SAUDI ARABIA. The six Gulf monarchies Tuesday responded to Arab uprisings by agreeing to expand their regional grouping to include pro-Western Jordan and Morocco and urged a quick political deal in Yemen.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) welcomed bids by the two Arab kingdoms to join the six-nation grouping of Gulf monarchies, its secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani said.
"Leaders of the GCC welcomed the request of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to join the council and instructed the foreign ministers to enter into negotiations to complete the procedures," Zayani told reporters.
He sa
INTERNATIONAL. In 2012, Transparency Morocco launched the online platform Mamdawrinch.com (which means "We will not bribe"). The aim was to provide a tool for anonymous denunciation to encourage people to speak up and discuss corruption in public.
UAE. Growth in exhibitors from Turkey, Morocco and Egypt as industry looks to expand GCC tourism receipts to offset potential declines from austerity-hit eurozone.
UAE. The report ranks three GCC countries in the top 30 list globally, and another two in the top 40: Qatar (23), the United Arab Emirates (25), Bahrain (29), Saudi Arabia (31) and Oman (40), demonstrating that they continue to embrace ICT to boost their country's competitiveness.
TUNISIA. The African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Bank convened a workshop with representatives of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia to review and upgrade the region's path-breaking regional Investment Plan for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), with funding from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).
UAE. An upsurge in business has sharply boosted imports by the UAE over the past few years to turn into the largest market in the Middle East although it has one of the smallest populations in the region.
UAE. 55% of MENA residents believe business conditions will also become better, according to the latest MENA Consumer Confidence Index Survey conducted by Bayt.com and YouGov.
INTERNATIONAL. Arab States could reap a major "demographic dividend" if they can convert their advances in education into employment opportunities for youth, says the 2013 Human Development Report.
UAE. "The general trading atmosphere is sufficiently negative for gold to enable sellers to have a firm grip on the market. However, I fail to see how the rally in the stock markets can be put into any sensible relation to the economic plight of the underlying countries."
EGYPT. The Egyptian government has taken tentative steps towards reducing the roughly US$20 billion subsidy system that supporters say provides vital aid to the one-in-four Egyptians in poverty, and critics say is unsustainable and enriches the corrupt.
UAE. Red Hat's Mark Little and Tom Llewellyn explain how Large-scale Elastic Architecture for Data-as-a-Service (LEADS) will enable enterprises to leverage all of the public data on the web against privately held data.
INTERNATIONAL. Bahrain has maintained its position as a key insurance hub and continues to post growth in its insurance market despite a prolonged period of political turbulence.
UAE. "The general trading atmosphere is sufficiently negative for gold to enable sellers to have a firm grip on the market. However, I fail to see how the rally in the stock markets can be put into any sensible relation to the economic plight of the underlying countries."
INTERNATIONAL. Nothing new is coming online anytime soon and movement on developing renewable energy resources has been sadly inadequate. The idea that shale reservoirs will lead the US to energy independence will soon enough be recognized as unrealistic hype.
UAE. For those businesses yet to participate in the Middle East healthcare sector expansion, there is still time; investment in the field will be sustained, if only because of investment by the Saudi government.
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