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JEDDAH – India’s trade with Saudi Arabia is gradually increasing not only in terms of revenue but range as well, according to Consul General Sayeed Ahmed Baba.
Baba told a press conference here on Saturday that India’s exports to the Kingdom increased from $1.4 billion in 2004-05 to $5.1 billion in 2008-09.
He said that to increase it further the CGI, in cooperation with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), will hold a two-day ‘mega catalog-cum-product show ’ starting Sunday at the chamber premises.
The show, which will be inaugurated by Mazen Batterjee, vice chairman of the JCCI, “commemorates the recent historic visit of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Riyadh following the landmark visit of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to India in 2006”.
The consul general said that 300 companies will take part in the show, most of them new to the Saudi market. Some of the companies produce non-traditional products, such as one manufacturing artificial hair.
“It is the beginning of the thrust to showcase and introduce Indian companies to the Saudi business community. It is a sort of testing of the Saudi market for Indian products,” he said, and added that depending on the response received, the catalog show will later be followed by an expo of Indian products.
“We will evaluate the show after it is over and also weigh the opinions and response of the Saudis, before taking further action,” he said.
Consul General Baba said that the signs are good and encouraging as many enquiries are coming in. According to him, a major hospital – AIMS – in Gurgaon, set up by Dr. Trehan, who was with Escort, is seeking collaboration with a Saudi hospital partner here to send patients to India for treatment.
He added that medical tourism, especially to Kerala, is popular and new hospitals being established in Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad are also targeting it, and looking for tie-ups with hospitals in the Kingdom.
Mohammed Rashid Khan, Consul (Commercial) said that India imports 20 percent of its oil requirements from Saudi Arabia.
He said that some of the products exported to Saudi Arabia recently included cathodes and sections of cathodes ($416 million), rice, mainly basmati, ($413m), benzene ($155m), boneless meat of bovine animals ($71.94m), barley ($71m), brass and rods of refined copper ($67.64m) and compressors used in air-conditioning equipment ($65m).
Khan said that bilateral trade has increased from $2.7 billion in 2004-05 to $25 billion in 2008-09. – SG

KUWAIT CITY – The passing of the Capital Market Law (CML) recently by the Kuwait parliament is a momentous decision and may mark a significant turning point in the capital market fortunes of Kuwait, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said in its report.

Given the current global and regional market turmoil and the huge losses being suffered by local investors, there is a general lack of appreciation or enthusiasm about this key development, Markaz analysts M.R. Raghu and Layla Al-Ammar said.

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NEW YORK – Boeing Co., seeking to reclaim its title as the worlds biggest commercial-plane maker, will boost production of its largest jets to meet increasing demand as airlines recover from the recession-induced travel slump.

The manufacturing rate on the 777 will return to seven a month in mid-2011, instead of early 2012, Chicago-based Boeing said Friday in a statement.

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MADRID – The wreckage of Spains economic growth model stands neatly aligned on the roads leading out of Madrid – row after row of unsold houses, windows dark, for-sale signs out front.

Spain and other countries on Europes financially stricken fringe are groping for a new basis from economic growth to put people to work and pay down crushing deficits and debts. In Spains case, something to start generating jobs for 4 million unemployed people amid the rubble of an unsustainable construction and housing boom.

The question is especially urgent in countries with the eurozones messiest public finances: Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Greece.

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DUBAI – UAE banks are likely to keep a tight lid on lending in coming years, even if the sector manages to avoid an immediate hit from the Dubai World (DW) debt restructuring, analysts said.

The state-owned conglomerate, which is grappling with $26 billion in debt, is in the final stages of preparing a debt-restructuring plan to put to its 97 creditors.

Analysts have voiced concerns that domestic lending would dry up if banks are forced to take big losses on Dubai World-related debt.

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JEDDAH – More than 1 billion people, or about one in six worldwide do not have safe drinking water and more than 2 billion lack access to adequate sanitation, the United Nations Development Program said. If current water usage trends continue, by the year 2025 two-thirds of the worlds population wont have enough clean water.

As the World Water Day approaches (on Monday), now is the time for a global effort to support the widespread adoption of water reuse practices, which can be a key step toward quickly and effectively reversing the global threat of clean water scarcity.

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MANAMA – Dubais lingering debt woes have given Bahrain a big opportunity to regain its past status as the focal point for Middle Eastern business in 2010, the head of the kingdoms $4 billion Bahrain Bay project said.

Vast sovereign support had helped Dubai leapfrog the kingdom as the gateway for Western capital to the Gulf in recent years, but Bob Vincent, CEO of the Manama development said Bahrain was poised to take advantage while Dubais credit problems swelled.

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RIYADH – A chorus of Pays-Basques singers greeted King Abdullah when he visited the French pavilion on the opening night of the Janadriya festival Wednesday.

He was welcomed to the pavilion, decked out by mini-Eiffel Towers and French-style cafes, by French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand.

In an address Mitterrand praised the Kings promotion of traditional Arab culture, adding: “France, also with age-old traditions… shares with your majesty this unique message.”

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JEDDAH – Aggregate earnings of GCC companies showed a second consecutive year of decline, Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz) said early this week.

With 67 percent of companies declaring results so far, aggregate results show a decline of 5 percent for GCC as a whole for 2009 versus an 18 percent expansion in MSCI EM EPS, and a 9 percent contraction in S&P 500 EPS for the year.

The visibility remains poor for Kuwait with only 20 percent of companies reporting their full year earnings so far.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Aramco and Petrochina are to be honored as refining & energy companies of the year at the 23rd annual presentation of Hart Energy Publishings Refining & Energy Company of the Year Awards that will take place Wednesday (March 24) at the Sheraton Phoenix Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona.

Accepting the award on behalf of Saudi Aramco will be Dawood M. Al-Dawood, vice president for Marketing, Supply, and Joint Venture Coordination, Saudi Aramco.

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