Business/Economic News

[Bahraini Spirit]

A NEW era of co-operation between Bahrain and Europe is due to get underway with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two sides. It will allow Bahrain's National Assembly to call on advice from experts at the European Parliament.

The MoU is now being drawn up and could be signed in a matter of days - possibly even today, said National Assembly chairman Dr Faisal Al Mousawi.

In addition, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the GCC and the European Union is expected to be signed early next year, it was revealed yesterday.

The MoU will grant Bahrain greater access to the European Parliament's resources and expertise, while the FTA is expected to improve ties and trade between the two regions.

Dr Al Mousawi said the MoU was something Bahrain had been working towards since the 2002 parliamentary elections.

"The European Parliament is the strongest parliament in the world, being comprised of the majority of European countries," he said.

"Having it as an ally means that Bahrain is being noticed by the world."

Dr Al Mousawi was speaking at the opening of a two-day International Conference for Dialogue that got underway yesterday at the Crowne Plaza.

It has been organised in association with the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats), which represents the interests of allied conservative parties in the European Parliament of the EU, consisting of more than 40 political parties from EU countries.

The event is held under the patronage of Dr Al Mousawi and parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani.

We hope this event will expand in the future to include the whole GCC, something that will help benefit all GCC countries and enhance their democratic procedures said Dr Al Mousawi and added that terrorism was not being committed in the name of religion.

"Islam is a religion of tolerance and is the first religion in many countries," he said.

Details of the GCC-EU FTA were revealed by GCC secretary-general Abdulrahman Al Attiya, who is taking part in the Bahrain conference.

He said relations in the past had been hindered because of misunderstandings on both sides.

"Meeting in seminars and lectures helps us understand each other because what happened in our region over the past few years has made us form wrong ideas about each other," he said.

"The GCC is keen on having reforms, but not those imposed on us from abroad."

Mr Al Attiya said Bahrain's new constitution issued in 2002 and Qatar's new constitution issued last year had been major turning points in the GCC.

"Saudi's municipal council elections early this year and Shura Council elections in Oman two years ago were important in the political rise of the GCC, which is seeing development unnoticed before," he said.

"Kuwait has also allowed women to vote and elect, something that has helped improve the status of women in that country."

Mr Al Attiya stressed that terrorists were destroying the image of Arabs and Muslims.

European Parliament vice-chairman, Mario Mauro, also spoke and said that people should come before authority.

"A rise in democracy comes from a rise in human rights," he said.

"The Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) is comprised of different representatives, but they have one concern in mind."

The event underway at the Crowne Plaza aims to improve the performance of MPs and Shura Council members through discussions with their European counterparts.

Topics discussed at the conference include the role of society and believing in people, as well as the regional political and economic status.

Shura Council foreign affairs, defence and national security committee chairman Dr Shaikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa spoke on Bahrain's democratic reforms and their significance.

Other speakers include Supreme Islamic Council member Dr Abdullatif Al Mahmood, MP Shaikh Ali Mattar, EU Turkish affairs secretary Camiel Eurligs, Economic Development Board (EDB) chief executive officer Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa and EU GCC relations committee member Angellica Nebler, among others.

[Pearl of the Gulf]

Sunday November 27, 2:27 AM EST



DUBAI -(Dow Jones)- Bahraini investment firm Arcapita Bank said Sunday it had sold three U.S. real estate portfolios to U.S. distribution facilities and services firm ProLogis (PLD) for around $800 million.

Arcapita in a statement said the deal, for three portfolios acquired in 2001, will be closed by January 2006.

The properties consist of recently built, fully leased industrial distribution facilities, in key distribution markets across the United States.

The deal is Arcapita's fifth real estate exit during 2005, with an aggregate transaction value of $1.1 billion.

"We have been able to return approximately $420 million to our clients across the GCC region, demonstrating the continued strength of our real estate line of business," said Asim Zafar, global head of Arcapita's real estate investments.

link

[Pearl of the Gulf]

Monday, November 28, 2005


Bahrain will become the region’s first mass car maker with the opening of a 60,000 vehicles a year assembly plant early next year.
Meena Investments yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two of Malaysia’s leading automotive companies that will see the DADI model produced in the Kingdom.
It will be targeted to meet the demands of the Gulf and Arab markets with cars coming off the production line prices at between BD3,000 and BD6,000.
Bahrain-based Meena Investment WLL yesterday signed the deal with Malaysia’s LM Star and Premium Paramount International Automobile Sdn Bhd.
The Malaysian company LM Star Auto world Sdn Bhd (LM star) the sole franchise holder of Paramount currently produces more than 300,000 cars a year under the name of DADI.
The agreement was signed by the Executive Chairman of Premium Paramount Fauziah Hj Alias and top representative from Bahrain, Khalid Abdul Rasool Al Sharif, Chairman of Al Sharif Group and Jameel Ali Al Matrook, Managing Director of Ali Al Matrook Company WLL, at a ceremony held at the Malaysian Embassy.
The Malaysian Ambassador, Naimun Mohammed Ashkali was also present. The agreement will be activated in early 2006.
Ambassador Askhali said the agreement was an historic moment for the private sectors of both countries and it would open doors for many other companies to work together to enhance the existing base of investments and business.
He said that the Malaysian cars would be exported across the entire Middle East region making Bahrain as a hub for the Malaysian cars.
He said: “The car parts will be produced in China as the Malaysia side will sign a formal agreement with China in the third week of next month paving the way to produce units for the Bahrain assembly plant.
“It is a landmark agreement to establish a car plant and training and maintenance centre in Bahrain by one of the biggest car manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The embassy is keen to work the private sector of to come up with more strategic projects in future.”

[Natural Bahraini]

hmm they should think of making luxury one-of-a-kind cars later to be put on the map!

[Pearl of the Gulf]

at least now you can say “that car was made in Bahrain” even if it kind off crap.

[Natural Bahraini]

ahah ya i guess...but why the name dida? they should have made a 4x4 calld like arabian rancher or sumthing

[Pearl of the Gulf]

I can see the advert now.

“DADI truly Asia”

then is small print in the bottom

made in bahrain

[Bahraini Spirit]

Originally Posted by Pearl of the Gulf

I can see the advert now.

“DADI truly Asia”

then is small print in the bottom

made in bahrain

.

This is great stuff, I don't care, this will boost the GDP and it's a great way to bolster trade between the two nations. Am happy .

[Bahraini Spirit]

Drama group plans building
A LOCAL theatre group may soon have an income-generating project for its activities.

Awal Theatre, in Muharraq, has presented a request to the Central Municipality to allow the construction of a building near A'ali Health Centre.

The request will be discussed today by the Central Municipal Council, which will determine whether the location of the building is suitable.

"The project will include shops in the first floor and flats in the second," said council educational, social and cultural committee chairman Sayed Abdulla Al A'ali.

"We will be deciding whether the flats should be rented out as offices or exclusively to families," he said.

[Natural Bahraini]

ahhahah damn man 'dadi truly asia' thats sum funny shit

[B-Patriot]

Originally Posted by Pearl of the Gulf

at least now you can say “that car was made in Bahrain” even if it kind off crap.

Yeah, that'll be awesome...I hope this car company is successful, and that other car makers follow suit, and establish regional HQ's and plants in Bahrain...

[Bahraini Spirit]

I've seen it in Malaysia, it's not that bad. Let em just locate this next to the BIC to make that whole area a car city.

[Natural Bahraini]

http://www.bddqc.com.cn/english/index.htm
WOW okay these cars look pretty good...but they copy the designs and just make it their own ahha iam sure this will be successful!

[Bahraini Spirit]

A NEW way to get rid of rubbish will be adopted soon to protect the environment, it was announced yesterday.

The government is building a waste management factory, which will dispose of garbage that is currently dumped in landfill sites.

Fourteen tenders for the project have been submitted to the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry by local companies, said minister Ali Saleh Al Saleh.

He was replying to a question submitted by Shura Council member Mohammed Baqer on ways to decreasing the environmental damage caused by dumping waste.

"We studied two of the best offers, which would help decrease the number of dumped garbage in the Hafeera landfill site in Askar," said the minister at the Shura Council's session yesterday.

"The problem is that we can't stop dumping, whatever method we use."

It is not yet known how much the waste management factory would cost or where it will be located.

A decision is still to be taken on whether it will use automatic burning (incineration) to dispose of rubbish or autoclave (steaming and incineration).

The minister said automatic burning would still mean that 10 per cent of waste is buried, while thermo treatment would mean 20pc being buried.

"We are trying to increase the contract period with the companies from 10 to 15 years after the two companies agreed to decrease their costs for each tonne from BD24.74 to BD17.44 for automatic burning and BD8.1 to BD4.96 for thermo treatment," he added.

Mr Al Saleh said the Cabinet has already backed the project in principle and gave the ministry the green light to co-ordinate with the Finance Ministry on the issue.

"Construction of the waste management factory will be tendered early next year after getting feedback from international consultancy companies concerned with waste management," he said.

The landfill site currently consists of three deep holes made by dynamiting.

The first, which has a volume of one million cubic metres, was filled during the period 1986 to 2001, said Mr Al Saleh.

"We are currently burying in the second hole, which is 500,000 cubic metres in volume," he said.

"Its capacity is increasing due to further explosions there."

The third hole, said Mr Al Saleh, was also increasing in size day-by-day due to increased explosions there.

"It is expected to serve as a dumping ground for 20 years," he said.

"Until then, trees will be planted over the first hole to absorb fumes caused by the decomposition of garbage."

Mr Al Saleh said the country's two contracted cleaning companies were transporting garbage from the five governorates between 4am to 6pm every day. "Around 2,500 tonnes are being buried daily," he said.

"A total of 370 trucks bring in dangerous and non-dangerous garbage to the landfill site.

"Garbage is being buried in piles reaching four metres and then covered with a layer of sand in a method called healthy burial. "The pollution level in the area is low and gases emanated there are controllable, with undesirable smells decreasing by 90pc."

[Bahraini Spirit]

Some action taken by the BCCI:

A NEW charity society is being launched to bring businessmen closer to ordinary people. It is being launched by a Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (BCCI) political affairs support committee.

The committee, which has been given powers independent to the BCCI, is launching the society as a way to politically empower the private sector.

It was announced by BCCI president Dr Essam Fakhro at a Press conference at the chamber's premises in Manama yesterday.

"Many people have criticised the chamber for not being close enough to the people," said Dr Fakhro. "This committee, headed by businessman Farouk Almoayyed, will contribute to charity projects in Bahrain."

Information Minister and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar told traders at a meeting on November 9 that they should play a more active role in civil society, in order to win political support.

He was responding to criticism by the businessmen about the ministry's Tourism Affairs directorate, which they claimed was issuing policies which were crippling to Bahrain's tourism industry.

The businessmen accused the ministry of buckling to pressure from Islamist MPs to impose a last minute ban on alcohol during Ramadan, which they said cost them millions.

A seven-day punitive ban on hotels which ignored the earlier warning was also later imposed, resulting in lost revenue over the Eid holidays.

Dr Abdul Ghaffar told the traders that the reason the MPs were elected was because they were involved in charity and other efforts which brought them closer to the electorate.

He suggested that the traders try a similar approach to win more political power.

Dr Fakhro said that the idea for the new society wasn't directly as a result of Dr Abdul Ghaffar's statement but added that the view was widespread that businessmen were not doing enough in this area.

He also said that the establishment of this society would not mean that traders would stop their contributions to other charities as well. "Many businessmen contribute to a variety of worth causes and this will be a new one," Dr Fakhro said.

[Bahraini Spirit]

The Shura Council was yesterday urged to pass a government proposed law to protect trademarks.

It would further ensure that pirated goods do not enter Bahrain's market and provide suitable legal procedures, Commerce and Industry Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro told council members at their weekly meeting.

He said 27 trademark violations have been found last year, including two cases that were referred to the Public Prosecutor.

"The two cases involved Lipton and Abu Sayfayn tea against several merchants who have brought brands copying their packs and trademarks."

Dr Fakhro said until the new law comes into effect, those who have trademarks disputes could only go to court.

"Under the new law, inspectors will be given a sheriffs authority, which means they would be able to catch violators red-handed," he said.

"At the moment, whenever a violation is reported in writing, we call the merchant selling the pirated good, verbally warn him against importing the pirated good and if it continues we refer the case to the Public Prosecutor."

Dr Fakhro said random inspections were carried out during the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in April in all of the country's markets to ensure pirated goods were not being sold.

"We are concerned about Bahrain's image and goods are stopped whenever the ministry's Customs Directorate suspect they are pirated, before even reaching the market," he said.

[Skyline-BRN]

noooooooooooooooo that means I cant buy my 4 dinar adidas shoes from the souq anymore!!

[Bahraini Spirit]

Lol, let's not forget those amazin BD 1 Oakley shades .

[Pearl of the Gulf]

Bahrain Tribune - 29/11/2005

One of India' s largest private sector life insurance companies, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. opened its doors for business in Manama yesterday, marking its first foray into the overseas market.

Its target is the non-resident Indians (NRI) who live in the Kingdom as well as other NRI communities in the GCC, to whom it will market retirement solutions, capital guarantee plans and children's education plans linked life insurance policies.

The opening of the office, located in the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce Building was attended by BMA Executive Director Anwar Khalifa Al Saa'deh and Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty and the company's Managing Director and CEO Shikha Sharma and Executive Director N.S. Kannan. Also present was the Joint Managing Director of ICICI Bank, Lalitha Gupte.

ICICI Prudential is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential, an international financial services group headquartered in the United Kingdom. For the past four years, ICICI Prudential has retained its position as the No. 1 private life insurer in the country, with a wide range of flexible products that meet the needs of the Indian customer at every step in life.

ICICI Prudential will work closely with ICICI Bank, one of its promoters, which is also celebrating a successful first anniversary in Bahrain.

"As the largest private life insurance company in India, our biggest challenge has been, and remains, the lack of consumer awareness about the need for and benefits of life insurance," said Shikha Sharma, in an interview with Bahrain Tribune. "With the advent of private companies, and their efforts like education programmes, seminars, advertising and financial planning, there has been an increased awareness about life insurance as a viable financial instrument for protection and investments. However, it is clear that more such efforts are required to grow the market to the levels of penetration achieved in more developed countries."

The company's entry into the Bahrain NRI scene will be a serious challenge to the other major player, Life Insurance Corporation which has been doing business here for years now. However, Shikha Sharma says private life insurers no longer face lack of trust from customers and have "made a huge impact on the market."
"Certainly LIC, with its legacy, has immense recall amongst the Indian public. It is a formidable player and regarded as very trustworthy, because of its quasi-government stature," she said. "However, as is evident from the performance of private companies over the past four years, life insurers such as ICICI Prudential have made a huge impact on the market and succeeded in garnering customer acceptance and trust. Today, private companies together have 30 per cent of the total market, of which ICICI Pru alone has 11 per cent."

Consistent advertising and brand campaigns have contributed to greatly increasing the awareness of ICICI Prudential. According to recent syndicated market studies, ICICI Prudential has a brand awareness score of 92 per cent - the highest amongst private life insurers and just a shade lower than that of LIC, she said.

Shikha said the company would focus on face-to-face marketing that had worked so well for it in India, adding that she didn't see any major difference in the requirements of NRIs as opposed to customers in India. "The Indian customer is very value conscious and so the profit margins are very low. Hence large volumes are key for a life insurer in this market to see profits, which means that there is not enough room for too many players. Over the medium to long-term, I believe that there will be fewer companies in the market.

"Our Bahrain office has been opened with the primary purpose of better servicing the NRIs here, who have bought our policies. In addition, Bahrain and the GCC have a large number of NRIs who are seeking to secure their own and their families financial future. Bahrain will serve as a centre for many of our Gulf-related activities."

She said: "Most NRIs nurture a dream to retire in their own country. Also, many seek to educate their children for graduate and post-graduate degrees, either in India or abroad. Both these desires require systematic, long-term planning and our specially structured life insurance policies are ideally suited to meet these needs. So, I think retirement solutions and child plans are two segments that will appeal to the NRI populace. "
As per Indian regulations, ICICI Prudential is allowed to sell only to Indians.

[Pearl of the Gulf]

Bahrain Tribune - 29/11/2005

A $99 million Bahrain-Iran joint venture bank will start operations soon, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Dr Hassan Abdullah Fakhro said yesterday.

Addressing a joint Bahrain-Iranian meeting, Dr Fakhro said that Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) agreed in 2004 to establish a joint venture bank between the Ahli United Bank, Bank Milli Iran and Bank Al Sederat with a capital of $99 million. "The branches of this bank will be opened in Iran shortly paving the way for smooth and greater co-operation between the two sides in trade, investment and other sector," the minister added.

The trade volume between Bahrain and Iran is likely to increase by 100 per cent at the end of the year. The first nine-month trade has registered an increase of over 50 per cent reaching BD11.26 million from BD7.5 million as compared with the first nine months of the previous year.

The statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's Directorate of Foreign Trade on the arrival of the two-day trade mission of Iran showed that there would be a substantial increase in two-way trade in the coming weeks.

The Iranian Trade Delegation is headed by the Iranian Minister of Trade Masood Meer Kazmi and the comprised of the businessmen, officials and the members of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines.

The Iranian Minister and his Bahraini counterpart Dr Hassan Abdullah Fakhro attended the fifth round of Bahrain-Iran joint technical committee meeting on economy and trade held at the Regency Inter-Continental Hotel.

Dr Hassan Fakhro welcomed the delegation and said that Bahrain and Iran enjoy very cordial ties in trade, investment and business sectors.

He lauded the efforts of His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and the former Iranian President Mohammed Khatimi for reinforcing the relations and exchange of visits by both leaders.

He also underlined the importance of three economic, trade and investment agreements signed by both sides in addition to MoUs on environment, youth, sports.

The Minister stressed the accomplishments by the joint committee highlighting the contribution in the trade exchange reaching BD31 million in 2003 as compared with BD24 million in 2000, the increase of 26 per cent.

He also emphasised the activation of the economic agreements signed between the two countries and revitalising the economic activity in the line of the changing scenario of the global economy and Bahrain's signing of free trade agreement with the US.