A1SaudiArabia.com

JEDDAH: Saudi private sector investments in the US last year reached SR1.58 trillion, according to the chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).

“The joint ventures between the private sectors in both countries will increase tremendously thanks to the facilities provided by both governments,” Muhammad Abdul Qadir Al-Fadl said at a meeting of the Saudi-American Business Council at the JCCI.

Al-Fadl said American businessmen and their Saudi partners would invest in major projects, to be established in the Kingdom’s industrial cities.

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RIYADH: US-Saudi trade relations have remained solid, albeit with imports from the US progressively declining over the years as a percentage of total imports. But Saudi Arabia remains one of the USs top 15 trading partners.

Total bilateral trade in 2007 is estimated to have reached SR192.7 billion ($51.3 billion), while total US exports to Saudi Arabia were estimated at SR51.4 billion ($13.7 billion), up from a lower base of SR19.7 billion ($5.2 billion) back in 2002.

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ST. PETERSBURG: Russia, entrenched in economic woes, is positioning itself as a firm trading partner with Arab nations who are keen to rekindle their Soviet-era alliance, government officials said yesterday.

Trade between the Arab world and Russia currently totals $8 billion a year a figure dwarfed by that of Russias heavyweight partner, the European Union, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars but Russia hopes a wave of new investments will cement trade for years to come.

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JEDDAH – Many young Saudi and expatriate women who are unable to find a job and have no opportunity to go to college are becoming sales representatives making contact with women by telephone and visiting them in their homes to promote a variety of products, such as, lotions and creams, hair oil, and makeup.

Companies selling items of interest to women are targeting young women in need of a job to promote their products by offering them a percentage of the sales that they make. Prospective sales representatives are bombarded with emails touting the job as one which can be done in ones free time, requires no special training or academic degree and holds out the promise of earning a large amount of money.

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RIYADH – Walid Al-Khraiji, Director General of General Organization of Grain Silos and Flour Mills, said that the organization has inaugurated four new mills in Madina, Hail, Riyadh and Al-Jouf at a cost exceeding SR600 million with a total capacity of 2,500 tons of grains per day. He noted that King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has issued his directives to the Minister of Agriculture, who is also Chairman of the organizations Board of Directors, to provide this important commodity in all the regions of the Kingdom at a price affordable to all people. – SPA

RIYADH: The Dubai-based private equity group Abraaj Capital, which has raised about $7 billion since its establishment in 2002, announced yesterday the opening of its office here in the Kingdom.

The team of eight, headed by Executive Director Sari Maher Anabtawi, will work to identify new investment opportunities as well as work with existing Abraaj partner-companies to grow their business in the Kingdom and the region.

Abraaj Capital is the largest private equity group outside Europe and North America, and invests in the growing Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region. Since its founding, it has distributed almost $3 billion to investors. It has made more than 35 investments in 11 countries and exited 20. The group operates offices in five countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey. More than 150 world-class professionals of 27 different nationalities work at Abraaj.

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JEDDAH: Demand for televisions, especially high definition flat panels, is marking a steep increase in Saudi Arabia despite the economic crisis worldwide. The local TV market is growing at the rate of five percent and the current annual demand is over 700,000, Adnan Matbouli, president and CEO of United Matbouli Group (UMG), told a press conference yesterday, which was marked by Matbouli and Samsung together launching the Korean electronic giant's latest line-up of advanced light emitting diode (LED), liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display panel (PDP) high definition TVs.

Even though retailers are facing a drop in sales of conventional TVs due to the economic downturn, our market share has increased due to a major competitor withdrawing sales of its conventional TVs, and helped us to build our brand image and increase demand for our products, Mansour Addas, marketing manager of UMG-Samsung, remarked. Gye Choon Cho, Jeddah-based general manager of Samsung Electronics, said the new line-up was the result of the Korean company's investment in research and development, which has increased to $9 billion, representing two to three percent of its annual turnover. Its R&D centers worldwide have 42,000 persons. They all feature ultra-high contrast ratios as well as slim depths that allow for more artful designs plus increased energy savings. The crystal TV design and ultra slimness of the whole range has enabled Samsung to reduce materials usage and extra production steps that require more energy, he said.

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RIYADH: The Saudi Research and Marketing Group yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Riyadh Economic Forum (REF) to organize the forum's fourth session in December. Under the strategic agreement, SRMG will be the forum's media sponsor.

Azzam Al-Dakhil, CEO of the group, signed the agreement with Saad Al-Moajjel, chairman of REF's board of trustees, during a function at the SRMG headquarters in Riyadh. This MoU aims to activate cooperation between the group and the forum, Al-Dakhil said, adding that SRMG would provide good media coverage to the forum's activities.

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The anticipated launch of IDB's $500 million international Sukuk this month and a huge improvement in the average price of and yield from Sukuk over the last four months is further evidence that the market is rallying fast and on track for a dramatic upturn in confidence over the next year.

Economic and fiscal stimulus packages in the GCC countries, including the $10 billion bailout loan given to Dubai by the UAE Central Bank, the recent rally in world capital markets and rising crude oil prices, have impacted positively on the GCC Sukuk market in the past quarter.

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We would like to know about Kauthar Bank.

I first became a major shareholder in Universal Bank in 1996. Then I decided to convert it into an Islamic bank. The practical step was taken in 2001. We renamed it as Kauthar Bank after changing the articles of memorandum of the bank.

Tell me about the ownership, the capital structure and the main activities of the bank?

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