It should be recalled that China, the largest investor with about $1 trillion in the US treasuries has begun trial trade in its own currency since this month with its trading partners to cut down its losses in international trade. On sixth of this month, three Shanghai companies became the first to conduct cross-border trades with yuan/renminbi. The new Chinese rule allows using yuan instead of USD to settle trade accounts with merchants in Hong Kong and Southeast Asian countries on trial basis.

Though Geithner during his visit to China last month gave assurance on the safety on its investments, China did not seem to be convinced by the economic developments in the US lately. Nonetheless, Geithner during his Middle East visit is likely to stick on to Obama administration’s commitment to protect the value of the dollar and maintaining investor confidence in the US financial system.

Geithner is scheduled to hold high-level meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday with top government officials and leading business executives in Saudi Arabia and the UAE before leaving to visit Britain and France with similar goals. According to sources, Geithner is also expected to apprise the leaders of the US administration’s plans to bring down the deficit the moment the economy starts looking up.

However, it is not known how Geithner would defend the talks over the second economic stimulus package and the rising figures of the federal budget deficit for this fiscal year to nearly $1 trillion. Last week, one of Obama’s top allies in Congress had said that the lawmakers must be open for additional stimulus to overcome the economic uncertainties prevailing in the nation if the injection of $787bn to the economy in February was not providing desired results.

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The projects in the pipeline and in progress range from city trams to heavier freight routes. From the sponsorship line-up including IBM and Sharp during the ongoing MENA Rail 2009 conference in Dubai made it apparent that besides railway companies there are many in the fray vying to have a piece of the mega Gulf railway pie.

Various companies that provide rail-related products and services have opened offices across the Gulf region to utilize business opportunities and market their wares. Invensys, a UK based company that provides industrial automation, rail transportation and controls is one such company that has set up office in Dubai to augment its regional visibility.

Ala Ghanem, the regional director of business development at Invensys opined the Gulf was the most promising region at the moment for railway and related businesses. He acknowledged that there were not only many projects coming up but also were massive ones that no one in this field could afford to sideline.

The foremost project is the first proposed route of 1,970km long running through Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain over Qatar, and crossing the relevant stretches of water by bridge and continuing to UAE and Oman. The second will cover 1,984km from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia before passing through UAE and ending in Oman. The ultimate goal of this project is to link the whole of Middle East with each every country of the region. Once completed it is likely to have 16 lanes and an approximate length of 19,000km.

Other projects such as $4.2bn worth Dubai metro system, Abu Dhabi’s freight rail network, 130km of metro lines and a 340km tram system, 580km of high-speed rail to Al Ain, Dubai and Al Gharbia and Bahrain’s $8.13bn rail line with six lanes stretching 184km are few of those projects attracting many from this field.

According to Unife, a European rail consortium the global market is worth $167bn (Dh608.81bn) a year, and the Middle East and Africa account for just about $5.5bn. Michael Clausecker, the director general of Unife asserted that though it would not be the largest market, but it was one with substantial opportunities and substantial growth potential.
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