Gov & Regulators

Kuwait- 22, March 2012- Under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Mustafa Jassem Al Shimali, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Euromoney Conferences, the world’s leading organizer of financial conferences, announced that it will hold its fourth Kuwait Conference on the 27th of March at the Arraya Ballroom in partnership with the Ministry of Finance.

Kuwait and the Global Economy: Strategies for Uncertain Times; the only event of its type in Kuwait this year, combines a unique perspective on global events with an in-depth analysis of the State of Kuwait. It will be looking for global parallels to events in Kuwait and seeing how and where Kuwait and its international partners can make meaningful decisions in very uncertain times.

Authority to share telecoms expertise with global leaders at ISNR 2012 Conference

March 10, 2012

The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), the government agency responsible for managing all aspects of the UAE’s telecommunications and IT industries, emphasizes the importance of safe and reliable communication channels in deploying and maintaining effective homeland security measures.

KPMG Al- Fozan and Al-Sadhan held their 2012 Saudi Arabia tax and zakat update seminar in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar recently. The main objective of the seminar was to update clients and investors on the latest developments with regard to application of tax and zakat regulations in Saudi Arabia during the last year.

The seminar which was facilitated by Ebrahim Baeshen,  partner and Suleman Mulla, Tax Director based in Jeddah, highlighted issues such as, the Department of Zakat and Income Tax (DZIT)’s approach to deductible items for Tax and Zakat  purposes, Impact of the expanding network of Saudi’s double tax agreements on business decisions and an interesting section on structuring of investments and importance of tax due diligences.

Fujairah Municipality and EWS-WWF sign MoU to enhance protection of Wadi Wurayah

Fujairah, 1 March , 2012: Today the next step in converting the protected area of Wadi Wurayah into a working National Park was announced by Fujairah Municipality working in cooperation with Emirates Wildlife Society - WWF. An official Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the two entities to mark the collaboration on the implementation of a management plan, with the aim to establish a sustainable Protected Area integrating local tradition and lifestyle with the conservation of inimitable biodiversity and habitat.

With the successful protection of Wadi Wurayah in 2009 following a royal decree, EWS-WWF and Fujairah Municipality agree to continue the successful collaboration to ensure existing and future pressures on Wadi Wurayah’s natural resources are managed within an ecologically sustainable framework, maintaining the characteristic and unique natural biodiversity, involving the local community, and providing planning tools to transform the area into an important eco-tourism area for Fujairah.

Dubai, UAE, February 29, 2012: The arrival of a high profile delegation from the Australia Gulf Council (AGC) this week is set to help strengthen Australia's trade and investment relationship with the UAE.

The UAE is an attractive Middle Eastern commercial market for Australia, with exports to the UAE reaching A$2.2 billion. Major Australian exports last year included passenger motor vehicles, meat (excluding beef), wheat and barley, with total exports yielding 11.3 per cent year on year growth.  Imports from the UAE to Australia grew by 36.5%, to the value of A$3.1 billion with major Australian imports in the petrochemical industry.

Possible supply squeeze in 2012 due to ongoing fuel issues

Jeddah, 24 December 2011: NCB Capital, Saudi Arabia’s leading wealth advisor and Kingdom’s largest asset manager, expects the Saudi cement sector to continue witnessing strong demand in 2012, led primarily by government projects. However ongoing fuel issues with Aramco could delay the 4.5mn tons of new capacity expected in 2012. This potential supply constraint should provide strong pricing support.

The new NCB Capital report analyzing the Saudi cement sector noted that there are concerns on supply due to an apparent inability by Yanbu and Southern Cement to receive increased quantities of subsidized fuel from Aramco for their new lines, leading to potential delays in the start of their operations. “If this is the case, this would lead to a strong pricing support in 2012,” said Farouk Miah, Acting Head of Equity Research at NCB Capital. “The potential demand-supply imbalance could become particularly acute in the western region where demand is expected to be high, coupled with possible supply constraints at Yanbu Cement where its new 3mn tons/yr line is expected to start commercial production in 1Q12.”

Release Date: 17^th December 2011

Dubai Exports, an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED), and the German Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce (AHK), have reviewed and extended their Tradelink Partnership to strengthen the trade and investment linkages between the two economies.

Dubai, 11 December, 2011: Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Economic Sector Committee in Dubai, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, the Department of Economic Development (DED) will organise the “Share Best Practice 2011” conference on Wednesday, 14 December, 2011. The event is aimed at promoting a culture of quality and excellence among the business community in Dubai.

The annual full-day conference, to be held at the Al Ras Ballroom in InterContinental Festival City, will provide the winners of the 2010 Business Excellence Awards with a platform to share best practices in quality management with different organisations.

The conference will also see DED launching a new book titled "Dubai Quality Award Winning Practices", which shares benchmarking indices and practices of Dubai Quality Award (DQA) winners set against international quality award winners. The assessment was undertaken by Quality Indeed Consulting FZE (QICS) in partnership with the American Productivity Quality Centre (APQC), the worlds’ leading source for best practices and performance benchmarks that has over 30 years of experience with the world’s largest databases and more than 8,500 benchmarking and best-practice studies.