of Paris. He is the founder of Barjeel Securities in Dubai
Monday, 18 August 2008
UAE cities clash over lifestyle, Iran
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - At first, the differences between the United Arab Emirates' two leading cities were merely cultural. Abu Dhabi built world-class museums as fast as Dubai put up extravagant shopping malls - one with a ski slope inside.
But the healthy competition that has helped transform them into two of the Middle East's most vibrant and bustling cities has soured as the tiny emirates grow increasingly divided over their relations with two other rivals - Iran and the United States.
Dubai's skyscrapers, American-style theme parks and sprawling beaches clashed with the more prim sophistication of Abu Dhabi, which is building a symphony orchestra and branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums.
But now Dubai's massive trade with Iran and liberal Western outlook are becoming liabilities for the U.S.-friendly capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi, which is under pressure from Washington to isolate the Islamic republic.
With half the population of Dubai's 1.2 million residents and much less glitz, Abu Dhabi is the richest of the seven city-states that make up the United Arab Emirates.
As the world's fourth largest exporter of oil, Abu Dhabi is also the main provider for the rest of the semi-independent states, including Dubai.
All of that wealth is owned by the ruling family in Abu Dhabi, giving it the power to force compliance with federal laws and rein in Dubai's at times murky commercial dealings with Iran.
Still, Abu Dhabi cannot afford to antagonize Iran, and so it treads a fine line.
Last year, the Bush administration asked Abu Dhabi to crack down on companies suspected of smuggling equipment to Iran to build explosive devices killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The White House also expressed concerns about shipments to Iranian front companies operating in Dubai.
The UAE and other Sunni-ruled Arab states are suspicious of Shiite Iran, just a boat ride across the Gulf from Dubai. They share the West's concern over Iran's nuclear program and fear Tehran's growing ability to empower Shiites across the region, especially in Iraq.
Iran and the UAE have diplomatic ties and both benefit from their booming commerce. Thousands of Iranian business are based in Dubai, which also hosts the Arab world's largest Iranian expat community.
With U.S. sanctions against Iran already in place and Washington threatening new penalties for Tehran's failure to curb uranium enrichment, Dubai is finding it more difficult to defend its lucrative commercial dealings with Iran's ruling elite.
The UAE has been a loyal ally in America's war on terror. The U.S. has been allowed to operate in an airbase in the outskirts of Abu Dhabi and its warships regularly dock in Dubai's ports.
But Iranian investment in Dubai - about $14 billion each year - buoys a robust development plan largely financed with foreign cash. The trade is also a huge boost to Tehran's confidence that it can survive Western-imposed sanctions.
"Iran is not suffering from sanctions if it can still bring things through Dubai," said Jean-FranEcois Seznec, a gulf specialist at Georgetown University.
Within days of the Bush administration's request to Abu Dhabi to crack down on companies suspected of helping Iran militarily, the UAE president announced a law to "ban or restrict imports, exports or passthrough shipments for reasons of health, safety, environmental concerns, national security or foreign affairs."
Authorities also said they were closing some companies, but it isn't clear how thoroughly the law has been enforced.
Analysts say Dubai has largely ignored America's pressure to curb trade with Iran.
By continuing with business as usual, "Dubai has been jeopardizing Abu Dhabi's relationship with Washington," said Christopher Davidson, a UAE specialist and a lecturer at the U.K.'s Durham University.
Plus, Dubai's permissive ways to accommodate Western residents and tourists - by circumventing alcohol restrictions and other rules in the conservative Muslim country - have made the city-state a "liability for the federation, with its behavior," Davidson said.
So Abu Dhabi has stepped up its pressure, starting with delicate issues Dubai has trouble defending - nudity and excessive booze. Last month, Dubai obliged when Abu Dhabi questioned its neighbor's Islamic credentials.
Police detained almost 80 people in a crackdown on public drinking, topless sunbathing and nudity on public beaches. Undercover policemen also rounded up 17 foreign men authorities accused of being gay.
Dubai's acting police chief vowed to detain all those suspected of acts "deemed offensive, immoral or disrespectful."
But limiting Iranian business in Dubai is a tougher task, with few rewards for Abu Dhabi, analysts say.
"Neither of them wants to be too close to the U.S. nor too distant from Iran," said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, political science professor at Emirates University.
The balancing act associated with trying to accommodate the U.S. and Iran has enabled Dubai and Abu Dhabi to "play good cop, bad cop," Seznec said.
But he said it was also possible Abu Dhabi doesn't truly want Dubai to stop being "the main transport hub for Iran."
The UAE capital looks after the interests of other Gulf states, who fear a U.S. recession and high inflation because their currencies are pegged to the dollar, Seznec said.
"And a bankrupt Iran is simply not in the Gulf's interest," he said.
But the healthy competition that has helped transform them into two of the Middle East's most vibrant and bustling cities has soured as the tiny emirates grow increasingly divided over their relations with two other rivals - Iran and the United States.
Dubai's skyscrapers, American-style theme parks and sprawling beaches clashed with the more prim sophistication of Abu Dhabi, which is building a symphony orchestra and branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums.
But now Dubai's massive trade with Iran and liberal Western outlook are becoming liabilities for the U.S.-friendly capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi, which is under pressure from Washington to isolate the Islamic republic.
With half the population of Dubai's 1.2 million residents and much less glitz, Abu Dhabi is the richest of the seven city-states that make up the United Arab Emirates.
As the world's fourth largest exporter of oil, Abu Dhabi is also the main provider for the rest of the semi-independent states, including Dubai.
All of that wealth is owned by the ruling family in Abu Dhabi, giving it the power to force compliance with federal laws and rein in Dubai's at times murky commercial dealings with Iran.
Still, Abu Dhabi cannot afford to antagonize Iran, and so it treads a fine line.
Last year, the Bush administration asked Abu Dhabi to crack down on companies suspected of smuggling equipment to Iran to build explosive devices killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The White House also expressed concerns about shipments to Iranian front companies operating in Dubai.
The UAE and other Sunni-ruled Arab states are suspicious of Shiite Iran, just a boat ride across the Gulf from Dubai. They share the West's concern over Iran's nuclear program and fear Tehran's growing ability to empower Shiites across the region, especially in Iraq.
Iran and the UAE have diplomatic ties and both benefit from their booming commerce. Thousands of Iranian business are based in Dubai, which also hosts the Arab world's largest Iranian expat community.
With U.S. sanctions against Iran already in place and Washington threatening new penalties for Tehran's failure to curb uranium enrichment, Dubai is finding it more difficult to defend its lucrative commercial dealings with Iran's ruling elite.
The UAE has been a loyal ally in America's war on terror. The U.S. has been allowed to operate in an airbase in the outskirts of Abu Dhabi and its warships regularly dock in Dubai's ports.
But Iranian investment in Dubai - about $14 billion each year - buoys a robust development plan largely financed with foreign cash. The trade is also a huge boost to Tehran's confidence that it can survive Western-imposed sanctions.
"Iran is not suffering from sanctions if it can still bring things through Dubai," said Jean-FranEcois Seznec, a gulf specialist at Georgetown University.
Within days of the Bush administration's request to Abu Dhabi to crack down on companies suspected of helping Iran militarily, the UAE president announced a law to "ban or restrict imports, exports or passthrough shipments for reasons of health, safety, environmental concerns, national security or foreign affairs."
Authorities also said they were closing some companies, but it isn't clear how thoroughly the law has been enforced.
Analysts say Dubai has largely ignored America's pressure to curb trade with Iran.
By continuing with business as usual, "Dubai has been jeopardizing Abu Dhabi's relationship with Washington," said Christopher Davidson, a UAE specialist and a lecturer at the U.K.'s Durham University.
Plus, Dubai's permissive ways to accommodate Western residents and tourists - by circumventing alcohol restrictions and other rules in the conservative Muslim country - have made the city-state a "liability for the federation, with its behavior," Davidson said.
So Abu Dhabi has stepped up its pressure, starting with delicate issues Dubai has trouble defending - nudity and excessive booze. Last month, Dubai obliged when Abu Dhabi questioned its neighbor's Islamic credentials.
Police detained almost 80 people in a crackdown on public drinking, topless sunbathing and nudity on public beaches. Undercover policemen also rounded up 17 foreign men authorities accused of being gay.
Dubai's acting police chief vowed to detain all those suspected of acts "deemed offensive, immoral or disrespectful."
But limiting Iranian business in Dubai is a tougher task, with few rewards for Abu Dhabi, analysts say.
"Neither of them wants to be too close to the U.S. nor too distant from Iran," said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, political science professor at Emirates University.
The balancing act associated with trying to accommodate the U.S. and Iran has enabled Dubai and Abu Dhabi to "play good cop, bad cop," Seznec said.
But he said it was also possible Abu Dhabi doesn't truly want Dubai to stop being "the main transport hub for Iran."
The UAE capital looks after the interests of other Gulf states, who fear a U.S. recession and high inflation because their currencies are pegged to the dollar, Seznec said.
"And a bankrupt Iran is simply not in the Gulf's interest," he said.
More women 'feel gender not an issue at workplace'
About 51 per cent of women in Middle East workplace feel gender will not adversely impact their chances of being promoted, according to a survey.
The Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj study found that 60 per cent of women employees in the Middle East feel that they are treated fairly as compared to their male counterparts. A further 7 per cent of women reported receiving preferential treatment vis-à-vis male colleagues while 23 per cent reported male colleagues received preferential treatment.
About 43 per cent of respondents felt that their gender had not affected their career prospects, with a further 22 per cent being polarised in their opinion of whether gender had had a positive or negative impact on their career.
The Women in the Workplace survey is a measure of women’s perceptions, attitudes, experiences and satisfaction of various elements of their role in the workplace, especially in regard to their treatment and salaries received compared to their male counterparts.
The survey revealed that there was frequent disparity among nationalities with respect to their feelings about their promotion in the workplace. Although 41 per cent of women felt they had a lower chance of being promoted than their male colleagues, this was most pronounced amongst GCC nationals, with half believing they stood a lower chance, closely followed by 47 per cent of Asians. By contrast, 44 per cent of Western women, almost double the average (27 per cent), felt that their promotion chances were equal to their male equivalents.
"The opinions of female employees towards their work and their treatment in the workplace are hugely authoritative tools for revealing the true nature of the business environment from a woman’s perspective in the Middle East today. In tracking and monitoring this data, organisations and businesses across the entire region can benefit from the findings, allowing them to adjust, or develop new sets of measures or behaviours for promoting crucial gender equality," said Bayt.com’s CEO, Rabea Ataya.
One way that female workers’ feelings about gender equality were measured, was in terms of their financial remuneration and their level of reward and benefits. Almost half of all women surveyed - 46 per cent - feel that they receive less pay than their male counterparts, with Asian nationals most likely to feel this was the case at 58 per cent of Asian respondents. Equality in terms of remuneration also differed by job sector, with majority of female government and semi-government employees seeming to be more equally paid than others. Together, almost half this group felt women receive a salary equal to that of male colleagues, compared with 34 per cent of women working for locally owned companies.
In terms of satisfaction with regards to the level of work recognition they receive, only 24 per cent of respondents indicated high levels of satisfaction with 28 per cent indicating they were dissatisfied. GCC nationals were the most dissatisfied, with 38 per cent citing satisfaction as low.
This should be viewed in conjunction with the fact that slightly over half the respondents felt that appreciation is based on performance alone and not on gender. Only 15 per cent of respondents felt that male employees are better appreciated than female employees. A quarter of the respondents though reported that appreciation was completely non-existent - an astonishing finding in itself.
Despite 62 per cent of women believing that employers should provide preferential treatment or special benefits to them because they are responsible for the wellbeing of the family, 63 per cent said that they do not receive any special benefits on account of their gender. Amongst the nationalities, Asian women felt most strongly (71 per cent) that they should receive special benefits, compared to only 48 per cent of Westerners who felt that allowances should be made on account of their responsibilities at home.
The Women in the Workplace survey also seeks to investigate what facilities currently exist for women in terms of maternity leave or other gender specific benefits. The majority of women at 46 per cent indicated allowances of between one and three months of paid maternity leave, with only 6 per cent of women saying they weren’t permitted any paid time off. However, satisfaction with maternity leave wavered between indifferent and low, at 34 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. An overwhelming majority of women at 81 per cent, indicated that their current employers do not provide any day care facilities for the children of female employees, with employees in government and semi-government companies fairing only marginally better (13 per cent) than the average (10 per cent).
The research goes on to highlight the different reasons that women of different nationalities choose to work. The majority of all women said they worked to achieve their ambition in life at 62 per cent, while 61 per cent cited financial responsibility and need as the key factor. The majority of GCC nationals (75 per cent) worked for a sense of achievement, while most Western women (68 per cent) cited monetary independence as the main reason to work; indicative perhaps of cultural trends and societal differences with regard to working attitudes.
"In spite of several gender based disadvantages and additional familial responsibilities, what struck me as being truly remarkable was the sheer determination of women to succeed. This is clearly evident from the majority of women (72 per cent) who said they would prefer to work even if they were given the option not to. The majority are also equally or more ambitious (84 per cent) and work an equal to more number of hours (89 per cent) than their male counterparts. It’s time employers sit up and take notice of this vital segment of their workforce as research reveals that if provided simple benefits, it would increase the longevity of 80 per cent of women’s careers which will have a long term beneficial impact on the business and the economy as a whole," commented Nassim Ghrayeb, CEO YouGovSiraj.
The data for the July 2008 Women in the Workplace survey was collected online between the period of June 4 and 22, 2008, with 2,602 women recruited - 1,515 of which were working - across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. -TradeArabia News Service
The Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj study found that 60 per cent of women employees in the Middle East feel that they are treated fairly as compared to their male counterparts. A further 7 per cent of women reported receiving preferential treatment vis-à-vis male colleagues while 23 per cent reported male colleagues received preferential treatment.
About 43 per cent of respondents felt that their gender had not affected their career prospects, with a further 22 per cent being polarised in their opinion of whether gender had had a positive or negative impact on their career.
The Women in the Workplace survey is a measure of women’s perceptions, attitudes, experiences and satisfaction of various elements of their role in the workplace, especially in regard to their treatment and salaries received compared to their male counterparts.
The survey revealed that there was frequent disparity among nationalities with respect to their feelings about their promotion in the workplace. Although 41 per cent of women felt they had a lower chance of being promoted than their male colleagues, this was most pronounced amongst GCC nationals, with half believing they stood a lower chance, closely followed by 47 per cent of Asians. By contrast, 44 per cent of Western women, almost double the average (27 per cent), felt that their promotion chances were equal to their male equivalents.
"The opinions of female employees towards their work and their treatment in the workplace are hugely authoritative tools for revealing the true nature of the business environment from a woman’s perspective in the Middle East today. In tracking and monitoring this data, organisations and businesses across the entire region can benefit from the findings, allowing them to adjust, or develop new sets of measures or behaviours for promoting crucial gender equality," said Bayt.com’s CEO, Rabea Ataya.
One way that female workers’ feelings about gender equality were measured, was in terms of their financial remuneration and their level of reward and benefits. Almost half of all women surveyed - 46 per cent - feel that they receive less pay than their male counterparts, with Asian nationals most likely to feel this was the case at 58 per cent of Asian respondents. Equality in terms of remuneration also differed by job sector, with majority of female government and semi-government employees seeming to be more equally paid than others. Together, almost half this group felt women receive a salary equal to that of male colleagues, compared with 34 per cent of women working for locally owned companies.
In terms of satisfaction with regards to the level of work recognition they receive, only 24 per cent of respondents indicated high levels of satisfaction with 28 per cent indicating they were dissatisfied. GCC nationals were the most dissatisfied, with 38 per cent citing satisfaction as low.
This should be viewed in conjunction with the fact that slightly over half the respondents felt that appreciation is based on performance alone and not on gender. Only 15 per cent of respondents felt that male employees are better appreciated than female employees. A quarter of the respondents though reported that appreciation was completely non-existent - an astonishing finding in itself.
Despite 62 per cent of women believing that employers should provide preferential treatment or special benefits to them because they are responsible for the wellbeing of the family, 63 per cent said that they do not receive any special benefits on account of their gender. Amongst the nationalities, Asian women felt most strongly (71 per cent) that they should receive special benefits, compared to only 48 per cent of Westerners who felt that allowances should be made on account of their responsibilities at home.
The Women in the Workplace survey also seeks to investigate what facilities currently exist for women in terms of maternity leave or other gender specific benefits. The majority of women at 46 per cent indicated allowances of between one and three months of paid maternity leave, with only 6 per cent of women saying they weren’t permitted any paid time off. However, satisfaction with maternity leave wavered between indifferent and low, at 34 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. An overwhelming majority of women at 81 per cent, indicated that their current employers do not provide any day care facilities for the children of female employees, with employees in government and semi-government companies fairing only marginally better (13 per cent) than the average (10 per cent).
The research goes on to highlight the different reasons that women of different nationalities choose to work. The majority of all women said they worked to achieve their ambition in life at 62 per cent, while 61 per cent cited financial responsibility and need as the key factor. The majority of GCC nationals (75 per cent) worked for a sense of achievement, while most Western women (68 per cent) cited monetary independence as the main reason to work; indicative perhaps of cultural trends and societal differences with regard to working attitudes.
"In spite of several gender based disadvantages and additional familial responsibilities, what struck me as being truly remarkable was the sheer determination of women to succeed. This is clearly evident from the majority of women (72 per cent) who said they would prefer to work even if they were given the option not to. The majority are also equally or more ambitious (84 per cent) and work an equal to more number of hours (89 per cent) than their male counterparts. It’s time employers sit up and take notice of this vital segment of their workforce as research reveals that if provided simple benefits, it would increase the longevity of 80 per cent of women’s careers which will have a long term beneficial impact on the business and the economy as a whole," commented Nassim Ghrayeb, CEO YouGovSiraj.
The data for the July 2008 Women in the Workplace survey was collected online between the period of June 4 and 22, 2008, with 2,602 women recruited - 1,515 of which were working - across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. -TradeArabia News Service
Friday, 8 August 2008
Al-Arabiya TV panellists discuss rationale behind, accuracy of terror warnings
["Panorama" programme, moderated by Muntaha al-Ramahi, discusses objective of warnings issued by intelligence agencies against possible Al-Qa'idah attacks - live]
Dubai-based, Saudi private capital-funded pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya TV on 3 August carries within its "Panorama" feature a 20-minute discussion of the objective behind warnings issued by Western intelligence agencies regarding possible Al-Qa'idah attacks. The discussion is moderated from Dubai by Muntaha al-Ramahi, who hosts Dr Mustafa al-Ani, director of the security and anti-terrorism programme at the Gulf Centre for Research, in the studio; and Tawfiq Mujayyid, writer and journalist, via satellite from Paris.
Al-Ramahi begins by saying: "The information published in the British newspaper, The Guardian, today on efforts by intelligence agencies in several European countries to investigate possible Al-Qa'idah threats to carry out terrorist operations in Europe raises many questions, especially in light of a series of warnings by Western countries to their nationals in several Arab countries, expecting attacks in these countries; the most recent of these warnings was issued two days ago to French nationals in Yemen." She adds that if one examines the series of warnings issued by Western intelligence services regarding possible attacks in Europe over the past five years, one realizes that most warnings were unnecessary. She notes that this raises questions about the sources of information according to which the intelligence agencies issue their warnings, and about their accuracy. She wonders if Al-Qa'idah can still "mislead intelligence agencies by leaking them wrong information on possible targets," and if the warnings are issued to serve other purposes.
The programme then airs a three-minute report by Khalid Uways. Against the background of video footage of the 11 September attacks in New York, Uways says that fear of similar attacks encourages Western intelligence services to issue warnings of possible attacks. He notes that the most recent warning was published by the British The Guardian newspaper citing Western intelligence agencies that believe Al-Qa'idah could dispatch female suicide bombers particularly from North Africa to carry out attacks in Europe. He adds that the intelligence services claim that they have monitored scores of women who support and provide logistical support for Al-Qa'idah. Uways notes that the first female suicide bomber in Iraq in 2005 was Belgian, and discusses Al-Qa'idah's recent use of female suicide bombers. He says that according to experts on terrorism, Al-Qa'idah leaks information to draw attention to a certain place, but attacks another. He adds that according to experts, intelligence agencies' warnings are usually based on accurate information and sometimes prevent attacks because they send a message to Al-Qa'idah that the intelligence agencies are aware of its activities. However, he says that the credibility of some agencies is dispelled when several warnings are issued but no attacks takes place. He notes Al-Qa'idah's attempts to exhaust intelligence services and distort their action. Concluding, Uways says that the work of Western intelligence services will become more difficult now that women have become involved in Al-Qa'idah activities.
Asked about the sources of intelligence information, Al-Ani begins by saying that "there are three levels of warnings in any intelligence agency." He notes that warnings are first issued to the members of the agency itself and then to the intelligence and diplomatic community, and that finally a general warning is issued. He stresses that before issuing a general warning, the intelligence service must have information from several sources. He says that in Britain and the United States, the approval of the foreign secretary or someone higher must be obtained before a warning is issued, because the issuance of a warning concerning a particular country could trigger a diplomatic crisis with that country.
Al-Ramahi asks why the warnings issued regarding possible attacks in certain areas were incorrect. She notes that France issued a warning to its nationals in Yemen, yet an operation took place in Algeria. Al-Ani says: "Any intelligence service acts on an international level, it has geographical branches and branches for the country, and Al-Qa'idah operates on the same principle. It is an international organization." He notes that Al-Qa'idah has carried out or tried to carry out operations throughout the world.
Asked if Al-Qa'idah changes the target of its operation once a warning is issued by an intelligence agency, Al-Ani says that the "main responsibility of the disinformation department in any intelligence service is to squander the efforts of the other party." He adds: "When Al-Qa'idah signals that it will attack a European country when it is planning [for an operation] in an African nation, the intelligence agency will focus most of its efforts on that European country, thus leaving the real target [unattended]." He stresses that the intelligence agencies of the advanced countries are constitutionally obliged to protect their nationals wherever they may be.
Al-Ramahi says that when a particular embassy issues a warning to its nationals in a particular country, all people become afraid to visit that country. Al-Ani says that intelligence services face a dilemma because they are legally and constitutionally obliged to protect their nationals once they obtain information, and when no attack takes place, they lose credibility.
Once again, Al-Ramahi notes that France issued a warning to its nationals in Yemen, but an operation took place in Algeria. She asks if Al-Qa'idah leaks wrong information in order to ensure the easy execution of an operation in another country. Mujayyid says that deception is likely. With regard to Yemen, he notes that there were reports that a group of Zaydiyyin moved to Sanaa and formed an alliance with some tribes around the capital, which raises concern in light of the summer vacation season.
Asked about Al-Qa'idah's ability to mislead, Mujayyid says that Al-Qa'idah pursues the same approach as the intelligence agencies. He stresses that Al-Qa'idah seeks to mislead intelligence agencies and to have several organizations such as the Libyan, Moroccan, and Tunisian groups. However, he says: "I do not believe the Al-Qa'idah Organization is capable today of inflicting harm as was the case in the past." He stresses that Al-Qa'idah's "first weapon" at present is the "media weapon," and notes that the more we talk about the Al-Qa'idah Organization the stronger it becomes. Mujayyid says that Al-Qa'idah is wagering on the upcoming US presidential elections, and notes claims that it is wagering on John McCain's victory because Barack Obama calls for dialogue between Islam and the West and wants to open dialogue with Iran and Syria. He stresses that Al-Qa'idah is "a political organization before anything else." He says that the Western judiciary and security agencies have sought to dismantle Al-Qa'idah's dormant cells in European countries.
Asked about Al-Qa'idah's use of the media as a weapon, Al-Ani says that the Al-Qa'idah Organization "is not a political party," and thus Al-Qa'idah carries out operations to prove its existence, which is important to ensure funding and recruit elements. He stresses that if an organization does not carry out operations for a long time, its existence will be undermined. Hence, he says that if an organization cannot carry out operations it tries to draw media attention through such warnings. He adds that warnings are issued based on information obtained from individuals or on electronic information, and that intelligence agencies share information. Al-Ani says that before the 11 September attacks and the London attacks, the concerned intelligence services had information about possible attacks but did not issue general warnings; therefore, they were held accountable. Hence, he argues that intelligence agencies now "try to protect themselves against legal and political blame." He adds that when an intelligence agency obtains information it reveals it, because if an attack takes place, it will have done its job, and if no attack takes place it can say that the information was correct but that the involved party refrained from carrying out the attack after the warning was issued.
Asked about Al-Qa'idah's use of booby-trapped cars and the targeting of embassies and police stations, Mujayyid says that targets are usually chosen carefully, noting that Al-Qa'idah focuses on embassies and sensitive places. He says that it seems that Al-Qa'idah has its own strong intelligence agency, one that is capable of providing it with information. Mujayyid says that there is fear of tribal solidarity with the Al-Qa'idah Organization.
Asked if European intelligence agencies fear Al-Qa'idah's use of female suicide bombers in Europe, Mujayyid agrees and says that policemen usually hesitate to search women. He discusses the financial situation of the suicide bombers, money temptations, and attempts to play with their emotions.
Al-Ramahi concludes the episode by thanking her guests.
Source: Al-Arabiya TV, Dubai, in Arabic 1936 gmt 3 Aug 08
Dubai-based, Saudi private capital-funded pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya TV on 3 August carries within its "Panorama" feature a 20-minute discussion of the objective behind warnings issued by Western intelligence agencies regarding possible Al-Qa'idah attacks. The discussion is moderated from Dubai by Muntaha al-Ramahi, who hosts Dr Mustafa al-Ani, director of the security and anti-terrorism programme at the Gulf Centre for Research, in the studio; and Tawfiq Mujayyid, writer and journalist, via satellite from Paris.
Al-Ramahi begins by saying: "The information published in the British newspaper, The Guardian, today on efforts by intelligence agencies in several European countries to investigate possible Al-Qa'idah threats to carry out terrorist operations in Europe raises many questions, especially in light of a series of warnings by Western countries to their nationals in several Arab countries, expecting attacks in these countries; the most recent of these warnings was issued two days ago to French nationals in Yemen." She adds that if one examines the series of warnings issued by Western intelligence services regarding possible attacks in Europe over the past five years, one realizes that most warnings were unnecessary. She notes that this raises questions about the sources of information according to which the intelligence agencies issue their warnings, and about their accuracy. She wonders if Al-Qa'idah can still "mislead intelligence agencies by leaking them wrong information on possible targets," and if the warnings are issued to serve other purposes.
The programme then airs a three-minute report by Khalid Uways. Against the background of video footage of the 11 September attacks in New York, Uways says that fear of similar attacks encourages Western intelligence services to issue warnings of possible attacks. He notes that the most recent warning was published by the British The Guardian newspaper citing Western intelligence agencies that believe Al-Qa'idah could dispatch female suicide bombers particularly from North Africa to carry out attacks in Europe. He adds that the intelligence services claim that they have monitored scores of women who support and provide logistical support for Al-Qa'idah. Uways notes that the first female suicide bomber in Iraq in 2005 was Belgian, and discusses Al-Qa'idah's recent use of female suicide bombers. He says that according to experts on terrorism, Al-Qa'idah leaks information to draw attention to a certain place, but attacks another. He adds that according to experts, intelligence agencies' warnings are usually based on accurate information and sometimes prevent attacks because they send a message to Al-Qa'idah that the intelligence agencies are aware of its activities. However, he says that the credibility of some agencies is dispelled when several warnings are issued but no attacks takes place. He notes Al-Qa'idah's attempts to exhaust intelligence services and distort their action. Concluding, Uways says that the work of Western intelligence services will become more difficult now that women have become involved in Al-Qa'idah activities.
Asked about the sources of intelligence information, Al-Ani begins by saying that "there are three levels of warnings in any intelligence agency." He notes that warnings are first issued to the members of the agency itself and then to the intelligence and diplomatic community, and that finally a general warning is issued. He stresses that before issuing a general warning, the intelligence service must have information from several sources. He says that in Britain and the United States, the approval of the foreign secretary or someone higher must be obtained before a warning is issued, because the issuance of a warning concerning a particular country could trigger a diplomatic crisis with that country.
Al-Ramahi asks why the warnings issued regarding possible attacks in certain areas were incorrect. She notes that France issued a warning to its nationals in Yemen, yet an operation took place in Algeria. Al-Ani says: "Any intelligence service acts on an international level, it has geographical branches and branches for the country, and Al-Qa'idah operates on the same principle. It is an international organization." He notes that Al-Qa'idah has carried out or tried to carry out operations throughout the world.
Asked if Al-Qa'idah changes the target of its operation once a warning is issued by an intelligence agency, Al-Ani says that the "main responsibility of the disinformation department in any intelligence service is to squander the efforts of the other party." He adds: "When Al-Qa'idah signals that it will attack a European country when it is planning [for an operation] in an African nation, the intelligence agency will focus most of its efforts on that European country, thus leaving the real target [unattended]." He stresses that the intelligence agencies of the advanced countries are constitutionally obliged to protect their nationals wherever they may be.
Al-Ramahi says that when a particular embassy issues a warning to its nationals in a particular country, all people become afraid to visit that country. Al-Ani says that intelligence services face a dilemma because they are legally and constitutionally obliged to protect their nationals once they obtain information, and when no attack takes place, they lose credibility.
Once again, Al-Ramahi notes that France issued a warning to its nationals in Yemen, but an operation took place in Algeria. She asks if Al-Qa'idah leaks wrong information in order to ensure the easy execution of an operation in another country. Mujayyid says that deception is likely. With regard to Yemen, he notes that there were reports that a group of Zaydiyyin moved to Sanaa and formed an alliance with some tribes around the capital, which raises concern in light of the summer vacation season.
Asked about Al-Qa'idah's ability to mislead, Mujayyid says that Al-Qa'idah pursues the same approach as the intelligence agencies. He stresses that Al-Qa'idah seeks to mislead intelligence agencies and to have several organizations such as the Libyan, Moroccan, and Tunisian groups. However, he says: "I do not believe the Al-Qa'idah Organization is capable today of inflicting harm as was the case in the past." He stresses that Al-Qa'idah's "first weapon" at present is the "media weapon," and notes that the more we talk about the Al-Qa'idah Organization the stronger it becomes. Mujayyid says that Al-Qa'idah is wagering on the upcoming US presidential elections, and notes claims that it is wagering on John McCain's victory because Barack Obama calls for dialogue between Islam and the West and wants to open dialogue with Iran and Syria. He stresses that Al-Qa'idah is "a political organization before anything else." He says that the Western judiciary and security agencies have sought to dismantle Al-Qa'idah's dormant cells in European countries.
Asked about Al-Qa'idah's use of the media as a weapon, Al-Ani says that the Al-Qa'idah Organization "is not a political party," and thus Al-Qa'idah carries out operations to prove its existence, which is important to ensure funding and recruit elements. He stresses that if an organization does not carry out operations for a long time, its existence will be undermined. Hence, he says that if an organization cannot carry out operations it tries to draw media attention through such warnings. He adds that warnings are issued based on information obtained from individuals or on electronic information, and that intelligence agencies share information. Al-Ani says that before the 11 September attacks and the London attacks, the concerned intelligence services had information about possible attacks but did not issue general warnings; therefore, they were held accountable. Hence, he argues that intelligence agencies now "try to protect themselves against legal and political blame." He adds that when an intelligence agency obtains information it reveals it, because if an attack takes place, it will have done its job, and if no attack takes place it can say that the information was correct but that the involved party refrained from carrying out the attack after the warning was issued.
Asked about Al-Qa'idah's use of booby-trapped cars and the targeting of embassies and police stations, Mujayyid says that targets are usually chosen carefully, noting that Al-Qa'idah focuses on embassies and sensitive places. He says that it seems that Al-Qa'idah has its own strong intelligence agency, one that is capable of providing it with information. Mujayyid says that there is fear of tribal solidarity with the Al-Qa'idah Organization.
Asked if European intelligence agencies fear Al-Qa'idah's use of female suicide bombers in Europe, Mujayyid agrees and says that policemen usually hesitate to search women. He discusses the financial situation of the suicide bombers, money temptations, and attempts to play with their emotions.
Al-Ramahi concludes the episode by thanking her guests.
Source: Al-Arabiya TV, Dubai, in Arabic 1936 gmt 3 Aug 08
Thursday, 7 August 2008
An Autobiographical Account of Exploring Business Opportunities in Dubai: Making a fortune in the Middle East
Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5d1b07/opportunity_dubai) has announced the addition of the "Opportunity Dubai: Making a fortune in the Middle East" report to their offering.
Opportunity Dubai is the autobiographical account of a real-life business adventure in the modern city of Dubai. The author was a financial journalist in the city before deciding in the year 2000 to join the internet revolution, believing that if a business idea would work during the dot-com crash then it would later turn into a big success.
However, this book is far more than the story of a relatively small business and its success (albeit a business that became a resource now used by millions of readers and sold for a multi-million dollar fortune in 2006). It is also an inside track on what is happening in modern Dubai, the focal point of hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, and a city whose GDP has quadrupled in a decade, outperforming any other in the world, including China.
The author charts the progress of Dubai in the 2000s and setbacks such as the Second Gulf War and 9/11 which actually proved the source of a remarkable injection of repatriated capital into the increasingly ambitious projects of the Maktoum family under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Many commentators have pointed to the similarities between Dubai Inc. and the development of Singapore where the government has also played a highly proactive role. But the major strength of Dubai remains its long traditional as a free port and trading centre for the lower Gulf States of the Middle East.
Yet it is true that investment in this infrastructure has been government led for decades and this continues today with the ordering of 58 giant A380 Airbus aircraft by government owned Emirates Airline, the new Terminal Three for Dubai International Airport and the completely new airport at Jebel Ali, Maktoum International Airport. And the original Jebel Ali Free Zone is now managing ports around the globe as a part of the Dubai World business empire.
Perhaps then it should be no surprise that Dubai has been able to capitalise greatly on the Third Oil Boom as the trading hub of the Middle East. But Sheikh Mohammed's restless business vision never stands still. He created the Dubai Internet City in late 1999, just in time to give the author of this book a dedicated free zone with 100 per cent foreign ownership for his small business venture.
More significant still is the Dubai International Financial Centre inaugurated in 2003 which has taken the role of regional financial centre away from former incumbents Beirut and Bahrain. A year earlier Sheikh Mohammed introduced real estate ownership rights for foreigners, sparking a property boom that has created further wealth and opportunities for all residents who chose to share his vision. Early participants have enjoyed a five-fold increase in property values.
In September 2009 the tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai will be completed, standing three times higher than London's One Canada Square at Canary Wharf. Indeed, Dubai has become the city of the mega project with the Dubailand theme park set to almost equal the existing metropolis in size, and office space about to triple in just over two years. Dubai is also the hotel construction capital of the world and its three Palm islands have become global icons.
Opportunity Dubai asks where this is all leading to and whether it can be sustained. However, the author's own experience of prospering from the opportunities presented by this incredible city point in a positive direction; although many of his insights will benefit anybody thinking of joining in this adventure, whether doing business in Dubai, buying a home there, or just taking up a job as an expatriate.
Key Topics Covered:
- The Eureka moment
- Meeting Klaus and Lars
- Darkest days for Dubai and AME Info
- The largest English language media in the Middle East
- Dubai steals the limelight for regional news
- The Dubai Real Estate Boom
- The Dubai real estate boom matures
- An apology to Dr. Marc Faber
- Good and bad investment calls
- Business trips and holidays
- Lunch again with David Price
- Epilogue: The Future of Dubai
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5d1b07/opportunity_dubai
M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data prepared by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com.
Laura Wood, Senior Manager, Research and Markets | Fax: +1 646 607 1907 (USA) | Fax: +353 1 481 1716 (International) | e-mail: press@researchandmarkets.com
Opportunity Dubai is the autobiographical account of a real-life business adventure in the modern city of Dubai. The author was a financial journalist in the city before deciding in the year 2000 to join the internet revolution, believing that if a business idea would work during the dot-com crash then it would later turn into a big success.
However, this book is far more than the story of a relatively small business and its success (albeit a business that became a resource now used by millions of readers and sold for a multi-million dollar fortune in 2006). It is also an inside track on what is happening in modern Dubai, the focal point of hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, and a city whose GDP has quadrupled in a decade, outperforming any other in the world, including China.
The author charts the progress of Dubai in the 2000s and setbacks such as the Second Gulf War and 9/11 which actually proved the source of a remarkable injection of repatriated capital into the increasingly ambitious projects of the Maktoum family under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Many commentators have pointed to the similarities between Dubai Inc. and the development of Singapore where the government has also played a highly proactive role. But the major strength of Dubai remains its long traditional as a free port and trading centre for the lower Gulf States of the Middle East.
Yet it is true that investment in this infrastructure has been government led for decades and this continues today with the ordering of 58 giant A380 Airbus aircraft by government owned Emirates Airline, the new Terminal Three for Dubai International Airport and the completely new airport at Jebel Ali, Maktoum International Airport. And the original Jebel Ali Free Zone is now managing ports around the globe as a part of the Dubai World business empire.
Perhaps then it should be no surprise that Dubai has been able to capitalise greatly on the Third Oil Boom as the trading hub of the Middle East. But Sheikh Mohammed's restless business vision never stands still. He created the Dubai Internet City in late 1999, just in time to give the author of this book a dedicated free zone with 100 per cent foreign ownership for his small business venture.
More significant still is the Dubai International Financial Centre inaugurated in 2003 which has taken the role of regional financial centre away from former incumbents Beirut and Bahrain. A year earlier Sheikh Mohammed introduced real estate ownership rights for foreigners, sparking a property boom that has created further wealth and opportunities for all residents who chose to share his vision. Early participants have enjoyed a five-fold increase in property values.
In September 2009 the tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai will be completed, standing three times higher than London's One Canada Square at Canary Wharf. Indeed, Dubai has become the city of the mega project with the Dubailand theme park set to almost equal the existing metropolis in size, and office space about to triple in just over two years. Dubai is also the hotel construction capital of the world and its three Palm islands have become global icons.
Opportunity Dubai asks where this is all leading to and whether it can be sustained. However, the author's own experience of prospering from the opportunities presented by this incredible city point in a positive direction; although many of his insights will benefit anybody thinking of joining in this adventure, whether doing business in Dubai, buying a home there, or just taking up a job as an expatriate.
Key Topics Covered:
- The Eureka moment
- Meeting Klaus and Lars
- Darkest days for Dubai and AME Info
- The largest English language media in the Middle East
- Dubai steals the limelight for regional news
- The Dubai Real Estate Boom
- The Dubai real estate boom matures
- An apology to Dr. Marc Faber
- Good and bad investment calls
- Business trips and holidays
- Lunch again with David Price
- Epilogue: The Future of Dubai
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5d1b07/opportunity_dubai
M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data prepared by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com.
Laura Wood, Senior Manager, Research and Markets | Fax: +1 646 607 1907 (USA) | Fax: +353 1 481 1716 (International) | e-mail: press@researchandmarkets.com
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
“HALAL EXPO 2008 – DUBAI”
‘Halal Expo 2008’, the definitive event for ‘Halal’ industry in the region, has rolled out the agenda for the event’s second edition, which will focus on developing standards and modernising the Middle East ‘Halal’ sector. The growing demands by global ‘Halal’ consumers – currently at 1.8 billion, continuously fuel the USD 2.1 trillion global markets to rake in as much as USD 500 billion annually, according to recent studies. The event, which is slated to run from Nov 24 – 26, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dubai, is expected to witness a 100% growth compared to its previous edition.
“HALAL EXPO 2008 – DUBAI”
To focus on developing standards and modernising the Middle East ‘Halal’ sector Growing demand by 1.8 billion global ‘Halal’ consumers racks up USD 2.1 trillion in revenues
Halal industry in the Middle East is estimated to be worth more than AED 73 billion in 2008
‘Halal Expo 2008’, the definitive event for ‘Halal’ industry in the region, has rolled out the agenda for the event’s second edition, which will focus on developing standards and modernising the Middle East ‘Halal’ sector. The growing demands by global ‘Halal’ consumers – currently at 1.8 billion, continuously fuel the USD 2.1 trillion global markets to rake in as much as USD 500 billion annually, according to recent studies. The event, which is slated to run from Nov 24 – 26, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dubai, is expected to witness a 100% growth compared to its previous edition.
“Given the outstanding business potential and other benefits of ‘Halal’ products, the aim of ‘Halal Expo 2008’ is to foster trade and facilitate convenient access to genuine ‘Halal’ goods, making it within reach of customers. “In addition to providing a comprehensive platform where ‘Halal’ companies can showcase their products to the global market, we are also focused on bringing forward the newest technologies that will revolutionise the global ‘Halal’ market. The concentration of ‘Halal’ trade lies within the Middle East region, and we have recognised the opportunity in mounting the second edition of the event in Dubai, as it serves as an economic gateway to the rest of the region.”
Dubai is expected to play an important role in the ‘Halal’ industry, due to several plans by leading locally-based ‘Halal’ companies to develop a credible and professional certification body within the emirate to monitor and uphold high quality standards according to global industry requirements. In addition, the expo will be accompanied by 1st Gulf Halal Forum, also features interactive seminars, which have been designed to attract buyers and representatives from the food service, hospitality, retail, logistics, import/export and packaging industries. Delegations from Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Brunei, Bosnia, Canada, China, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Netherlands, Pakistan, The Philippines, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, KSA, UK and the UAE are expected to attend the event. Representatives from government bodies including several regional and international Halal Certification Authorities, Chambers of Commerce, and the International Halal Associations, have also confirmed their presence.
Significant upgrades to current industry standards and practices are necessary to address the growing demands of the rapidly growing market. ‘Halal Expo 2008’ aims to provide a platform for organisations to meet, debate, discuss and explore standards, regulations and options into modernising this industry, which is growing at an equally fast rate as any other progressive verticals. There is huge potential for the UAE ‘Halal’ industry to produce and distribute high quality, regulation certified products throughout the region and the second edition of ‘Halal Expo 2008’ is set to further bolster this outstanding business opportunity for all the participants.
We welcome your support and look forward to your participation at the 2nd HALAL EXPO 2008 - DUBAI
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
“HALAL EXPO 2008 – DUBAI”
To focus on developing standards and modernising the Middle East ‘Halal’ sector Growing demand by 1.8 billion global ‘Halal’ consumers racks up USD 2.1 trillion in revenues
Halal industry in the Middle East is estimated to be worth more than AED 73 billion in 2008
‘Halal Expo 2008’, the definitive event for ‘Halal’ industry in the region, has rolled out the agenda for the event’s second edition, which will focus on developing standards and modernising the Middle East ‘Halal’ sector. The growing demands by global ‘Halal’ consumers – currently at 1.8 billion, continuously fuel the USD 2.1 trillion global markets to rake in as much as USD 500 billion annually, according to recent studies. The event, which is slated to run from Nov 24 – 26, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dubai, is expected to witness a 100% growth compared to its previous edition.
“Given the outstanding business potential and other benefits of ‘Halal’ products, the aim of ‘Halal Expo 2008’ is to foster trade and facilitate convenient access to genuine ‘Halal’ goods, making it within reach of customers. “In addition to providing a comprehensive platform where ‘Halal’ companies can showcase their products to the global market, we are also focused on bringing forward the newest technologies that will revolutionise the global ‘Halal’ market. The concentration of ‘Halal’ trade lies within the Middle East region, and we have recognised the opportunity in mounting the second edition of the event in Dubai, as it serves as an economic gateway to the rest of the region.”
Dubai is expected to play an important role in the ‘Halal’ industry, due to several plans by leading locally-based ‘Halal’ companies to develop a credible and professional certification body within the emirate to monitor and uphold high quality standards according to global industry requirements. In addition, the expo will be accompanied by 1st Gulf Halal Forum, also features interactive seminars, which have been designed to attract buyers and representatives from the food service, hospitality, retail, logistics, import/export and packaging industries. Delegations from Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Brunei, Bosnia, Canada, China, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Netherlands, Pakistan, The Philippines, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, KSA, UK and the UAE are expected to attend the event. Representatives from government bodies including several regional and international Halal Certification Authorities, Chambers of Commerce, and the International Halal Associations, have also confirmed their presence.
Significant upgrades to current industry standards and practices are necessary to address the growing demands of the rapidly growing market. ‘Halal Expo 2008’ aims to provide a platform for organisations to meet, debate, discuss and explore standards, regulations and options into modernising this industry, which is growing at an equally fast rate as any other progressive verticals. There is huge potential for the UAE ‘Halal’ industry to produce and distribute high quality, regulation certified products throughout the region and the second edition of ‘Halal Expo 2008’ is set to further bolster this outstanding business opportunity for all the participants.
We welcome your support and look forward to your participation at the 2nd HALAL EXPO 2008 - DUBAI
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Lose yourself in the Dubai dream and live like a millionaire at a reasonable cost
GREGG FRAY visits a place of contrasts The Great Escape
HURTLING along Sheikh Zayed Road, necks craned to stare in awe at the hundreds of skyscrapers that punctuate the skyline, it's difficult to believe this place was just a desert 50 years ago.
As we make our way into Dubai you can almost taste the dynamism that has transformed the United Arab Emirates into the tourism and business capital of Asia.
Grand waterfront hotels, futuristic sky-scrapers that New York would die for, massive tax-free shopping malls and even the world's largest indoor ski complex - complete with real snow despite the 35 heat outside - can be seen whizzing by the window of our coach.
This is a place that gets things done. Headline-grabbing plans for the future include the construction of the world's tallest tower and a network of reclaimed islands in the shape of the globe.
The reason for its continuing success is a can-do attitude to development and a keen eye for what tourists want.
You can easily lose yourself in the Dubai dream and live like a millionaire at a reasonable cost.
You can have a relaxing break filled with pampering on the tranquil shores of the Gulf, which enjoys year-round sunshine. Or you can soak up history and ancient culture in the pockets of old Dubai still in existence.
My partner and I decided to do all of this and more, in possibly the best 10 days of our lives.
We began with a day at the Mina Seyahi hotel and beach club.
Perched on a sunlounger where white sand meets inviting blue sea, sipping on an iced drink, it's hard to see how life could get much better.
While Dubai is a Muslim country, alcohol is permitted (in fact, seemingly encouraged) at any place attached to an hotel. This permission/ encouragement extends to the private beach at the Mina Seyahi, where between sunbathing, swimming and watching a host of watersports being enjoyed nearby (actually taking part seemed far too strenuous), we worked up quite an appetite by mid afternoon.
A wonderful meal at the attached Barasti Bar outdoor restaurant, elevated to overlook the sea, saw us while away the rest of the day. The level of service was enough to make one feel like royalty - a quality we would later learn is to be found across Dubai's service sector.
By night the Barasti comes complete with live music and a true party atmosphere. The "exclusive" beach club experience is replicated by waterfront hotels throughout Dubai. For a day-long pass, expect to pay anything between £20 and £30 - and prepare to be spoiled, particularly at the top-end establishments.
Next day at the Umm Sequim public beach, in the shadow of the imposing Burj Al Arab, things could not have been more different.
An expansive shoreline laps up against Dubai's most famous hotel and then extends off into the distance.
We placed our towels in the sand a few hundred metres from the Burj - there's not a sunbed in sight - and relaxed. Small waves rolling in from the sea provide the only sound, the sand left moist in their wake instantly dried by the Arabic sun.
This is the place to go if you don't fancy the airs and graces of beach club life, and don't mind occasionally sharing your space with the odd Indian construction worker on a break from building yet another skyscraper nearby.
That said, for me it was difficult to take my eyes off the Burj Al Arab, glass-fronted and shaped like a surf sail and housing billions of pounds of grandeur.
Tomorrow, we decided, we will go to the Burj for afternoon tea.
Our research told us that for two people it would cost £100. A handsome sum, but if you want to get inside one of the world's most famous buildings that's the minimum price you pay (I didn't even ask the cost of going for a meal in the Burj's underwater restaurant, to which you are chauffeured... by submarine).
At noon the following day we arrived at the Burj by taxi, a decent and cheap mode of transport in Dubai. Our vehicle, however, is dwarfed by the Burj's own fleet of vehicles - Bentleys, Mercedes and Hummers - used to ferry guests and visitors around in style.
Dressed in our best clothes in an attempt to fit in, we were helped from our cab and ushered into the foyer. What we encountered was somewhat obscene: huge gold walls reaching up to the heavens with no-expensespared, garish, larger-than-life detail that shouted wealth at you with every step.
It was a unique experience. We arrived at the Skybar restaurant at the top of the Burj, 250m above sea level, by means of glass elevator.
As we took our seats we gazed out across the ocean towards Palm Jumeira, a man-made, palm tree-shaped series of peninsulas on which thousands more skyscrapers, offices and homes are being built.
To the other side we saw the ongoing construction of The World, a set of islands fashioned in the shapes of various countries being sold to some of the richest people on earth. The wealth and attention to detail in and around the Burj is amazing. The hotel employs a man to stand on the helipad at the top flying a hawk around to prevent other birds coming too close and spreading their droppings on its pristine gleaming windows. We drank our tea and consumed our own weight in quaint sandwiches to get our money's worth, then spent a couple of hours looking around the hotel before leaving for a walk to the nearby 360 Bar, so called because it is surrounded on all sides by water. If you don't have a few million to spend on a yacht, this is the perfect point to see the Dubai skyline from off-shore.
Dubai is a place of contrasts; look hard enough and you'll see the joins where East meets West.
For those who want a glimpse of what life was like before the Emirate began its love affair with tourism and mass economic growth, there are still plenty of places to visit.
We decided to take a taxi ride across the city to Bur Dubai, a conservation area with narrow alleyways lined with old Arabic buildings. The very basic Dubai Museum, housed in an old fort, offers a peek into an Islamic school, plus a 1950s' market (known as a souk) and traditional craftsmen at work.
Outside again and we walked through the fabric souk - buying a couple of high-quality pashmenas at rock-bottom prices - towards Dubai creek, dotted with wooden abra boats ferrying people to work or to shop at Deira on the other side.
We paid the equivalent of 10p to travel on a packed abra to another network of cobbled streets, lined with traditional hawkers, where our senses were assaulted by the pungent smells of spices as we were offered cumin, fresh chillies and all manor of unusual foods. Alongside is Deira's famous gold souk, with stall after stall and shop after shop selling the precious metal by the weight.
Everything in the UAE is marketed as the best in the world.
And from its modern architecture to impeccable service, potential for economic growth to holiday facilities, the hype is not far off the mark.
Getting There
Emirates flies twice daily from Birmingham International Airport to Dubai and onwards from there. For more information see www.emirates.com/uk or call 0844 800 2777.
HURTLING along Sheikh Zayed Road, necks craned to stare in awe at the hundreds of skyscrapers that punctuate the skyline, it's difficult to believe this place was just a desert 50 years ago.
As we make our way into Dubai you can almost taste the dynamism that has transformed the United Arab Emirates into the tourism and business capital of Asia.
Grand waterfront hotels, futuristic sky-scrapers that New York would die for, massive tax-free shopping malls and even the world's largest indoor ski complex - complete with real snow despite the 35 heat outside - can be seen whizzing by the window of our coach.
This is a place that gets things done. Headline-grabbing plans for the future include the construction of the world's tallest tower and a network of reclaimed islands in the shape of the globe.
The reason for its continuing success is a can-do attitude to development and a keen eye for what tourists want.
You can easily lose yourself in the Dubai dream and live like a millionaire at a reasonable cost.
You can have a relaxing break filled with pampering on the tranquil shores of the Gulf, which enjoys year-round sunshine. Or you can soak up history and ancient culture in the pockets of old Dubai still in existence.
My partner and I decided to do all of this and more, in possibly the best 10 days of our lives.
We began with a day at the Mina Seyahi hotel and beach club.
Perched on a sunlounger where white sand meets inviting blue sea, sipping on an iced drink, it's hard to see how life could get much better.
While Dubai is a Muslim country, alcohol is permitted (in fact, seemingly encouraged) at any place attached to an hotel. This permission/ encouragement extends to the private beach at the Mina Seyahi, where between sunbathing, swimming and watching a host of watersports being enjoyed nearby (actually taking part seemed far too strenuous), we worked up quite an appetite by mid afternoon.
A wonderful meal at the attached Barasti Bar outdoor restaurant, elevated to overlook the sea, saw us while away the rest of the day. The level of service was enough to make one feel like royalty - a quality we would later learn is to be found across Dubai's service sector.
By night the Barasti comes complete with live music and a true party atmosphere. The "exclusive" beach club experience is replicated by waterfront hotels throughout Dubai. For a day-long pass, expect to pay anything between £20 and £30 - and prepare to be spoiled, particularly at the top-end establishments.
Next day at the Umm Sequim public beach, in the shadow of the imposing Burj Al Arab, things could not have been more different.
An expansive shoreline laps up against Dubai's most famous hotel and then extends off into the distance.
We placed our towels in the sand a few hundred metres from the Burj - there's not a sunbed in sight - and relaxed. Small waves rolling in from the sea provide the only sound, the sand left moist in their wake instantly dried by the Arabic sun.
This is the place to go if you don't fancy the airs and graces of beach club life, and don't mind occasionally sharing your space with the odd Indian construction worker on a break from building yet another skyscraper nearby.
That said, for me it was difficult to take my eyes off the Burj Al Arab, glass-fronted and shaped like a surf sail and housing billions of pounds of grandeur.
Tomorrow, we decided, we will go to the Burj for afternoon tea.
Our research told us that for two people it would cost £100. A handsome sum, but if you want to get inside one of the world's most famous buildings that's the minimum price you pay (I didn't even ask the cost of going for a meal in the Burj's underwater restaurant, to which you are chauffeured... by submarine).
At noon the following day we arrived at the Burj by taxi, a decent and cheap mode of transport in Dubai. Our vehicle, however, is dwarfed by the Burj's own fleet of vehicles - Bentleys, Mercedes and Hummers - used to ferry guests and visitors around in style.
Dressed in our best clothes in an attempt to fit in, we were helped from our cab and ushered into the foyer. What we encountered was somewhat obscene: huge gold walls reaching up to the heavens with no-expensespared, garish, larger-than-life detail that shouted wealth at you with every step.
It was a unique experience. We arrived at the Skybar restaurant at the top of the Burj, 250m above sea level, by means of glass elevator.
As we took our seats we gazed out across the ocean towards Palm Jumeira, a man-made, palm tree-shaped series of peninsulas on which thousands more skyscrapers, offices and homes are being built.
To the other side we saw the ongoing construction of The World, a set of islands fashioned in the shapes of various countries being sold to some of the richest people on earth. The wealth and attention to detail in and around the Burj is amazing. The hotel employs a man to stand on the helipad at the top flying a hawk around to prevent other birds coming too close and spreading their droppings on its pristine gleaming windows. We drank our tea and consumed our own weight in quaint sandwiches to get our money's worth, then spent a couple of hours looking around the hotel before leaving for a walk to the nearby 360 Bar, so called because it is surrounded on all sides by water. If you don't have a few million to spend on a yacht, this is the perfect point to see the Dubai skyline from off-shore.
Dubai is a place of contrasts; look hard enough and you'll see the joins where East meets West.
For those who want a glimpse of what life was like before the Emirate began its love affair with tourism and mass economic growth, there are still plenty of places to visit.
We decided to take a taxi ride across the city to Bur Dubai, a conservation area with narrow alleyways lined with old Arabic buildings. The very basic Dubai Museum, housed in an old fort, offers a peek into an Islamic school, plus a 1950s' market (known as a souk) and traditional craftsmen at work.
Outside again and we walked through the fabric souk - buying a couple of high-quality pashmenas at rock-bottom prices - towards Dubai creek, dotted with wooden abra boats ferrying people to work or to shop at Deira on the other side.
We paid the equivalent of 10p to travel on a packed abra to another network of cobbled streets, lined with traditional hawkers, where our senses were assaulted by the pungent smells of spices as we were offered cumin, fresh chillies and all manor of unusual foods. Alongside is Deira's famous gold souk, with stall after stall and shop after shop selling the precious metal by the weight.
Everything in the UAE is marketed as the best in the world.
And from its modern architecture to impeccable service, potential for economic growth to holiday facilities, the hype is not far off the mark.
Getting There
Emirates flies twice daily from Birmingham International Airport to Dubai and onwards from there. For more information see www.emirates.com/uk or call 0844 800 2777.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
A PIECE OF BEIRUT NOW IN DUBAI
“We envisioned the Beirut Towers as a project evocative of Lebanon”
Dubai - UAE July 3rd, 2008: Providing residents in the UAE with a taste of the beauty and ethnicity of Lebanon, Plus Properties unveiled a US$125 million one-of-its-kind project - Beirut Towers, a luxury residential development that will be based within TECOM in the International Media Production Zone, Dubai.
Tastefully designed by renowned consultancy firm Agostine & Rafael to depict the rich culture and heritage of Lebanon, Beirut Towers will consist of two towers - Ashrafieh and Verdun. Aiming to offer customers the ultimate lifestyle and leisure experience, the Towers will consist of over 23 floors each. Every floor will be named after a famous street in Verdun and Ashrafieh, two of Beirut’s most prestigious residential neighborhoods, teeming with vibrant shopping areas and high-tech business centers. Floor names in the Verdun Tower will include Verdun 730, Verdun 732, Bristol, Dunes, Ain Tine and Koraytem. Floor names in the Ashrafieh Tower will include Sodeco, Sursok, Monot, Sahet Sassine and Abdl Wahab.
Influenced by a unique architectural style reminiscent of Lebanon, the Towers will feature a wide range of studio, one and two bedroom apartments on single or duplex floors. Plus Properties will provide an array of financing options and the use of escrow accounts to potential tenants. The Towers promise to offer its customers a plush lifestyle and a host of unparalleled services and amenities.
The Beirut Towers will be located in the International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) in the heart of downtown Dubai. IMPZ seeks to create a unique cluster environment for media production companies from across the industry value chain, and from across the world, to interact and collaborate effectively. IMPZ will provide an environment of growth by building key facilities, investing in infrastructure, and forming a unique free zone that incorporates industrial, commercial, residential and community service projects under its mantle. The vast complex will be housed on a territory of over 43 million square feet of land. TECOM is the master developer of IMPZ.
IMPZ’s proximity to major road networks such as Sheikh Zayed Road, Emirates Road and Al Khail Road and other landmarks such Dubai Media City, Dubai Knowledge Village, Dubai Sports City, Mall of the Emirates and the upcoming Al Maktoum International Airport will also constitute a major strategic advantage to tenants.
“We are committed to developing quality living and leisure concepts with high business potential at our carefully chosen properties across the region. The keen interest we’ve received for our projects epitomizes the recognition of our broader vision for a distinct lifestyle and creation of elite business and residential environments”, said Georges Chehwane, CEO of Plus Properties.
We envisioned the Beirut Towers as a project evocative of Lebanon and are confident that our latest offering will succeed in providing many residents of Dubai especially Lebanese nationals, with a taste of Beirut,” Chehwane concluded.
Beirut Towers received an overwhelming response from regional and international investors at an open house sales launch event held on 1st July 2008 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. © 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Dubai - UAE July 3rd, 2008: Providing residents in the UAE with a taste of the beauty and ethnicity of Lebanon, Plus Properties unveiled a US$125 million one-of-its-kind project - Beirut Towers, a luxury residential development that will be based within TECOM in the International Media Production Zone, Dubai.
Tastefully designed by renowned consultancy firm Agostine & Rafael to depict the rich culture and heritage of Lebanon, Beirut Towers will consist of two towers - Ashrafieh and Verdun. Aiming to offer customers the ultimate lifestyle and leisure experience, the Towers will consist of over 23 floors each. Every floor will be named after a famous street in Verdun and Ashrafieh, two of Beirut’s most prestigious residential neighborhoods, teeming with vibrant shopping areas and high-tech business centers. Floor names in the Verdun Tower will include Verdun 730, Verdun 732, Bristol, Dunes, Ain Tine and Koraytem. Floor names in the Ashrafieh Tower will include Sodeco, Sursok, Monot, Sahet Sassine and Abdl Wahab.
Influenced by a unique architectural style reminiscent of Lebanon, the Towers will feature a wide range of studio, one and two bedroom apartments on single or duplex floors. Plus Properties will provide an array of financing options and the use of escrow accounts to potential tenants. The Towers promise to offer its customers a plush lifestyle and a host of unparalleled services and amenities.
The Beirut Towers will be located in the International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) in the heart of downtown Dubai. IMPZ seeks to create a unique cluster environment for media production companies from across the industry value chain, and from across the world, to interact and collaborate effectively. IMPZ will provide an environment of growth by building key facilities, investing in infrastructure, and forming a unique free zone that incorporates industrial, commercial, residential and community service projects under its mantle. The vast complex will be housed on a territory of over 43 million square feet of land. TECOM is the master developer of IMPZ.
IMPZ’s proximity to major road networks such as Sheikh Zayed Road, Emirates Road and Al Khail Road and other landmarks such Dubai Media City, Dubai Knowledge Village, Dubai Sports City, Mall of the Emirates and the upcoming Al Maktoum International Airport will also constitute a major strategic advantage to tenants.
“We are committed to developing quality living and leisure concepts with high business potential at our carefully chosen properties across the region. The keen interest we’ve received for our projects epitomizes the recognition of our broader vision for a distinct lifestyle and creation of elite business and residential environments”, said Georges Chehwane, CEO of Plus Properties.
We envisioned the Beirut Towers as a project evocative of Lebanon and are confident that our latest offering will succeed in providing many residents of Dubai especially Lebanese nationals, with a taste of Beirut,” Chehwane concluded.
Beirut Towers received an overwhelming response from regional and international investors at an open house sales launch event held on 1st July 2008 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. © 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Gulf food security: is there enough, and at what price?(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
DESPITE ESCALATING WEALTH, the Gulf states are facing a potential food crisis as world prices for everything from wheat and rice to fruit, vegetables, dairy goods and cooking oils rise dramatically. And while some prices may come down from their peaks later this year as bumper harvests are recorded, world shortages are expected to persist. As a result, governments throughout the region are putting food security at the top of their agendas. Both public and private sector investors in the Gulf are also looking at ways to improve local food supplies, by investing in a range of outlets from arable farm land in the Sudan, Algeria and Pakistan to introduce new technology to enhance the local production of foodstuffs and grains, livestock, poultry and fish.
Global food prices have doubled in the past three years, according to the World Bank. For developing countries, the cost of food imports is expected to rise this year by at least 40%, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "Food is no longer the cheap commodity it once was," states Hafez Ghanem, the FAO's assistant director general. "Rising food prices are bound to worsen the already unacceptable level of food deprivation suffered by 854m people," he added. "We are facing the risk that the number of hungry will increase by many more millions of people." Along with climate change, the steep increases in global food prices are expected to top the agenda at the G8 meeting in Japan this month [July] of the heads of state of the world's wealthiest countries.
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In some parts of the Arab world like Egypt, the world's number one importer of wheat, prices have already risen 50% or more in the past year, prompting waves of social unrest as queues formed to obtain insufficient supplies of bread and other staples. In the Gulf, which imports up to 90% of its food at a cost of some $10bn a year, the rises have also been dramatic. While many households in the region enjoy far higher incomes than in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, food costs are now a major contributor to the Gulf's escalating rate of inflation.
In the case of rice, for example, a main staple of the local diet, the price of basmati from Pakistan and India has gone up by 70% on average. In Qatar, the average cost of food rose by 19% in first three months of this year alone, more than three times the rise recorded in the same period last year. Bread and cereals were up by 15%, meat by 31%, milk and eggs by 17%, oils and fats by 16%, fruits and vegetables by 19%, sugar by 10% and tea, coffee and cocoa by 6%. Potatoes cost 18% more, while fish and seafood were up an average of 12%, according to government figures. Similar increases have been recorded in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman.
In Kuwait, where the rises have been less due to the emirate's lower reliance on the US dollar as its trading currency, the government is nevertheless considering increasing its subsidies on grains and other foods, or enacting measures to limit price rises. Randa Azar-Khoury, group chief economist of the National Bank of Kuwait, warned however, that while the government could put caps in place, "you are not going to see it by September". Such "things take time," she added.
In the UAE, the government has already signed agreements with local supermarkets to hold prices on more than 30 basic commodities to last year's levels. Some of the larger retailers, such as Carrefour, Lulu, the Baniyas Co-operative Society and the Union Cooperative Society had already implemented voluntary price caps on essentials such as rice, milk, eggs and flour before the government move. But the Emirates Society for Consumer Protection estimates basic food prices will still climb by some 40% this year. Importers in the country are now demanding that the government increases its subsidies on foodstuffs to help limit the price increases.
As a result, measures to ensure adequate food supplies over the longer term, as well as to lessen the impact of future price rises, are now taking centre stage throughout the region. Several Gulf states, along with Egypt and Jordan, have turned to Sudan, the largest country in the Arab world, as a source of underused arable farm land. Talks are also reported to have been held with Somalia, which, like the Sudan, has seen its large agricultural potential go unrealised due to social unrest and civil war.
Offers of substantial funds from neighbouring oil producing states to modernise and expand its agricultural sector and to build dams and other necessary infrastructure appear to have galvanised the government of Sudan to take steps to ensure such investments are protected and exports assured. In addition to access to new sources of supplies, food exports from Sudan would help Gulf governments reduce the role of middlemen in the food trade and bypass speculation on world food exchanges.
Earlier this year, Egypt signed an agreement with the government of Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir to grow two million tons of wheat a year in the north of the country, near Wadi Halfa. "People now are thinking more about re-investing in agriculture," Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said. "I think the key is for governments and the business community to start formulating projects, fundable projects, projects with real value to those owning the money, so that they can invest in it."
Saudi Arabia's minister of agriculture, Fahd bin Abdul-Rahman Balghunaim, and the minister of commerce and industry, Abdullah bin Ahmed Zenel, visited the Sudan in June to survey potential investment sites in the country. The two are also encouraging Khartoum to adopt new regulations aimed at promoting private Saudi investment in livestock as well as in agriculture. Qatar is also said to be looking at the Sudan, although details of its possible investments have not yet been announced.
The Abu Dhabi Development Fund is planning to set up a company with another Arab partner to develop at least 70,000 acres (28,329 hectares) in northern Sudan. Production would centre on corn, alfalfa for animal feed and possibly wheat, with the total investment amounting to "hundreds of millions of dirhams". Initial studies are due to be completed by November, the Fund said, noting that it was also considering other agricultural investments in Senegal and Uzbekistan.
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Dubai-based Abraaj Capital has been quietly buying farmland in Pakistan as part of the UAE's efforts to increase its food security and to lower inflation. Abraaj, together with the government of Abu Dhabi, was reported to have held talks with Islamabad about expanding the production of wheat and rice for export. "Our aim is not to do away with precious farmland but to raise the productivity of our farms and turn barren land into fertile farmland," a senior Pakistani official was quoted as saying.
A spokesman for Abraaj disclosed that the private equity firm had already acquired some 800,000 acres of farmland in the country during the past year. Other UAE entities are said to be ready to follow suit, including the Emirates Investment Group and the Abu Dhabi Group. So far, Abu Dhabi's investments in Pakistan's agriculture are reported to be worth some $3bn.
Companies and private investors from the UAE are also investing in the Philippines. The projects include a $50m plan to develop a 3,000-hectare banana plantation in Mindanao, a pineapple cannery in Camarines Norte and fish and grain farms in Luzon, the Philippines trade attache in Dubai, Gil Herico, said. Other UAE businesses are looking at growing organic fruits and vegetables, coconuts and seafood, the official added.
Bahrain is also turning to the Philippines, as well as Thailand, to secure its needs for imported rice, the minister of industry and commerce, Dr. Hassan Fakhro, said. "An agreement was reached with the Philippines to allocate large plots of land to grow basmati rice in a bid to secure the kingdom's needs at reasonable prices," he said. Seeral private Bahrain companies are now expected to invest in the Philippines' agricultural sector and in livestock processing facilities, the minister continued.
In Thailand, Fakhro revealed the government was discussing the formation of a joint public or private sector company to help meet Bahrain's need for basic foodstuffs. Manama had already signed an agreement with a big rice exporter in the country to secure supplies of jasmine rice at favourable prices as an alternative to basmati, the minister added.
In the longer term, governments, private companies and scientific institutes in the GCC are looking to new technology to help the region develop more of its own food supplies at costs consumers can afford. When Saudi Arabia launched a major push to produce its own wheat in the 1980s, "a ton was six times the international price", commented Samir Radwan, managing director of the Egypt-based Economic Research Forum. The higher cost of food imports in the GCC means more funds will be invested profitably in agriculture, livestock, poultry and fish farming than when world prices were low, officials in the Gulf have noted.
One Australian company, for example, has developed a low-cost, nutritious flesh fodder for livestock that can feed up to 100 animals a day after only nine days growth in arid climates. Companies in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Morocco have already placed orders for the fodder, according to reports in Amman.
Research by a team from the Institute for Research for Development (IRD) in France could help farmers in Morocco to reduce their dependence on irrigated water. Using images taken by a satellite over the fertile Tensift Plain around Marrakech, they discovered they could measure the transfer of water between the soil, vegetation and atmosphere, as well as assess grain yields with greater accuracy. This would help farmers control water evaporation and plant growth rates to achieve the best production levels. Local authorities could also use the satellite data to monitor water distribution and allocate it to where it is needed most.
Plans by the GCC states and other Arab governments to set up a general fund to assist poorer Arab countries faced with rising food prices and food shortages are also under study. The UAE has already helped Egypt to import crucially needed supplies of wheat, while Saudi Arabia has given more than $500m to the UN's World Food Programme. The kingdom's funds enabled the WFP to reach its $755m target for a new programme aimed at ensuring the least developed countries in the world meet their extra food aid costs. Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are among the countries which are expected to benefit.
RELATED ARTICLE: Fuel for the rich, or food for the poor?
The huge increase in the cultivation of "biofuels" in the past few years, as crude oil prices have hit record levels, has given rise to a worldwide debate about whether such crops decrease the amount of arable land available to grow food at a time of global food shortages. "Is it logical, or even acceptable, that agricultural crops are used to produce ethanol, leading to a worse crisis in food prices?" Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, asked a prestigious audience at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East. Huge price rises in the cost of food had "greatly affected poor nations and poor people", he insisted at the three-day meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheik.
Hafez Ghanem, assistant director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation at the UN, said at its summit on World Food Security in Rome that "What we need to look at are ways of producing biofuels that have the least impact on food prices. At the same time," he added, "we also need to look at our agricultural system around the world and see how we can improve productivity and increase production so that agriculture can actually meet the demand, this new demand."
Palm and Soya oils, which provide much of the calories in Asian diets, are also being increasingly diverted to the production of biofuels, according to agriculture experts, along with crops such as corn, sugar beet and sugar cane. The result, they say, is that there has been an alarming drop in the world's supplies of these foodstuffs for people in developing countries as the prices for these cooking oils have soared. A drought in Indonesia and flooding in Malaysia, where palm oil is mainly grown, has also hit production.
"If you put three economists in a room, you'll get four different theories on the role of biofuels, but we all agree that they have an effect," commented Ghanem at the WEF meeting. But he is optimistic. "The world has enough resources and the right technology to produce enough crops to meet the demand for food and biofuel," he maintained.
RELATED ARTICLE: Why is food so expensive now?
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Demand is rising as the global population grows and as people in rapidly growing economies such as China and India, as well as the Gulf states, use their increasing affluence to buy more meat, eggs and dairy products.
Over 30% of the world's grain now goes to feed animals rather than people directly. Farming one acre of good arable land can produce about 63 kilos of protein from grain. In contrast, one acre devoted to beef farming will produce just nine kilos of protein.
Droughts in big grain-producing areas, such as Australia, the Ukraine, parts of the American Midwest and in North Africa, have led to lower harvests in the past few years. Global grain stocks are now at historic lows. By mid-April, they were estimated to last from eight to 12 weeks at most.
Biofuels, made from corn, sugar beet, sugar cane, oilseeds and other agricultural products, are competing with food for arable land. Between 2005 and mid-2007, the global production of biofuels rose more than fourfold, to 8.5bn litres. About 30% of the US corn crop is expected to be diverted to biofuels this year.
Record prices for oil, and the decline of the US dollar, have helped to push up the cost of food production dramatically. Fertilisers and pesticides, made from oil and phosphates, are up, on average, more than 70% in the past year, while fuel for tractors and farm machinery is up 30%.
Financial trading in agricultural commodities has grown dramatically. Several big investment banks in the US and Europe have launched index and other funds for agricultural commodities. More than $150bn is currently invested in these funds, compared to less than $15bn four years ago.
RELATED ARTICLE: Rice exports curbed.
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Of all the food staples hit by rising prices, rice is one of the worst affected. The UN'S Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that its price rose by 76% between last December and April this year alone. Although India, the largest supplier to the Gulf states, has set the minimum export price for premium traditional Basmati at $1,000 a metric ton, it is currently fetching two and half times that ($2,500) in regional markets. Lower grades are also expensive: medium-type Basmati costs between $1,700 and $1,800 a ton.
Several of the world's leading exporters, including India and Egypt, have now banned all or some of their exports this year, in an effort to ensure adequate supplies at home. In Egypt, the local price of rice more than doubled, from $200 a metric ton last October to $430 by early April. The curbs on rice exports follow the banning of wheat exports and other staple foods by leading grain producers, such as Russia, the Ukraine, Argentina and Kazakhstan.
The good news is that in its latest report on the global food outlook, the FAO expects rice output to rise by 2.3%, while the production of cereals could increase by 3.8% once the harvest is in later this year. That could encourage some countries to lift their ban on exports, comments FAO economist Abdulreza Abbassian, who adds, "Should that happen, the likelihood of rice prices coming down then increases."
However, he and other FAO experts say that consumers should not expect too much too soon. Escalating fuel costs and the need to replenish stocks, as well as rising demand around the world, mean that prices are unlikely to fall below the already high levels they reached in 2007.
Global food prices have doubled in the past three years, according to the World Bank. For developing countries, the cost of food imports is expected to rise this year by at least 40%, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "Food is no longer the cheap commodity it once was," states Hafez Ghanem, the FAO's assistant director general. "Rising food prices are bound to worsen the already unacceptable level of food deprivation suffered by 854m people," he added. "We are facing the risk that the number of hungry will increase by many more millions of people." Along with climate change, the steep increases in global food prices are expected to top the agenda at the G8 meeting in Japan this month [July] of the heads of state of the world's wealthiest countries.
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In some parts of the Arab world like Egypt, the world's number one importer of wheat, prices have already risen 50% or more in the past year, prompting waves of social unrest as queues formed to obtain insufficient supplies of bread and other staples. In the Gulf, which imports up to 90% of its food at a cost of some $10bn a year, the rises have also been dramatic. While many households in the region enjoy far higher incomes than in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, food costs are now a major contributor to the Gulf's escalating rate of inflation.
In the case of rice, for example, a main staple of the local diet, the price of basmati from Pakistan and India has gone up by 70% on average. In Qatar, the average cost of food rose by 19% in first three months of this year alone, more than three times the rise recorded in the same period last year. Bread and cereals were up by 15%, meat by 31%, milk and eggs by 17%, oils and fats by 16%, fruits and vegetables by 19%, sugar by 10% and tea, coffee and cocoa by 6%. Potatoes cost 18% more, while fish and seafood were up an average of 12%, according to government figures. Similar increases have been recorded in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman.
In Kuwait, where the rises have been less due to the emirate's lower reliance on the US dollar as its trading currency, the government is nevertheless considering increasing its subsidies on grains and other foods, or enacting measures to limit price rises. Randa Azar-Khoury, group chief economist of the National Bank of Kuwait, warned however, that while the government could put caps in place, "you are not going to see it by September". Such "things take time," she added.
In the UAE, the government has already signed agreements with local supermarkets to hold prices on more than 30 basic commodities to last year's levels. Some of the larger retailers, such as Carrefour, Lulu, the Baniyas Co-operative Society and the Union Cooperative Society had already implemented voluntary price caps on essentials such as rice, milk, eggs and flour before the government move. But the Emirates Society for Consumer Protection estimates basic food prices will still climb by some 40% this year. Importers in the country are now demanding that the government increases its subsidies on foodstuffs to help limit the price increases.
As a result, measures to ensure adequate food supplies over the longer term, as well as to lessen the impact of future price rises, are now taking centre stage throughout the region. Several Gulf states, along with Egypt and Jordan, have turned to Sudan, the largest country in the Arab world, as a source of underused arable farm land. Talks are also reported to have been held with Somalia, which, like the Sudan, has seen its large agricultural potential go unrealised due to social unrest and civil war.
Offers of substantial funds from neighbouring oil producing states to modernise and expand its agricultural sector and to build dams and other necessary infrastructure appear to have galvanised the government of Sudan to take steps to ensure such investments are protected and exports assured. In addition to access to new sources of supplies, food exports from Sudan would help Gulf governments reduce the role of middlemen in the food trade and bypass speculation on world food exchanges.
Earlier this year, Egypt signed an agreement with the government of Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir to grow two million tons of wheat a year in the north of the country, near Wadi Halfa. "People now are thinking more about re-investing in agriculture," Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said. "I think the key is for governments and the business community to start formulating projects, fundable projects, projects with real value to those owning the money, so that they can invest in it."
Saudi Arabia's minister of agriculture, Fahd bin Abdul-Rahman Balghunaim, and the minister of commerce and industry, Abdullah bin Ahmed Zenel, visited the Sudan in June to survey potential investment sites in the country. The two are also encouraging Khartoum to adopt new regulations aimed at promoting private Saudi investment in livestock as well as in agriculture. Qatar is also said to be looking at the Sudan, although details of its possible investments have not yet been announced.
The Abu Dhabi Development Fund is planning to set up a company with another Arab partner to develop at least 70,000 acres (28,329 hectares) in northern Sudan. Production would centre on corn, alfalfa for animal feed and possibly wheat, with the total investment amounting to "hundreds of millions of dirhams". Initial studies are due to be completed by November, the Fund said, noting that it was also considering other agricultural investments in Senegal and Uzbekistan.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Dubai-based Abraaj Capital has been quietly buying farmland in Pakistan as part of the UAE's efforts to increase its food security and to lower inflation. Abraaj, together with the government of Abu Dhabi, was reported to have held talks with Islamabad about expanding the production of wheat and rice for export. "Our aim is not to do away with precious farmland but to raise the productivity of our farms and turn barren land into fertile farmland," a senior Pakistani official was quoted as saying.
A spokesman for Abraaj disclosed that the private equity firm had already acquired some 800,000 acres of farmland in the country during the past year. Other UAE entities are said to be ready to follow suit, including the Emirates Investment Group and the Abu Dhabi Group. So far, Abu Dhabi's investments in Pakistan's agriculture are reported to be worth some $3bn.
Companies and private investors from the UAE are also investing in the Philippines. The projects include a $50m plan to develop a 3,000-hectare banana plantation in Mindanao, a pineapple cannery in Camarines Norte and fish and grain farms in Luzon, the Philippines trade attache in Dubai, Gil Herico, said. Other UAE businesses are looking at growing organic fruits and vegetables, coconuts and seafood, the official added.
Bahrain is also turning to the Philippines, as well as Thailand, to secure its needs for imported rice, the minister of industry and commerce, Dr. Hassan Fakhro, said. "An agreement was reached with the Philippines to allocate large plots of land to grow basmati rice in a bid to secure the kingdom's needs at reasonable prices," he said. Seeral private Bahrain companies are now expected to invest in the Philippines' agricultural sector and in livestock processing facilities, the minister continued.
In Thailand, Fakhro revealed the government was discussing the formation of a joint public or private sector company to help meet Bahrain's need for basic foodstuffs. Manama had already signed an agreement with a big rice exporter in the country to secure supplies of jasmine rice at favourable prices as an alternative to basmati, the minister added.
In the longer term, governments, private companies and scientific institutes in the GCC are looking to new technology to help the region develop more of its own food supplies at costs consumers can afford. When Saudi Arabia launched a major push to produce its own wheat in the 1980s, "a ton was six times the international price", commented Samir Radwan, managing director of the Egypt-based Economic Research Forum. The higher cost of food imports in the GCC means more funds will be invested profitably in agriculture, livestock, poultry and fish farming than when world prices were low, officials in the Gulf have noted.
One Australian company, for example, has developed a low-cost, nutritious flesh fodder for livestock that can feed up to 100 animals a day after only nine days growth in arid climates. Companies in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Morocco have already placed orders for the fodder, according to reports in Amman.
Research by a team from the Institute for Research for Development (IRD) in France could help farmers in Morocco to reduce their dependence on irrigated water. Using images taken by a satellite over the fertile Tensift Plain around Marrakech, they discovered they could measure the transfer of water between the soil, vegetation and atmosphere, as well as assess grain yields with greater accuracy. This would help farmers control water evaporation and plant growth rates to achieve the best production levels. Local authorities could also use the satellite data to monitor water distribution and allocate it to where it is needed most.
Plans by the GCC states and other Arab governments to set up a general fund to assist poorer Arab countries faced with rising food prices and food shortages are also under study. The UAE has already helped Egypt to import crucially needed supplies of wheat, while Saudi Arabia has given more than $500m to the UN's World Food Programme. The kingdom's funds enabled the WFP to reach its $755m target for a new programme aimed at ensuring the least developed countries in the world meet their extra food aid costs. Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are among the countries which are expected to benefit.
RELATED ARTICLE: Fuel for the rich, or food for the poor?
The huge increase in the cultivation of "biofuels" in the past few years, as crude oil prices have hit record levels, has given rise to a worldwide debate about whether such crops decrease the amount of arable land available to grow food at a time of global food shortages. "Is it logical, or even acceptable, that agricultural crops are used to produce ethanol, leading to a worse crisis in food prices?" Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, asked a prestigious audience at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East. Huge price rises in the cost of food had "greatly affected poor nations and poor people", he insisted at the three-day meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheik.
Hafez Ghanem, assistant director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation at the UN, said at its summit on World Food Security in Rome that "What we need to look at are ways of producing biofuels that have the least impact on food prices. At the same time," he added, "we also need to look at our agricultural system around the world and see how we can improve productivity and increase production so that agriculture can actually meet the demand, this new demand."
Palm and Soya oils, which provide much of the calories in Asian diets, are also being increasingly diverted to the production of biofuels, according to agriculture experts, along with crops such as corn, sugar beet and sugar cane. The result, they say, is that there has been an alarming drop in the world's supplies of these foodstuffs for people in developing countries as the prices for these cooking oils have soared. A drought in Indonesia and flooding in Malaysia, where palm oil is mainly grown, has also hit production.
"If you put three economists in a room, you'll get four different theories on the role of biofuels, but we all agree that they have an effect," commented Ghanem at the WEF meeting. But he is optimistic. "The world has enough resources and the right technology to produce enough crops to meet the demand for food and biofuel," he maintained.
RELATED ARTICLE: Why is food so expensive now?
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Demand is rising as the global population grows and as people in rapidly growing economies such as China and India, as well as the Gulf states, use their increasing affluence to buy more meat, eggs and dairy products.
Over 30% of the world's grain now goes to feed animals rather than people directly. Farming one acre of good arable land can produce about 63 kilos of protein from grain. In contrast, one acre devoted to beef farming will produce just nine kilos of protein.
Droughts in big grain-producing areas, such as Australia, the Ukraine, parts of the American Midwest and in North Africa, have led to lower harvests in the past few years. Global grain stocks are now at historic lows. By mid-April, they were estimated to last from eight to 12 weeks at most.
Biofuels, made from corn, sugar beet, sugar cane, oilseeds and other agricultural products, are competing with food for arable land. Between 2005 and mid-2007, the global production of biofuels rose more than fourfold, to 8.5bn litres. About 30% of the US corn crop is expected to be diverted to biofuels this year.
Record prices for oil, and the decline of the US dollar, have helped to push up the cost of food production dramatically. Fertilisers and pesticides, made from oil and phosphates, are up, on average, more than 70% in the past year, while fuel for tractors and farm machinery is up 30%.
Financial trading in agricultural commodities has grown dramatically. Several big investment banks in the US and Europe have launched index and other funds for agricultural commodities. More than $150bn is currently invested in these funds, compared to less than $15bn four years ago.
RELATED ARTICLE: Rice exports curbed.
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Of all the food staples hit by rising prices, rice is one of the worst affected. The UN'S Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that its price rose by 76% between last December and April this year alone. Although India, the largest supplier to the Gulf states, has set the minimum export price for premium traditional Basmati at $1,000 a metric ton, it is currently fetching two and half times that ($2,500) in regional markets. Lower grades are also expensive: medium-type Basmati costs between $1,700 and $1,800 a ton.
Several of the world's leading exporters, including India and Egypt, have now banned all or some of their exports this year, in an effort to ensure adequate supplies at home. In Egypt, the local price of rice more than doubled, from $200 a metric ton last October to $430 by early April. The curbs on rice exports follow the banning of wheat exports and other staple foods by leading grain producers, such as Russia, the Ukraine, Argentina and Kazakhstan.
The good news is that in its latest report on the global food outlook, the FAO expects rice output to rise by 2.3%, while the production of cereals could increase by 3.8% once the harvest is in later this year. That could encourage some countries to lift their ban on exports, comments FAO economist Abdulreza Abbassian, who adds, "Should that happen, the likelihood of rice prices coming down then increases."
However, he and other FAO experts say that consumers should not expect too much too soon. Escalating fuel costs and the need to replenish stocks, as well as rising demand around the world, mean that prices are unlikely to fall below the already high levels they reached in 2007.
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