The Gulf News reported about $41.5bn worth of imports or 32.6 percent of Dubai’s total imports — valued at $85.5bn — were carried out by companies in the free zones in 2009. Dubai houses around 20 free zones with more than 20,000 companies, and major imports, exports and re-exports happen via Jebel Ali Free Zone, Technopark and Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ).

Albeit Dubai does not produce oil as compared to other key trade centers in the Middle East to fuel the economy, it relies solely on various business processes of exim trade. Dubai free trade zones are understood to have grown largely owing to its transit point status between growing economies of Asia and Africa as well as plunging into free zone strategy much early on.

Dubai’s first free zone was launched in the early 1980s when the government commissioned Jebel Ali port — now the main trading hub of the Middle East. The free zones across the globe have prospered mainly due to the possibilities of having controlling stake in investments and repatriable revenue generation opportunities.

And Dubai is case in point to it as foreigners can own 100 percent stake in companies within the free zones. It should be noted the UAE’s Commercial Companies Law restricts foreign investment in private companies to 49 percent and foreigners cannot do business without a local partner except at free zones.

Last week, DAFZ said it had recorded a 63 percent jump in sale during the first half of this year while Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone reported that 785 companies have already registered for businesses during the first half of the year. Hamad Bu Amim, Director General of Dubai Chamber, said, “Dubai’s free zones are a major source of attraction for global companies and firms due to the many advantages they offer to investors looking for all the benefits of operating in the designated free zone areas.”

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But Francis Chow, a local businessman who is blamed for restraining and stressing out eight dolphins in a tiny shallow pool for six months informed that his park was neither killing nor breaking any laws on dolphin trade rather exporting them to marine parks in Australia or the US. In response to the protest, Chow said the hypocrite protestors should stop driving Japanese cars, and should harass the Japanese whalers.

However, Chow seemed to be unaware of the fact the people behind the protest played a part to delay Japanese dolphin or whaling hunt last season. Renowned dolphin activist and member of Earth Island Institute’s Marine Mammal Team Ric O’Barry along with his son Lincoln O’Barry exposed the world to the shocking truth of slaughter of thousands of dolphins in Japan in an award winning documentary called ‘The Cove’ last year.

Despite opposition from both the Australian and New Zealand governments, Solomons dolphins are captured and sold to aquariums, marine parks and even hotels around the world, often fetching as much as $200,000. The Earth Island Institute’s effort to stop dolphin trade is believed to have converted the so-called ‘Darth-Vader’ of the Solomons’ dolphin trade, the Canadian Chris Porter from a seller to a savior.

Makili said the Solomons government once banned the trade but now, in the pursuit of much-needed revenue, ignored directives by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Though Solomons government allows about 50 from the earlier quota of 100 dolphins, the CITES recommends just 10 numbers.

Some Solomon Islanders still hunt dolphins for food and use their teeth for traditional ‘shell money’ but since 2003 they have also been hunted to exploit the lucrative live export market. The documentary ‘The Cove’ had exposed the senseless annual slaughter of approximately 20,000 dolphins at the remote Taiji, Japan.

The O’Barry father-son combine is showcasing another mini-series on massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The Animal Planet on August 27, 2010 would be airing a three-part mini-series titled “Blood Dolphins”, and would highlight how the tiny nation of nearly 1,000 islands in the South Pacific has emerged as a major challenge in the blood trade of wild dolphins.

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Brazilian agricultural exports reached $ 7.33bn in July, representing growth of 16.6 percent as compared to the same month last year. With a similar yardstick, the sales to the Arab countries grew by almost 40 percent, a growth rate second only to shipments to the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi) member states.

The data shows that four countries from the Arab region have featured in the list of leading 20 export destinations of Brazil. They are – Iran at 5th place behind China, the US, the Netherlands and Russia, and Saudi Arabia in the 10th position, Egypt at13th and the UAE at No.17 appeared on the new list.

Over the past few years’ trade between Brazil and Arab countries have witnessed enormous growth after Lula administration reached out to the Arab world in a stand out manner. It should be recalled the Brazil’s Minister of Agriculture Wagner Rossi informed last month that “President Lula holds the Arab countries in very high esteem. Our trade relations are increasing and will surely develop a lot, because we are complementary economies.”

Brazilian agribusiness exports to the Arab countries increased by 17.2 percent in the first half of 2010 over the same period of 2009, having gone from $2.9bn to $3.4bn. The most shipped products to the Arab region were sugar and meat, whose combined sales constituted 84 percent of Brazilian agribusiness exports.

Last month’s Brazilian exports of sugar and ethanol recorded growth of 44.3 percent, meat at 22.4 percent, forestry products 21.9 percent, coffee 32.4 percent, leathers 31.7 percent and livestock 65 percent. In the first two quarters, export revenues totalled $ 42.3bn, 12.1 percent more than of the same period of last year. The highlights pointed out by the ministry include greater exports to two Arab countries – Egypt 54.4 percent and the UAE 22 percent. While imports from the region, largely fertilizers, too recorded huge growth at $ 1.13bn, a rise of 42 percent over the same month of 2009.

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Truss’ announcement gains prominence following a recent pre-poll survey gave a slight edge for the Coalition to form the next government of Australia. An opinion poll of Newspoll, a market research firm, commissioned by The Australian newspaper has found that the opposition Liberals leading 52 percent to 48 percent over the ruling Labour.

Truss was echoing similar trade plans which the Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced on Monday for the tourism industry of the country. Abbot declared a Coalition government would spend an extra AUD $90mn (US$82mn) to help attract visitors to Australia.

The tourism package includes an AUD $40mn (US$36mn) fund that would provide grants of up to AUD $100,000 to build infrastructure for tourism projects.

Another AUD $14mn fund would provide grants to tourism organizations in regional areas. Tourism Research Australia will also be provided with AUD $8mn to identify emerging trends and gaps in the market, to make the industry to become more sustainable.

The Coalition sees tourism a niche business to Australia as the industry employs close to 500,000 people and earns AUD $24bn in export earnings. The Opposition has also allocated AUD $27mn for Regional Medical Workforce Plan to increase the number of doctors, nurses and dentists in regional and remote areas of Australia.

Truss said the Coalition would appoint an ambassador for trade reform to promote global trade reform and re-establish the Trade Advisory Council abolished by the Labour. He clarified that the Coalition’s highest trade priority would be the Doha round of negotiations towards freer world trade, but it would vigorously pursue FTA with China, Japan, Malaysia, the GCC, South Korea and Indonesia.

All details on future plans for trade and industry by the Opposition were laid out during the election campaigns, and were loaded with the Ruling’s inefficiencies and inequities. Australia’s general elections will be held on 21 of this month.

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The Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çaglayan hosted the meeting, and was attended by the Syrian Economy and Trade Minister Lamia Assi, the Jordanian Minister of Industry and Trade Amir al-Hadidi and the Lebanese Economy and Trade Minister Mohammad Safadi. The meet decided to form a committee, the Close Neighbors Economic and Trade Partnership Council (CNETAC) to further its cause.

The committee will work on to sketch a roadmap to determine priorities regarding areas of co-operation, and will hold its first meeting in September in Amman, Jordan. The meet further informed that a follow-up of the CNETAC ministerial meeting would be held in the Syrian capital of Damascus in December.

Çaglayan apprised that the goal of the bloc would be to increase and diversify trade and investments among the four countries by creating a liberal trade and investment environment with a modern infrastructure at the international level, free from all tariff and non-tariff barriers, encompassed by a geography which fed a population of 105mn and, as of 2009, had a combined GDP of $723bn, imports amounted to $176bn and exports to $131bn.

In response, Lamia Assi said a Syrian market worth $300bn was awaiting Turkey, and the country could achieve a 40 percent advantage in trade with other Arab countries including Saudi Arabia by sending goods via Syria as her state enjoyed customs-free with Arab nations due to the Arab Free Trade Agreement.

According to the Turkish Trade Minister, the bilateral trade between Turkey and Syria is $795mn three years ago, but is $1.8bn by 2009.

Turkey’s proximity to the Middle Eastern countries has had invited criticisms from some quarters that the country was shifting its axis by turning away from the West and gradually becoming more of a Middle Eastern state. Çaglayan rebutted the argument by saying that Turkey’s axis was with the world but not region-centric.

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The shutting of doors to Indian exports is seen as a retaliatory measure, or as to garner more items on the negotiating table while both sides meet again in the ongoing bilateral talks. The case in point for the payback is that India does not allow transit facilities to Pakistan’s exports to Nepal and Bhutan.

At a glance, the accord hugely favours Pakistan as its goods gain access through Afghanistan to Central Asian countries including lucrative markets of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The amended trade deal was signed by Pakistan Commerce Minister Amin Fahim and his Afghan counterpart Anwarul Haq in the presence of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Islamabad has for long resisted pressure from Kabul to allow the export of Indian goods by land through Pakistani territory. However, this long-standing demand by both Afghanistan and India seemed to impact more the poor of the region than the governments of the nations involved.

The failures of protracted farcical talks between India and Pakistan continue to push every possible event to be used as a tool to blatantly demonstrate displeasure with one another’s actions. Lately, while Islamabad refuses to give India the Most Favoured Nation status, Delhi has raised both tariff and non-tariff barriers to restrict Pakistan’s exports.

It is yet to be seen whether Clinton would be able to play a meaningful role in the region to re-weld the two nuclear states for ushering in peace and prosperity to the region. But given the frequent border tensions and unrest in Kashmir after a respite indicate that any time in near future it is unlikely the two governments giving in to allow each other land transit rights.

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Myanmar and Viet Nam have similar history and share almost identical culture and religion. While Viet Nam suffered boycott by the West in the past Myanmar continues to be ostracized by the US and the EU as well.

Phung who is active in Myanmar for some time with humanitarian aid became confident about its market following the back to back success of two trade fairs held to promote Vietnamese products in Yangon last September and April. Although the two-way trade between both sides last year was a meagre $74mn, the first half of this year is showing an uptick by recording $58mn.

Viet Nam exports steel products, cement, processed foods, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and electrical goods and other appliances. On the other hand, Myanmar’s main exports to Viet Nam are wood and forestry products, natural rubber and seafood.

According to the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Myanmar, Vietnamese enterprises have pledged investments of nearly $1bn in Myanmar this year, well short of their investments in the neighbouring Laos and Cambodia of about $6bn each. But Phung believes that the coming years will witness a greater interest among Vietnamese businesses to tap the new market as there is huge demand for their products in Myanmar on account of their quality, range and reasonable prices.

Nevertheless, Phung admitted that the businesses would have to undergo challenges such as tortuous import licensing procedures and difficulties in getting payments, major reason being the US and the EU embargo against Myanmar. But he advised Vietnamese enterprises to strictly follow the guidelines of the Vietnamese embassy in Myanmar and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and do financial transactions only through designated banks.

Under British colonial era, Myanmar was the second-wealthiest country in South-East Asia but the country is one of the poorest in the region today. Viet Nam aspires to make Myanmar as developed as itself through exchanges as the former too emerged from the shadows of prolonged sanctions from the West.

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As mentioned by the Kuwaiti premier before the trip that the country had not undertaken a high-level international trip like this in recent past is primarily aimed at leveraging the KD 37bn ($125bn) which the government has set aside for the five-year development plan of Kuwait. Furthermore, Kuwait desires to showcase the region and the world as well its “resilience” to the Iraqi invasion and occupation in 1990.

In an interview with The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Ali Al Sammak, who serves as the Kuwait’s Ambassador to Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Canada and Ambassador Designate to Mexico said the Premier was “very keen” on opening embassies in more South American countries. According to a KUNA report, Kuwait is looking to open new embassies in Cuba, Mexico and Chile to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties with most nations in South America.

Al Sammak further added that though Kuwaiti relations with South America was good yet in the fields of education, economy, healthcare, investment, and industry required a lot of effort to exact right results. The high level Kuwaiti team includes the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Commerce and Industry as well as officials from the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

The out-stretched tour is expected to see the signing of a series of co-operation agreements covering trade partnerships and other areas of interests between Kuwait and the touring nations.

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Uganda branch manager Joshua Ng’ang’a of Nakumatt, a Kenyan supermarket chain said at least commodities in the Ugandan supermarkets would see about 20 percent cut as the imports were overpriced to the tune of same percentage. Besides discounted prices, improvement in quality and increase in variety of items is also anticipated from the start of the common market since producers will have to compete with similar business entities among the EAC member states.

Ng’ang’a argued that one of the other reasons for price reduction apart from competition would be the elimination of middlemen from the procurement scene, allowing the supermarkets to directly source from the producers or manufacturers. According to East African Business Week, the leading supermarkets in Uganda are tight-lipped about the future developments in the retail sector.

Last November, the member states of the EAC signed a common market protocol, aimed at expanding the existing customs union. It is commonplace to economies those form blocs to envisage increased competition along with the free movement of services, capital, entrepreneurship and labour across the member states.

In the absence of trade barriers, the architects of the common market expect the businesses in the region to flourish across borders. All five countries have already adopted a common external tariff, an identical tax applied to imports from outside the bloc, and allowed duty-free regional trade with the exception of Kenya, the largest economy. The EAC also has plans of floating a common currency within two years.

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Albeit the renewable power generation is relatively new to the mountainous south Asian country, it is upbeat about the commencement of the project by early next year. Mewang Gyeltshen, chief engineer from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Bhutan told Recharge that energy demand was increasing by 12 percent, and country had sufficient supplies but remote households needed a sustainable standalone off-grid system.

On the other hand, India’s energy fund is aimed at developing a South Asian regional power grid, with focus on renewable sectors such as hydro, solar and wind. It will comprise of Bhutan with investment of about $850mn (3,000 MW), a 400-kv transmission line at $50mn with Nepal, a 1,000 MW HVDC link with Sri Lanka costing $415mn and a 1,000-MW HVDC back-to-back link with Bangladesh at $220mn.

It should be recalled the Tala Hydro power project in Bhutan, a joint venture by Indian firms, has been successfully commissioned in September 2006 and transmits power to North India. The project has mutually helped, Bhutan to jack up its economy while India to reduce power shortages in its northern parts.

The success of Tala has prompted other Indian energy firms to foray into Bhutan. Last month, the THDC India Ltd, a Govt. of India undertaking, has signed a MoU with Bhutan for the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of 180 MW Bunakha hydroelectric project in Bhutan. The Bunakha project is a part of the Indian government’s initiative to develop 10,000 MW of hydro power in Bhutan by the year 2020.

Bhutan sells hydropower to India at a price of $0.04 per kW, making 100 percent profit from a production cost of $0.02 per KW. Since it is estimated that for every one percent GDP growth more than the same percentage of energy production is required, Indo-Bhutan energy co-operation is likely to be a long-term one.

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The cheese which was made in Germany, by the firm Milchwerk Jager Gmbh & Co has been blamed for exporting sub-standard versions by mimicking Italian sounding brand names such as Fattorie Torresina, Lovilio and Monteverdi. Although the mozzarella was marked as made in Germany and did not receive any complaints of illness linked to the ‘blue’ mozzarella at that time, the farmers regard the incident has harmed the reputation of Italy as a quality food-maker.

Preliminary analyses at Turin’s Zooprofilattico (veterinary preventative medicine) Institute analyses showed it to be bacterial rather than toxic contamination. Besides bacteria, the blue colouring could also indicate elements of copper, nickel or lead in the milk or the aqueous solution used to preserve the cheese.

During the protest, Italy’s main farm lobby Coldiretti argued that the citizens had the right to know what they were buying and origin of those products. Similarly, Agriculture Minister of Italy Giancarlo Galan told that he would press for new legislation requiring milk producers to give more details about the provenance of their milk and related products.

Mozzarella is the most favourite variety of cheese in Italy, and about 60 percent of Italians consume 164mn kilograms (360mn pounds) per annum. With this German trade infringement, Italian cheese producers feel the original mozzarellas may lose their brand value among the consumers. Tuesday’s protest saw border police inspecting trucks bringing milk, meat and other products into Italy.

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Many players have likened the Jabulani to a ‘supermarket ball’, saying it is too unpredictable and flies through the air too easily. Goalkeepers have often expressed dissatisfaction about footballs at most mega events of late, but this is the first time even field players and coaches joining the chorus.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon went on to say “I don’t see why we can’t just go back to the old black-and-white checkered version we all played with as kids.” Statistics show scoring was down by 16 goals in the first round as compared to last World Cup’s 117-101, and scoring from set pieces has also witnessed significant dip.

According to an APP report, Pakistan has exported around 3.5mn footballs worth $5.2mn for the ongoing FIFA World Cup grabbing only 30 percent of the total orders floated globally. The penetration of machine-made footballs in the international market has caused a serious dent to Pakistan’s hand-stitched soccer ball industry.

Footballs and other sports goods are manufactured in Sialkot, a Pakistani province which boasts of building an international airport with exporters’ fortune. Though Sialkot was producing footballs since a century ago, it gained international celebrity status when it produced the “Tango” ball for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, kicking off a lucrative industry.

The footballs from Sialkot are subjected to daily tests of quality in laboratories to supervise pressure, bounce, impermeability and shape. The making of footballs include professional automatons cutting sheets of synthetic leather in hexagons or pentagons, marking, drying the paint, dividing the pieces and sewing with needles, thread and thimbles.

Only a few years ago around 70 percent of world soccer balls were prepared in Sialkot and the country on average was exporting 40mn balls worth $210mn produced annually by some 60,000 highly skilled labourers. Pakistan’s soccer ball industry is awaiting a huge favourable decision from the FIFA for them to regain its coveted football exports share in the global market.

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Slobodan Radun, the owner of Nectar, the leading Serbian juice and soft drinks producer, told “Their (Croatian) products have solid treatment here, their companies are buying ours, and we do not have access to their market. We offer products of top quality for lower prices than their producers, but it’s not working. Sometimes a company with a special connection can do it, but it’s generally impossible.”

The Politika opined that though the government agencies claimed the economic relations had improved, “not even the contemporary trends and sacred international rules of market economy – the free flow of goods and capital – are being respected”

According to the data from the Croatian National Bank, the Croatian companies invested in $641.7mn by the end of last year in Serbia, making Serbia the second largest destination for the Croatian foreign investments. The bilateral trade between both sides has increased manifold from $40mn in 2000 to $1bn in 2009. In the past seven years the trade has gone against Serbia registering a trade deficit of $716.6mn, and Serbia is one of the rare European countries with which Croatia has trade surplus.

It should be noted that, in a recent conference, Economy Ministry State Secretary Nebojsa Ciric admitted that only one Serbian investment was able to succeed in Croatia, when the Swisslion Takovo bought the Croatian Euro Food Market but otherwise most efforts bombed. It is yet to be seen whether the last month’s accord between both nations to remove political bottlenecks and simplifying business processes would translate into equilibrized economic co-operation.

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Last week, Mehmet Simsek, Finance Minister of Turkey told that his country’s GDP would grow 12 percent in the first quarter of 2010. He had claimed that the economy was recovering quickly from the backlash of the global meltdown in view of country’s several internal crisis management programs.

The 2nd TWTB meet, which is expected to become a venue for 7bn of trade deals, is held between 14th and 20th June. According to sources, the meet has been able to attract nearly 2,200 businessmen from 135 countries and 1,200 Turkish traders as well. About 1,600 translators are interpreting the forums into 38 languages, and the participants would form delegations to visit 62 provinces of Turkey.

The primary objective of the meet would be to include and optimize small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Turkey to tide over the challenges from the monopolistic-oriented economies. Moreover, Turkey has no intention to endlessly wait for the EU membership to shape its economy to usher in growth particularly at a time when Europe is facing a volatile economic climate.

Through the TUSKON, a confederation with a strong base in Turkey and abroad, the country will be assisting entrepreneurs to overcome the language barrier by providing language courses, and in some cases even translations. The Turkish business confederation along with its affiliations across the world would be working together by simplifying and expediting business processes for country’s SMEs to make the export engine move forward rapidly.

The TUSKON has sister organizations in 135 countries across the world, and these institutions are set up by the Turkish entrepreneurs and volunteers to integrate its members to the international business environment. The Indo-Turkish Business Association, Thai-Turkish Business Association, South Africa Turkish Business Association and the Turkish and Cameroon Business Association are some of the business organizations affiliated to the parent confederation.

Turkey as an emerging export-oriented economy is paying vital importance for the TWTB meet as its trading history indicates those Turkish international business entities monetized significantly better than the domestic ones. A number of government agencies and companies including the Foreign Ministry, the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), Turkish Airlines (THY) and Bank Asya are joining force with the TUSKON to make the meet successful.

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A recent research from the Institute of Personal Care Science of Australia finds that the global cosmetics market is worth $334bn (Dh1.2tn) and the global halal cosmetics market is estimated at $13bn. According to another research from Euro Monitor International, the beauty and cosmetics industry is expected to increase globally by 8.5 percent by 2014, representing one of the few sectors that continues to grow despite the global meltdown.

While a Malaysian study described that the global halal business worth $635bn a year, had expanded from the Islamic countries to the Western nations with growing Muslim populations. In France, which is home to about five million Muslims, sales of halal food are set to reach $7.2bn by the end of this year.

Mah Hussain-Gambles, Founder, Saaf Pure Skincare, one of the first halal cosmetics companies in Europe, said “The industry has also benefitted from a rising concern about the use of harmful ingredients in cosmetics and 75 percent of my customers are non-Muslims.” She further added “The principles are the same – they want something that does not harm the body, the purity and that is exactly the same as the halal movement.”

Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Epoc Messe Frankfurt, organisers of Beautyworld Middle East 2010 apprized that with growing consumer awareness and the drive for quality ingredients, halal personal care products were a high-growth segment with tremendous potential. Similarly, Elaine O’Connell, Senior Show Manager of the beauty trade show opined customers in the prosperous and high-growth markets of the Middle East were becoming increasingly selective of the quality and content of the products they used, and this was reflected in the surge in demand for halal-certified beauty products.

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The Trade Minister’s words were marked by clear ideas on which the country’s economic path would be paved in the coming years regardless of its size. He said NZ started its reform process 30 years ago with very high protectionist barriers but now was solidly centred on reciprocal trade liberalisation.

Groser shifted his focus from the FTA talks to WTO negotiations and expressed dismay over the inertia at the WTO. He said the WTO negotiating process was suffering from sclerosis, and criticized the WTO Director General’s use of the metaphor of having done 80 percent of the negotiation. He added that but last 20 percent or whatever number one chose to illustrate the remaining negotiating gap – was proving elusive.

He arrayed data on NZ trade policies including the collective effort in the early 1990s that it would not put all its eggs in the then GATT or now WTO basket. He pointed out since then, while emphasising multilateral trade policy, successive NZ Governments had aggressively and successively pursued a bi-partisan strategy of developing FTAs with economies which were either major trading partners or promised to be – i.e. the emerging economies.

“All projections suggest that in even twenty to thirty years’ time, the countries with the largest populations will have the largest economies. We will be living in a truly multi-polar world in which we are highly likely to have four economic super-powers with huge populations (China, India, the US and the hybrid model of the 27 Member EU) plus a range of very significant economies on a second tier including Japan, Korea, Indonesia and, of course the other of the so-called ‘BRICs’ – the formulation that includes not just China and India but also Brazil and Russia”, claimed Groser.

The gist of the address disclosed that NZ current FTAs including China, Thailand, Singapore and Chile and future FTAs or any other trade deals were and will be designed to follow an extreme application of what is called ‘first mover advantage’ strategy – getting in first, to avoid the possibility of being left to last.

NZ is the first developed country to have established a comprehensive FTA with China. Besides, NZ has negotiated a parallel FTA with Hong Kong – NZ is the only country in the world so far, other than China itself, to have such a relationship.

At a glance, the NZ-Russia FTA opens up business opportunities for not only the NZ dairy industry but also extend to other areas such as agro-tech, tourism and education. New Zealand’s exports to Russia are worth NZ$187mn ($127mn) last year, of which about two-thirds are dairy products. That’s just a fraction of the more than the $30bn of food Russia purchases annually.

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Al Tayer’s projection comes after global cues such as growth in the US, European, Chinese and Indian economies driving demand for crude and related products. It should be recalled, last week at an international conference on petrochemicals Mukesh Ambani, the oil baron said crude prices could rise to $100 a barrel in the near future.

Under the theme of ‘Finance for the Next Decade of Growth’, the two-day MENASA Forum, held between 23 and 24 May 2010, widely focused on discussing the critical opportunities and challenges confronting the region over the next decade. Over 250 members of the regional and international banking and financial services industry, regulators and senior business executives attended the Forum hosted by the DIFC.

Earlier, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee and Chairman of the Emirates Group delivered the key note address on the first day of the Forum. He told that the platform was a great occasion for discussing how the MENASA countries could forge greater integration in trade, investment and finance, and stressed at setting up of a mechanism for cooperation similar to that of the ASEAN.

Arif Masood Naqvi, Founder and Group CEO, Abraaj Capital observed the MENASA region remained as the heart of the emerging markets, helping drive global growth through the combination of population growth, economic reform and hydrocarbon wealth. Likewise, Al Tayer said the vast potential of the MENASA region was “undeniable” despite the challenges being faced in the post-global downturn environment.

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India would be largely interested in absorbing Israel’s technological prowess in areas such as bio-tech, nano-technology, healthcare, security services, water management and agriculture. On the other hand, Israel will focus on the India’s manufacturing potential to overcome its limitations on this front.

Although there are equal trade and utility potential for both countries, the tariff differences remained a roadblock for the smooth transition of trade talks ever since they began. India’s tariffs are on the higher end, and will have to make steep reductions to accommodate Israel’s trading needs. However, given the smaller size of Israel’s manufacturing industry, India does not have to worry about any massive influx of goods if it compromised on tariffs.

Speaking to Business Line, Eli Belotserkovsky, Deputy Chief Mission, Embassy of Israel, said that there are very few issues that need to be sorted out to finalise a FTA between the two nations. He opined that the two-way trade was evenly matched at about $2bn, and projected to grow up to $6bn once the FTA was signed.

Belotserkovsky admitted that they were not good at mass production or heavy equipment, where India could play a big role. He also said that the textile trade was another area which had immense potential between the two nations.

The Indo-Israeli FTA is expected to promote investment opportunities for both governments as well as private enterprises. Among goods and services, both countries’ major area of focus would be agriculture as it has been in the past few years.

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Head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines Mohammad Nahavandian said “Europe’s economy is seriously interested in the expansion of co-operation with Iran for different reasons, including energy security, but political obstacles have caused some problems.”

Nahavandian observed that his country’s effort to establish and strengthen relations through the chambers of different nations played a key role in the expansion of Tehran’s ties with the European states. He also reminded that after the downturn despite political pressures, Iran has maintained and expanded its ties with many European companies, and also has developed relations with 40 chambers and joint councils of countries from different parts of the world.

It should be noted that in February, Nahavandian has said the West’s sanctions against Iran has helped to expand trade with non-western countries. He is of the opinion that sanctions increase the economic costs not only to those under sanctions but also to those impose them.

Nahavandian claims are well corroborated by the open and tacit support Iran is getting from within Europe and rest of US. While most EU countries reduced commercial activities with Iran over the past year, Austria expanded them, and several German firms too continued to maintain trade.

Iran which has the world’s second largest reserves of both oil and gas is facing US sanctions over its civilian nuclear program. However, the Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s strong defence at the ongoing conference of signatories of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is likely to weaken the US stance on any fresh sanctions against Iran. Ahmadinejad said that Washington has offered not “a single credible proof” that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons, and reiterated that Iran’s intention was to produce nuclear power but not weapons.

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The Engineering Development Board (EDB) which organized the workshop was attended by various industry heads and government officials. Zaheeruddin Dar, Chairman of DART, a consulting firm which is associated with the formation of NEEDS presented 29 point proposal draft at the workshop including the establishment of EXIM bank, trade promotions and industry specific training institutions.

While addressing the workshop, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Owais Ahmed Ghani said that despite insurgency, great opportunities in the engineering and technological industrial sectors awaited Pakistan. It should be noted, the recently concluded Pak-US Trade and Investment Council had remarked that due to efforts of Pakistan to combat terrorism, it has suffered huge losses and its export competitiveness declined considerably.

Razzaq Dawood, one of the business leaders told that if Pakistan desired to achieve the $70bn export target it had to integrate engineering, chemical and information technology (IT) development at par with textiles. In response, Minister for Industries and Production, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani assured that his government would bring about necessary changes to facilitate the engineering industry to play its due role. Furthermore, engineering sector’s significant growth last year when exports of Pakistan decreased by 11 percent also compels the Gilani administration to give equal priority for other key sectors apart from textiles.

The NEEDS has chalked out plans to energize the industry from its $800mn exports to $10bn in next 15yrs through the implementation of the proposal draft. It has identified Central Africa and Latin America as potential markets and Pakistan has the ability to tap more than $165bn market through right approach. It has also observed the country’s engineering products had good demand in international markets owing to their price competitiveness, and all they needed was extra support from the government to exploit the export opportunities overseas.

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The agencies including Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Export Inspection Council (EIC) have provided necessary technical inputs and financial assistance in supporting export growth in perishable items. The release indicated APEDA through its schemes for Infrastructure Development Scheme for Quality Development, Scheme for Market Development and the Scheme for Research & Development has been making efforts to expand export of products including processed food items.

The exports of perishable items have increased from $1.78bn in 2006-07 to $2.69bn during 2008-09, and a similar projectile has been able to witness in April to November 2009 period by recording more than $1.5bn. APEDA and Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) under the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India have compiled the export data.

As per the release, the vegetables exports from India during 2007 – 08 were about $341mn and the same was worth around $560mn in 2008 – 09 fiscal. In contrast, floriculture continued to idle with 82.5mn in 2008 – 09 and $76mn in 2007 – 08 as compared to 2006 – 2007 fiscal’s $146mn. The export of perishable items is permitted freely under the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP).

India’s perishable merchandise is largely comprised of vegetables, fruits, groundnuts, floriculture and livestock products. The latest figures show that fruits, groundnuts and livestock products have grown by about 10 – 20 percent.

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Many species of popular aquarium fish come from West Africa, specifically from the Lower Guinean rain-forest in Cameroon, reported VOANews. Europe, the US and Japan are regarded as the largest importers of pet fishes.

The WFC has set up a network of fishing communities around the Southern and Central Cameroon, and imparted training programs to improve the handling of all kind of fishes. Subsequently, the centre ensured that the fishers in the ornamental fish industry received fair wages. Species such as the shimmering epiplatys, striped barbus jae and the red-toothed pungu are collected in streams and river basins with hand-held nets, and fishers received up to 20 cents for each fish.

Randall Brummett, a senior scientist in Cameroon with the WFC said he came up with the project after a veterinarian at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris informed him that 90 percent of the pet fish shipments arrived dead. The project is understood to have overcome a major hurdle by extending the survival rate of the fish by 90 percent at the port of entry as against the two weeks’ shelf life of the aquarium companies of Cameroon.

However, he admitted that current storage facility, operated in conjunction with the sustainable aquarium fish company Gulf Aquatics was not big enough to hold the amount of fish supplied. He further added the WFC was trying to increase the storage facility to reach out to all remote rural communities in Cameroon to optimize their profits by getting rid of middlemen from the business process.

It has been understood that the project has yielded good results as many companies those paid lower wages have vanished from the markets owing to the WFC’s longer survival package. Brummett claimed “The fishers make about five or six times more than they used to, the main reason being that our survival rate is up to over 90 percent now.”

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Agriculture Minister of India Sharad Pawar is reported to have informed his Russian counterpart Yelena Skrynnik that his country had the capability to meet those demands as and when they emerged. While both ministers met at the sidelines of the BRIC Agriculture Ministerial Meet, Skrynnik told that though abundant stocks of poultry products were available at the moment, we would turn to India whenever a requirement sprang up.

A sudden demand for poultry in Russia has resulted due to the ban imposed on the US and Brazilian poultry as imports from these countries did not meet Russian poultry standards. According to sources, Russian sanitary standards are quite stringent than internationally accepted ones. The Russian poultry imports from the US at some point of time had even risen up to 80 percent in the past but the new sanitary requirements enforced since Jan 1 have completely stopped all imports from the US.

It should be recalled that India too faced several import bans including the existing one from Russia on its meat and poultry products. Nevertheless, a Russian expert group is expected to visit India shortly to review this long-standing export ban.

Pawar said India was exporting bovine meat and poultry products to 60 countries, including Europe, and there was “enormous potential” for exports to Russia as well. Likewise, Skrynnik apprised that Russia last year had imported 600,000 tonnes of poultry and one million tonnes of meat.

However, it is not known that the good news to the poultry and meat industry of India would turn sour to domestic consumers like that of Turkey as it has been feared in Turkey that the export approval for 500,000 tonnes of white meat to Russia could jack up domestic poultry prices significantly. Besides, the Turkish consumers are worried that the new orders from Russia would even cause severe poultry shortage in the country even though Turkish Agriculture Minister, Mehdi Eker argues that production for exports and domestic needs are met separately.

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Furthermore, there was concerted effort from a broad-based coalition of organizations in Nova Scotia, a Canadian province, with similar demands urged its premier Darrell Dexter to immediately take actions to counter a number of water issues. The coalition with ‘Turn on the Tap and Ditch the Bottle’ slogan presented the provincial government, a costless three-pronged formula to protect water resources of the province.

The coalition head Danny Cavanagh lashed out at the commercialization of water by saying there is simply no excuse for using bottled water where perfectly good tap water is available. Likewise, Jocelyne Rankin of the Ecology Action Centre said Groundwater was inextricably linked to surface water and over-pumping could cause dramatic declines in water levels, affecting wildlife habitat and recreational and fishing opportunities.

Both groups have identified that water should be made as a human right which would empower citizens to contest on every abuse of this rare depleting resource. The recognition of water as a human right in international law would allow the United Nations (UN) to monitor the progress of states in realizing the right to water, and to hold governments accountable. The Canadian government has consistently opposed the recognition of water as a human right at various UN venues in the past.

According to sources, about 90 Canadians die every year from water-borne diseases, and it is feared if government continues to allow water exports citizens will be deprived of safe and clean water. Bulk water exports and diversions would leave Canada’s water vulnerable to environmental depletion and international trade challenges, which could permanently open the sluice gates to some of the parched US states. In water parlance, a country like Canada which is built on the myth of abundance of fresh water has in fact just one percent renewable water resources, and this seemed to have worked in favour to draw such a huge support for the cause.

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The release said Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), the standards and certification wing of the Fairtrade movement has collaborated with the ARM for the successful completion of the certification program. Through the new standard, gold products including jewellery, coins and religious artefacts will be essentially certified and labelled with the FAIRTRADE and FAIRMINED (F&F) marks.

The F&F marked gold products are hoped to emancipate the A&S miners from the ugly grip of middlemen who deprive them of obtaining proper value for their merchandise. The brand is believed to provide an opportunity for consumers to indirectly involve in a social cause without shelling out anything extra. The proceeds of the organized and increased market access are also understood to radically change the mining methods.

Surprisingly, the A&S miners annually produce just 15 percent of global gold supplies, but their labour effort constitutes 90 percent of gold extraction. Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade said many in the trade were exploited by the middle men who pay below market prices and cheated them on weight and purity of the gold content. He added the F&F standards were an important development tool, and would complement other development interventions such as access to basic amenities to the communities.

Similarly, Cristina Echavarria, the ARM´s Executive Director, said the F&F program was providing a win-win platform for both A&S miners through their workmanships and consumers with their jewellery purchases. The program also promotes ethical consumer habits by making them aware of what they buy and how the proceeds of the same are utilized.

The F&F gold will be initially launched in the UK and then rolled out to other countries with a long term vision of capturing 5 percent of the gold jewellery market over a 15-year period, totalling 15 tonnes of the F&F gold annually. The standard was piloted by the ARM with nine legally established mining producer organizations in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and now applications are open to all A&S gold mining organizations in Latin America. More producer organizations from Latin America are expected to join the system by 2011 and beyond, and from 2010 the ARM plans to establish a network of pilot projects in Africa, and subsequently in Asia.

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