TOP STORIES
- China Cars Arrive In Israel, But Not For Sale
- IEC Adds Arava Power Company to National Electricity Grid
- Arab Middle East Steel Demand Could Drop 35%
- Egypt to See "Serious Contraction" In Growth, Lower Inflation
- Greener Power For Greece's PPC Plants
- ISRAEL: IVC - Greylock Israel is 2008's Most Active Venture Capital Fund
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1: ISRAEL GOVERNMENT ACTIONS & STATEMENTS
1.1 Fischer Sinks the Shekel & Pumps up the Dollar
2: ISRAEL MARKET & BUSINESS NEWS
2.1 Plasan Wins First Place for Design & Development of the Lockheed Martin AVA Cab
2.2 NDS Privatization Completed
2.3 Z Trim to be Distributed in Israel by Freya ICB
2.4 Pontis Secures $19.65 Million in Equity Financing Led by Norwest Venture Partners
2.5 China Cars Arrive In Israel, But Not For Sale
2.6 Gap Inc. Expands Global Presence Through New Franchise Agreement in Israel
3: REGIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR NEWS
3.1 NexCen Brands Announces Expansion of Shoebox New York into Kuwait
3.2 UPDA to Raise Capital in Dubai for Drilling Program in Southeastern Kansas
3.3 Dubai Welcomes New Celebrity Jeweler Jacob & Co.
3.4 Langan International Establishes Two Offices in the UAE: Abu Dhabi & Dubai
3.5 Al-Rajhi Wins Mecca-Medina Rail Contract
3.6 Image Sensing Systems Announces Sale of 275 RTMS Radars in Istanbul
3.7 Allis-Chalmers Announces JV Agreement in Saudi Arabia
3.8 Graham Corporation Wins $2.5 Million Order for Algerian Fertilizer Complex
4: ISRAEL MACRO-DEVELOPMENTS
4.1 NanoIsrael 2009 - First International Nano Conference Hosted in Israel
4.2 Southern California Edison & BrightSource Energy Sign World's Largest Solar Deal
4.3 IEC Adds Arava Power Company to National Electricity Grid
5: ARAB STATE & PAKISTANI DEVELOPMENTS
5.1 Arab Middle East Steel Demand Could Drop 35%
5.2 Jordan & Pakistan to Negotiate FTA in March
5.3 Kuwait & Iraq Reach Deal on Oilfields
5.4 Persian Gulf Economic Growth To Slow By Half
5.5 Kuwait Agrees On $5 Billion Rescue Plan
5.6 Manila to Grow Crops For Bahrain
5.7 Qatar Annual Inflation Eases To 13.2%
5.8 Qatar Gas Output to Hit 77 Million Tonnes by 2012
5.9 UAE Economy Predicted To Contract By 1% in H1 2009
5.10 United Arab Emirates Food and Drink Report Q1 2009
5.11 Dubai Property 15th Most Expensive in the World
5.12 Oman Growth Will Fall To 1 – 3%
5.13 Egypt Inflation Drops To 14.39% In January
5.14 Egypt to See "Serious Contraction" In Growth, Lower Inflation
5.15 Egypt to Double Stimulus Package
6: TURKISH, CYPRIOT, GREEK & BULGARIAN DEVELOPMENTS
6.1 Turkey's January Inflation Falls to 9.5%
6.2 Turkey Borrowed More Than $46 Billion from IMF in 2000-2008
6.3 Turkey Ratifies Kyoto Protocol
6.4 Capacity Usage Hits Rock Bottom In Turkey
6.5 Cyprus Trade Deficit Reaches Preliminary €6.2 Billion In 2008
6.6 Greek Inflation Drops To Four-Decade Low
6.7 Greener Power For Greece's PPC Plants
6.8 Bulgaria's January CPI at 7.1%
6.9 Bulgaria Sets Aside Mere 0.33% of GDP for Innovations
6.10 US Grant to Support Bulgaria's Technology Development
7: GENERAL NEWS AND INTEREST
*ISRAEL:
7.1 Israeli Kids are TV Champions
*REGIONAL:
7.2 Kuwaiti Women Attack Draft Law on Equal Rights
7.3 Saudi King Appoints First Woman Minister
7.4 Algeria Elections Set For 9 April
8: ISRAEL LIFE SCIENCE NEWS
8.1 Copaxone Approved for Treatment of First Clinical Event Suggestive of Multiple Sclerosis
8.2 Yissum Announces Nanotechnology for Increased Bioavailability of Compounds Wins Prestige Award
8.3 Teva Announces Approval and Launch of Generic Imitrex Tablets
8.4 Oral Laquinimod for Multiple Sclerosis Granted Fast Track Status by FDA
9: ISRAEL PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY NEWS
9.1 South Africa's Ports Expand NICE's IP Video Surveillance in National Security Upgrade
9.2 Optibase Partners with Applied Video Technology Video System Integrators in US Market
9.3 Voltaire Announces 40 Gb/s InfiniBand Director Switches & Software for Scale-Out Data Centers
9.4 Advasense & Creative Sensor Deliver World's Smallest 5MP Autofocus Camera Module
9.5 N-trig Introduces Enhanced Multi-Touch Functionality to Enterprise Market
9.6 Billboards in Pensacola to Use magink Breakthrough Eco-Friendly Technology
9.7 ASOCS & Renesas Deliver System Using World's First Wireless MultiComms Processor
9.8 modu Unveils Its Family of Mobile Phone Products
9.9 VocalTec Softswitch Certified for Class-5 and Lawful Interception Services in Russia
9.10 Tower Semiconductor & Triune Systems to Collaborate on Power Management Platform
9.11 Lattelecom Selects ECI Telecom's GPON Solution
9.12 Shunra Software Wins INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine's Product of the Year Award
9.13 ITS Telecom Offers SMBs the Connecto Solution at 'No System Cost'
9.14 RED-C Takes Long Links Further - Introducing the UltraSpan Inline Amplifier
9.15 Voltaire To Deliver 40 Gb/s Switch for IBM BladeCenter
9.16 Elron Group Company Teledata Wins $16.2 Million Project from ICE Costa Rica
9.17 Amatole Selects VocalTec to Supply Voice over WiMAX to Under Served Areas in South Africa
9.18 Discretix Suite of Content Protection Solutions Available for Android Smartphone Platform
9.19 Orange Botswana Chooses Alvarion for WiMAX Turnkey Project
10: ISRAEL ECONOMIC STATISTICS
10.1 Israel's January CPI falls by -0.5%
10.2 Israel's Imports & Exports Fall Sharply
10.3 Israel Sees Sharp Drop In Credit Card Purchases
10.4 Israel's Car Imports Halved
10.5 Israel Sees Jump in Hotels With Wireless Internet
11: In Depth
11.1 ISRAEL: IVC - Greylock Israel is 2008's Most Active Venture Capital Fund
11.2 LEBANON: Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Industry Forecast for Q1 2009
11.3 MIDDLE EAST: IMF Sees Spending by Oil Exporters Softening Global Financial Crisis Impact
11.4 KUWAIT: A Democratic Model in Trouble
11.5 QATAR: No Need to Economize
11.6 UAE: Abu Dhabi - A Boon for Contractors
11.7 SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Leadership Crisis Looms: Health of Crown Prince Falters
11.8 YEMEN: Electoral Game of Chicken
11.9 ALGERIA: Revitalizing Tourism
1: ISRAEL GOVERNMENT ACTIONS & STATEMENTS
1.1 Fischer Sinks the Shekel & Pumps up the Dollar
The shekel-dollar hit an 18-month high on 17 February after Bank of Israel chief Stanley Fischer announced that the government deficit will soar. Fischer said the Bank will continue its policy of selling shekels and buying dollars, which props up the shekel-dollar rate and caused a nearly 2% jump on 16 February morning to NIS 4.15 to the dollar. Last year, the shekel was the strongest currency in the world against the dollar. The rate had plummeted from NIS 4.72 to the dollar in mid-2006 to NIS 3.23 at the end of last May, a drop of more than 30%. Last year's low rates raised a round of protests from exporters who complained their businesses were failing because of low income after dollars were converted to shekels at a low rate. The Finance Ministry enjoyed a budget surplus of billions of shekels until late last year. The government now faces declining revenues from lower incomes and the decline in fuel prices, which has lowered value added tax (VAT) revenues. On the other side of the ledger, government outlays are sharply higher because of the war against Gaza terror and rising unemployment payments. The projected budget deficit as a percentage of GDP already is 20% higher than estimated only two weeks ago by the Bank of Israel. The difference of 1% is equivalent to approximately $9 billion worth of deficit. Fischer said the biggest challenge is to hold back government expenditures. Fischer already has cut the interest rate sharply and suggested that it can go to 0%. He also revealed that the Bank plans to buy government bonds but ruled out the possibility of purchasing corporate bonds. (IsraelNN17.02)
2: ISRAEL MARKET & BUSINESS NEWS
2.1 Plasan Wins First Place for Design & Development of the Lockheed Martin AVA Cab
Plasan announced its first place award for best development in the field of armored vehicle survivability as part of the annual international conference in LMAV (Light & Medium Armored Vehicles) in London. Plasan's candidate was the body of the Lockheed Martin AVA. The award was presented to Plasan for the unique design and development of this cab, its survivability and modularity, and its features that place the soldier at the centre. Kibbutz Sasa's Plasan (http://www.plasan.com) provides customized survivability solutions for tactical wheeled vehicles, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, naval platforms, personal protection and civilian armor vehicles. A recognized global leader and industry veteran, Plasan's survivability solutions offer a unique optimization between protection, payload, and cost by combining in-house R&D, design, prototyping, and manufacturing capabilities. Plasan has an impressive history of successful cooperation with local companies throughout the markets in which it is active and can play different roles in the manufacturing process. From “Build-to-Print” and “Add-on Armors” to a more comprehensive position in “Cab Replacement” and “Chassis-up” projects, up to a “Complete Hull Design”. It is a preferred supplier to the Israel Defense Forces and an approved supplier to Ministries of Defense around the world, with production facilities in Israel, U.S. and France. (Plasan04.02)
2.2 NDS Privatization Completed
NDS Group plc is now a private company, after the High Court of Justice in England and Wales approved the remaining elements of the share buyout by Robert Murdoch's News Corporation and two subsidiaries of funds advised by Permira Advisers LLP, effective 5 February. NDS' share was delisted from trading on the NASDAQ. News Corp and Permira bought the public's stake in NDS at $63 per share for a total of $3.7 billion. With the completion of buy-out, Permira owns 51% of NDS and News Corp. owns 49%. News Corp. first invested in NDS in 1992, and owned 72% of the company prior to the buyout. NDS develops and produces encryption access middleware for television digital video recorders (DVRs), PCs, mobile phones, portable media players (PMPs), removable media and other devices. NDS's shareholders approved the deal three weeks ago by a near unanimous vote. NDS (http://www.nds.com), a privately owned company whose controlling shareholders are News Corporation and the Permira Newcos, supplies open end-to-end digital technology and services to digital pay-television platform operators and content providers. Most of NDS's activity in Israel is based at its R&D center at Har Hotzvim in Jerusalem. (NDS & various05.02)
2.3 Z Trim to be Distributed in Israel by Freya ICB
Mundelein, Illinois' Z Trim Holdings, manufacturer of multi-functional food ingredients, has agreed to an exclusive Israeli distributorship agreement with Freya ICB, a company engaged in the supply of various high quality products for a number of other suppliers/manufacturers in Israel. Freya has agreed to spend a minimum of $200,000 on an introductory marketing push in order to introduce Z Trim products to the Israeli market. For a term of at least three years, Freya will introduce, promote, market, distribute, sell and service the Z Trim and NanoGum brands and blends in Israel. With sales growth of 29.9% forecast (Research and Markets Reports) for Israel's mass grocery retail (MGR) sector to 2010, Z Trim foresees potential for steady growth in sales of its multifunctional fiber ingredients over the next few years. Z Trim Holdings partners with the food industry in the deployment of solutions and technologies built around cutting edge dietary fibers, blends and custom emulsions. Innovation for health and wellness is built into their business model with value added components of capital, process, product, market and R&D knowledge. (Z Trim05.02)
2.4 Pontis Secures $19.65 Million in Equity Financing Led by Norwest Venture Partners
Pontis secured a total of $19,650,000 in equity financing. Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) led the funding round, which included investments from current shareholders Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Evergreen Venture Partners. The Pontis Marketing Delivery Platform (MDP) for mobile, TV and fixed line operators is the only real time fulfillment and execution system for personalized and contextual marketing offers across platforms and channels. The Pontis solution has been proven to increase sales considerably, allowing Pontis to secure deals with a growing number of tier one operators including Vodafone, Telefonica and T-Mobile. Glil Yam's Pontis (http://www.pontis.com) is a leading provider of software marketing systems for Communication Service Providers worldwide. The company's mission is to empower Communication Service Providers marketers to provide customers with the optimal product offering and purchasing experience. (Pontis10.02)
2.5 China Cars Arrive In Israel, But Not For Sale
Globes reported that the first two MG cars of Chinese carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) have arrived in Israel. SAIC acquired British carmaker MG Rover in 2005. The cars are for display, technical training, and market testing by SAIC and Peugeot Citroen importer David Lubinski Ltd. One of the cars is the two-seater MGT-F sports car and the other is the MG 550 sedan. The cars do not yet fully comply with EU-4 or EU-5 emissions standards, so they will probably only be displayed passively, without an Israeli license for travel. European standard-compliant MG cars, which will receive Israeli licenses, are due to arrive in the third or fourth quarter of the year. Meanwhile, IDB Holding Corp. unit Clal Motors is considering the import of cars of China's BYD Co, although they also currently do not comply with EU-4 or EU-5 emissions standards for regular imports. Clal Motors reportedly planned to display BYD cars at the Galgalim (Wheels) Auto Show in Tel Aviv this April, but the event was cancelled. (Globes 12.02)
2.6 Gap Inc. Expands Global Presence Through New Franchise Agreement in Israel
Expanding its worldwide network of franchise partners, Gap Inc. announced an agreement with Elbit Trade & Retail Ltd. to bring Gap and Banana Republic stores to Israel. Under the franchise agreement with Elbit, the first Gap store in Israel will open this fall, featuring clothing for adults, kids and babies. Banana Republic, which will offer apparel for men and women, is expected to open in spring 2010. Gap franchise stores are open in Bahrain, Greece, Indonesia, Korea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Banana Republic franchise stores have opened in Bahrain, Indonesia, South Korea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, Gap Inc. has signed and announced agreements to open Gap and Banana Republic franchise stores in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Egypt and Jordan. (Gap16.02)
3: REGIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR NEWS
3.1 NexCen Brands Announces Expansion of Shoebox New York into Kuwait
New York's NexCen Brands, Inc. has signed a master franchise agreement for the expansion of its Shoebox New York franchised stores into Kuwait. This agreement, following the previously announced development agreements for South Korea and Vietnam, marks the third international agreement for Shoebox New York and further strengthens the platform for the franchised stores to be opened across international markets. The master franchise agreement calls for the development of at least three Shoebox New York franchised stores in Kuwait over a 10-year term. The principals of the master developer under this agreement also are the principals of the master developer in Kuwait for The Athlete's Foot (TAF), another brand in NexCen's portfolio of seven franchise brands. Pursuant to the TAF development agreement, 11 TAF franchised stores have been opened since 1997, with one TAF Kids store under development for 2009. The Shoebox New York concept had its genesis from Shoebox, one of New York's premier women's multi-brand retailers for luxury footwear, handbags and accessories. Established in 1954 and known for its vast product assortment and trend-setting styles from top European and American designers, Shoebox garnered a dedicated following of sophisticated women. NexCen Brands is a strategic brand management company with a focus on franchising. (NexCen 06.02)
3.2 UPDA to Raise Capital in Dubai for Drilling Program in Southeastern Kansas
Houston's Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation has executed a consulting agreement designed to raise up to $85m from investors in Dubai and the UAE in order to drill as many as 500 new wells along the natural gas pipeline and gathering system owned by Heartland Oil and Gas Corp. in Southeastern Kansas. The contemplated program involves equity investment into a new limited partnership for which Universal will serve as general partner. Once drilling is initiated, it is anticipated that 500 wells can be drilled, completed and connected within 3 years. (UPDA04.02)
3.3 Dubai Welcomes New Celebrity Jeweler Jacob & Co.
Building on the success of its New York flagship, legendary jeweler and watchmaker, Jacob & Co., is opening its second retail boutique in the prestigious DXB Mall in Dubai launched in partnership with BinHendi Enterprises, Jacob & Co.'s long-time distributor in the United Arab Emirates. The choice was instinctive, as Dubai is widely regarded as the world's fastest growing luxury shopping destination, and is home to many of Jacob & Co.'s elite clientele. To meet the needs of Dubai's discerning retail customers; the newest Jacob & Co. location will feature a full assortment of the brand's jewelry collections and signature timepieces, including the recently launched Epic collection along with the H24 and “World is Yours.” Limited edition, “world-firsts” such as the Quenttin, Napoleon Quadra and Crystal Tourbillion will also be available, along with exceptional, one-of-a-kind, red carpet jewelry pieces created specifically for the boutique. Clients of the Dubai location will also be among the first to have access to the new 2009 collections. (Jacob & Co.16.02)
3.4 Langan International Establishes Two Offices in the UAE: Abu Dhabi & Dubai
New York's Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, a premier land development engineering and environmental consulting firm, has announced that Langan International, its wholly owned subsidiary, opened two new offices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE): Abu Dhabi and Dubai. By establishing operations in two Middle Eastern locations Langan expects to further strengthen its reach and experience in the region, where the firm has supported numerous large projects ranging from high-rise residential to master-planned waterfront developments to major infrastructure initiatives. Langan International currently has projects underway in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. The firm has effectively managed foreign projects remotely from its US-based offices, primarily in Manhattan and Miami. Now with the opening of offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Langan is strategically positioned to support Middle East projects with a unique combination of local knowledge and global resources capable of 24/7 support. (Langan 03.02)
3.5 Al-Rajhi Wins Mecca-Medina Rail Contract
A Saudi-French-Chinese consortium has won the $1.8b civil works contract for the Mecca-Medina high speed railway. The Al-Rajhi construction group together with France's Alstom and China Railway Engineering won the contract. The civil works contract is the first stage of a $6b plan to build a 444 kilometer (275 mile) high-speed railroad linking the two cities of Mecca and Medina through the Red Sea port city of Jeddah. The project aims to ferry hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Mecca and Medina at speeds reaching 360 kilometers (225 miles) per hour. (AB08.02)
3.6 Image Sensing Systems Announces Sale of 275 RTMS Radars in Istanbul
St. Paul, Minnesota's Image Sensing Systems, a world leading developer of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) computer-enabled detection and traffic control technology, has completed the sale of 275 RTMS G4 radars to ISBAK, Turkey. RTMS G4 is an innovative "All-in-One" radar requiring no cabinet integration for interface, coverage of 12 lanes, built-in IP video camera, minimal power requirement, and is available in globally accepted standard NTCIP1209 protocol. These features make RTMS G4 the preferred radar solution to enhance transportation infrastructure worldwide. Image Sensing Systems is a technology company focused in infrastructure productivity improvement through the development of software-based detection solutions for the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) sector and adjacent overlapping markets. (ISS05.02)
3.7 Allis-Chalmers Announces JV Agreement in Saudi Arabia
Houston, Texas' Allis-Chalmers Energy has executed a joint venture agreement with Rawabi Holding Company (Rawabi) that determines the terms and conditions for the formation of Rawabi Allis-Chalmers Company Limited. The newly formed company will be registered under the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the joint venture company is to provide a full array of oilfield services and rental equipment including, but not limited to, drill pipe, Hevi-Wate, BOP's, auxiliary handling tools, directional drilling services, and drilling and completion services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Each of Rawabi and Allis-Chalmers will own 50% of the issued and outstanding stock of the company and shall nominate three individuals to the Board of Directors. Rawabi shall nominate the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Allis-Chalmers shall nominate the Vice Chairman. The term of the joint venture agreement shall be for a period of ten years from the commencement date. Allis-Chalmers Energy is a multi-faceted oilfield services company. (Allis-Chalmers04.02)
3.8 Graham Corporation Wins $2.5 Million Order for Algerian Fertilizer Complex
Batavia, N.Y.'s Graham Corporation, a manufacturer of critical equipment for the oil refinery, petrochemical and power industries, received a $2.5m order for ejector systems that will be installed in a planned Algerian fertilizer facility. The ejectors will be manufactured in Graham's New York facility with shipment expected to be completed during fiscal year 2010, which ends March 31, 2010. The Algerian complex will be among the largest fertilizer-producing facilities in the world and is scheduled to commence operations in 2012. The facility is expected to produce 4,000 metric tons of ammonia per day and 7,000 metric tons of urea per day. The order was placed with Graham by a Japanese engineering, procurement and construction contractor. With world-renowned engineering expertise in vacuum and heat transfer technology, Graham Corporation is a global designer, manufacturer and supplier of ejectors, pumps, condensers, vacuum systems and heat exchangers. (Graham04.02)
4: ISRAEL MACRO-DEVELOPMENTS
4.1 NanoIsrael 2009 - First International Nano Conference Hosted in Israel
NanoIsrael 2009 (http://www.kenes.com/nano) - the first International Nanotechnology Conference held in Israel - will open on 30 March 2009. The purpose of this two-day conference, held as part of the celebrations of Israel's 60th anniversary, is to showcase Israeli research and innovation in nanotechnology and to bring together a group of world-class experts who are working on the "hottest" technologies in the field. Among the guests and speakers are Anatoly Chubais, formerly the minister in charge of privatization in Russia and currently Director General of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO), Prof. Paul Alivisatos, director of the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Matthew N. Nordan, President of Lux Research Inc., Dr. Sass Somekh, Chairman of Novellus Systems technical advisory board, Dr. Herbert Von Bose, Director of EU Industrial Technologies Strategies and Prof. Charles Lieber, a leading nanoscientist at Harvard University and founder of the nanotechnology startup company Nanosys.
"NanoIsrael 2009" will be held at the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel on March 30-31. The event is organized by Kenes Exhibitions (also the organizer of "Biomed Israel"). NanoIsrael 2009 is being held in cooperation with the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative (INNI) and the nanotechnology centers in Israeli universities, and is supported by the Jerusalem Development Authority and BioJerusalem. The conference will also be supported by key companies, universities and organizations from Israel and abroad. (Kenes11.02)
4.2 Southern California Edison & BrightSource Energy Sign World's Largest Solar Deal
Southern California Edison (SCE) and BrightSource Energy have reached agreement on a series of contracts for 1,300 MW of clean solar thermal power, enough to serve nearly 845,000 homes. The agreement, which now requires approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, calls for a series of seven projects totaling 1,300 MW. The first of these solar power plants, sized at 100 MW and located in Ivanpah, Calif., could be operating in early 2013 and is expected to produce 286,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year. BrightSource will build and place in commercial operation each of its plants as quickly as permitting and infrastructure allow. The full 1,300 megawatts of projects will produce 3.7 billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy and avoid more than two million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually – the equivalent of removing more than 335,000 cars from the road.
BrightSource Energy's proprietary Luz Power Tower 550 (LPT 550) energy system is built on proven “power tower” technology. The system uses thousands of small mirrors called heliostats to reflect sunlight onto a boiler atop a tower to produce high temperature steam. The steam is then piped to a conventional turbine which generates electricity. In order to conserve precious desert water, the LPT 550 system uses air-cooling to convert the steam back into water. The water is then returned to the boiler in an environmentally-friendly closed cycle. This fully integrated energy system is designed to offer the highest operating efficiencies and lowest capital costs in the industry.
Jerusalem's BrightSource Energy (http://www.brightsourceenergy.com) provides clean, reliable and low cost solar energy for utility and industrial companies worldwide. The BrightSource Energy team combines nearly three decades of experience designing, building and operating the world's largest solar energy plants with world-class project development capabilities. The company now has contracted to sell up to 2,200 MW of power to be generated using its proprietary solar thermal technology. BrightSource Energy's solar plants lead the industry in environmental design and help customers reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. (BrightSource11.02)
4.3 IEC Adds Arava Power Company to National Electricity Grid
The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) has given its first-ever approval to connect a photovoltaic power plant to the national grid. The IEC will hook-up an 80-megawatt solar power plant of Arava Power Company, owned by Kibbutz Ketura, with a 40% stake, and a group of US investors who own the rest. The power plant will be built on an area covering 1,500 dunam (375 acres) on Kibbutz Ketura at an investment of $400 million. The IEC's plans will enable the new Ketura power plant to become part of the national grid within four years after the approval and construction of 161-kilowatt high-tension line in the Arava. Arava Power has so far signed exclusive agreements with 15 kibbutzim in the Arava and the Negev for solar photovoltaic fields totaling 500-megawatt. The company has already received a license from the Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) for the construction of a 5 megawatt substation on Kibbutz Ketura at an investment of between NIS 100 million to NIS 120 million. (Globes 15.02)
5: ARAB STATE & PAKISTANI DEVELOPMENTS
5.1 Arab Middle East Steel Demand Could Drop 35%
Steel demand from the Gulf states' construction industry could slump as much as 35% in 2009, as the global credit crisis slams the brakes on economic growth in the region, analysts say. Construction makes up the bulk of steel demand in the Gulf and an infrastructure boom fuelled by record oil prices has slowed due to lower energy prices and tighter credit conditions. Fortunes have shifted drastically since the financial crisis deepened in the second half of 2008. Companies have slashed thousands of jobs and $583 billion worth of building projects in the UAE federation have been put on hold, according to market research firm Proleads. The construction industry accounts for more than 80% of Gulf steel demand. Globally, the automotive industry and construction are the main consumers of the $800 billion market.
Estimates for consumption in 2009 varied from 9 million to 13 million tonnes in Gulf states, down from about 14 million tonnes in 2008. Lack of demand has boosted inventories in the region over the past five months, with some analysts putting them at around two million tonnes. Worsening demand has already forced Saudi Basic Industries Corp, the largest Gulf steel maker, to temporarily suspend its steel operations in Saudi Arabia, the region's biggest economy. A key factor for the slowdown in construction in the Middle East has been the rising cost of project and trade financing as banks display a weaker appetite for risk.
Arab governments have adopted a series of measures to thaw frozen credit markets to help spur corporate borrowing and boost waning investor confidence. Saudi and the UAE cut interest rates in January, but the move has done little to boost the ability of construction firms to source the money needed to buy steel and other materials, despite falling commodity prices, analysts said. Steel rebar prices are now pegged below $500 a tonne, down from the peak of around $1,200 a tonne seen in the fourth quarter of 2008, analysts said. The jam in credit financing flows has forced forecasters to delay their outlooks for steel demand for the year. The World Steel Association, which typically publishes two reports annually, said it had delayed its October report because of the sudden change in the state of the global economy. (Reuters 17.02)
5.2 Jordan & Pakistan to Negotiate FTA in March
Jordan and Pakistan are expected to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) this year, with negotiations to finalize the draft deal slated for March, Pakistan's envoy to Jordan said on 4 February. The Pakistani secretary general of the Ministry of Trade & Commerce will visit Jordan in March to hold talks with Jordanian officials over the FTA. The agreement, once signed, will boost the trade exchange between the two sides, which currently stands at around $50m. Under the FTA Jordan signed with the US in 2000, tariff and non-tariff barriers to bilateral trade in virtually all industrial goods and agricultural products will be eliminated in January 2010. The Kingdom has also signed FTAs with the EFTA countries: Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the EU, the US and Singapore. Talks are also under way between the government to sign similar accords with Turkey and Canada. (JT05.02)
5.3 Kuwait & Iraq Reach Deal on Oilfields
Kuwait and Iraq have reached a preliminary agreement over oilfields in a border area at the heart of Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The agreement sets out the technical and legal mechanism to invest in oilfields shared by the two countries. Iraq and Kuwait had also agreed to contract international consultants to prepare a plan for joint development of the fields. Several oil fields are in the border area between Kuwait and Iraq, most prominently the Ratqa field, which is a southern extension of Iraq's giant Rumaila field. In the weeks before the 1990 occupation, Baghdad accused Kuwait of stealing billions of dollars worth of its Rumaila oil through horizontal drilling. Kuwait denied the charge. After the Gulf War, United Nations demarcation put all Ratqa wells within Kuwaiti territory. Kuwait and Iraq have concluded the border demarcation according to UN Security Council resolutions. Besides oilfields, the location of border posts on farms in the area was a factor in the dispute. According to the US energy department, the Ratqa field, which is run by state-owned Kuwait Oil Co, has a production of 45,000 bpd. The Rumaila fields, operated by Iraq's South Oil Co, are giant fields accounting for most of Iraqi oil output. They pump around 1.3 million bpd. Also extending into Kuwait territory is the Zubair oilfield, near the Rumaila field. (Various08.02)
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5.4 Persian Gulf Economic Growth To Slow By Half
Economic growth of Persian Gulf oil exporters is set to slow by almost half to 3.5% this year as the Middle East earns about $300 billion less from crude oil exports, the International Monetary Fund said. Saudi Arabia and five of its neighbors in the world's biggest oil-exporting region are likely to post fiscal deficits amounting to 3.1% of gross domestic product, compared with surpluses of 22.8% of GDP in 2008. Real GDP growth in 2009 for the Gulf (including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain) would fall from 6.8% last year. Middle East oil exporters (which also include Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Yemen) are likely to turn current account deficits amounting to $30 billion in 2009 after posting $400 billion in surpluses last year, the IMF said. Oil prices have tumbled by more than two thirds since hitting record levels above $147 a barrel last July. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has agreed to slash output in an effort to halt sliding prices as world oil demand wanes. Many countries in the region are keeping public spending high this year even if it means turning deficits to help their economies weather a global financial crisis that has sent much of the industrialized world into recession. Many Gulf banks have posted weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profits, and some have posted quarterly losses, as they make provisions for bad loans and write down investment losses. (Various07.02)
5.5 Kuwait Agrees On $5 Billion Rescue Plan
A proposed economic recue plan agreed by Kuwait's government is expected to be worth $5.09b, Minister of Trade & Industry Baqer has been reported as saying. The plan would involve the sovereign fund Kuwait Investment Authority taking stakes in companies and pumping cash into them, and will not cover repayment of debt by citizens. The cabinet approved the plan to shore up confidence in the economy, including state guarantees for banks and "ways to help troubled firms", amid a global credit crisis hitting the OPEC producer, state news agency KUNA said on 5 February. Parliament is expected to debate the package, when deputies are scheduled to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on the OPEC member. The government is facing increasing pressure from MPs to support troubled investment firms, which make up more than half of the country's listed companies and have borrowed heavily to finance expansions during an oil boom in the past few years. Top investment firm Global Investment House shocked the market last month by saying it had defaulted on most of its debt, while Islamic firm Investment Dar said it is seeking up to $1 billion in loans to refinance its debt. (Reuters08.02)
5.6 Manila to Grow Crops For Bahrain
The Philippines will provide 10,000 hectares of fertile land for a $300 million investment project focusing on cultivation of crops in demand in Bahrain. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at bolstering economic and trade ties. Co-operation covers botanical sciences, agriculture, biotechnology, post-harvest technology, cattle rearing, fisheries, organic agriculture, aquaculture, development of coastal areas, deep sea fishing and management of irrigation and water resources for five years. A joint committee was set up to take measures to activate the MoU. It will meet in Manama and Manila every year. (TradeArabia 07.02)
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5.7 Qatar Annual Inflation Eases To 13.2%
Qatar's annual inflation eased to 13.16% in Q4/08 from 15.81% in Q3/08 on slower growth in rents, Qatar Statistics Authority data showed. Qatar's consumer price index rose to 180.31 points on December 31 compared with 159.34 points a year earlier. Inflation in Qatar, which has been the highest in the Gulf region, peaked at 16.59% in the second quarter. But inflationary pressures across the region have since eased as oil prices tumbled to around $40 a barrel - less than a third of their record level in July. The rents, fuel and energy index rose 1.18% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, the data showed. That pace of rise was down from 3.4% in the prior three-month period. The quarter-over-quarter change in inflation was 1.36%. (QSA05.02)
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5.8 Qatar Gas Output to Hit 77 Million Tonnes by 2012
Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah said Qatar would reach its target LNG capacity of 77 million tonnes per year by 2012. Attiyah said Qatar's gas production currently stood at 31 million tonnes a year and would increase by 46 million tonnes over the course of the next three years. The oil minister had recently said the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter would ramp up production by 2010, while officials at state gas companies had said Qatar would not reach the 77-million tonne target until 2012. The minister also said Opec was becoming accustomed to the rise and fall in oil prices but that there were expectations conditions in the market would stabilize in 2010. (Al-Watan 08.02)
5.9 UAE Economy Predicted To Contract By 1% in H1 2009
Standard Chartered announced on 16 February that the UAE economy's growth rate could contract by as much as 1% in H1/09 against the backdrop of a deep global recession. Standard Chartered's regional head of research, Marios Maratheftis, said that positive growth for the whole year would depend on the UAE stepping up its policy response, with global investments, consumption and exports declining. “With the right policy response - sorting out monetary policy and increasing fiscal spending - it should allow us to see the recovery in the second half and mainly last quarter of the year that will allow us to recover from the first half and see positive growth,” he said. Standard Chartered forecasts a UAE growth rate of 0.5% for the whole year, but predicts a decrease of between 0.5 and 1% in H1/09. Maratheftis also highlighted the urgent need to address the liquidity problem quickly, saying that the UAE would need to inject $29.9b in deposits into the banking sector to bring the advances to deposit ratio below 100%. “We need to see an injection of deposits into the banking sector the fill the hole that was created when foreign money left, otherwise if banks continue to have advances to deposit rations that are very high, they would be very reluctant - and actually they would not be allowed strictly speaking - to keep lending money out.” (Standard Chartered 16.02)
5.10 United Arab Emirates Food & Drink Report Q1 2009
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com) announced the addition of the "United Arab Emirates Food & Drink Report Q1 2009" report to their offering. The United Arab Emirates Food & Drink Report provides independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the United Arab Emirates' food and drink industry. The UK's Waitrose is the latest mass grocery retail (MGR) operator to enter the UAE's retail sector, having recently opened its first outlet outside of the UK in Dubai. Although the retailer would not give any specifics regarding its opening schedule or planned store numbers, it did say that it eventually plans on establishing a chain of stores throughout the country, with a second outlet planned for opening before the end of the year at the Dubai Marina Mall. Waitrose has partnered with local operator Fine Fare Food Market for its expansion in the UAE, having stated that this partnership represented the most appropriate way to enter this market. Reports from earlier in 2008 had Waitrose partnering local supermarket operator Spinneys and opening more than 20 stores in the UAE by 2010. However, that deal appears to have fallen through, resulting in a delay in the initial store openings. Waitrose's private-label products have been available in Dubai for the past four years, and the company currently exports its products to 20 countries. With competition in its home market very intense, Waitrose has been looking for new avenues of growth. The company had said that it chose Dubai for its first international outlet due to the large number of wealthy expatriates as well as the local population's eagerness to try premium Western brands. (R&M16.02)
5.11 Dubai Property 15th Most Expensive in the World
Property research group Global Property Guide announced that with an average price tag of $7,151 per square meter, property in Dubai is the fifteenth most expensive in the world. But it is still cheap compared to Monte Carlo where a top-end apartment costs on average $47,578 per square meter – almost seven times as much as Dubai. Property in Moscow, which came in second place, costs $20,853 per square meter, followed by London at an average of $20,756. At the other end of the scale, Cairo was found to be one of the cheapest cities in the world, with a high-end apartment there costing an average of only $574 per square meter. Global Property Guide collected the data based on the average price of a 120 square meter high-end used apartment in the city centers of more than 110 cities around the world during 2008. It is unclear whether the research takes into account the recent slowdown in Dubai's once thriving real estate market as the global financial crisis has tightened its grip on the emirate. As availability of credit has dried up, prices have fallen and developers have scaled back projects. Dubai property prices slumped by 23% during Q4/08, with villas showing a more marked decline than apartments, according to a report published by HSBC last month. Anecdotal evidence suggests that real estate prices have fallen by as much as 35 to 50% in developments such as the Dubai Marina, Downtown Burj Dubai and the Palm Jumeirah. (AB10.02)
5.12 Oman Growth Will Fall To 1 – 3%
Oman's economic growth will slow to 1% to 3% in 2009 as the global economic crisis weighs, according to the ministry for Commerce & Industry. Exports of petrochemicals and aluminum will decline in value as prices fall but the construction sector will not be affected as the government supports development projects, Makboul bin Ali bin Sultan, Minister for Commerce and Industry, said in a statement. Growth in 2009 of 1% would mark a sharp slowdown for Oman. An economy ministry official in November said he expected 2008 growth of 7%. All projects in the government's development plan would continue, Bin Sultan said. (Reuters 10.02)
5.13 Egypt Inflation Drops To 14.39% In January
Egypt's CAPMAS, the government statistics agency, announced that inflation in Egypt fell to its lowest in at least 10 months in January as food prices continued to ease. Inflation in the year to January fell to 14.39%, without CAPMAS specifying whether the figure was for urban inflation or countrywide inflation. Food prices declined for the fourth straight month, easing 0.5% from December's level. Egypt's Prime Minister had said previously that inflation in the most populous Arab country had fallen to 14% from around 18% in December. Urban inflation dropped to 18.3% in the year to December, an eight-month low, as food prices fell, while inflation in the country as a whole fell to 18.7%. (Various10.02)
5.14 Egypt to See "Serious Contraction" In Growth, Lower Inflation
Egyptian Finance Minister Boutros-Ghali said on 8 February that his country was looking at a "serious contraction" in economic growth because of the global financial crisis. He said all the interaction with the outside world is coming practically to a standstill. Egyptian exports are dropping, tourism is dropping, Suez Canal receipts are dropping, workers remittances are dropping, leading to a serious contraction in growth in the Egyptian economy. Ghali also said forecasters at his ministry predict inflation will fall to single digits "in a matter of a couple of months." Egyptian urban inflation dipped to 18.3% in December, an eight-month low, as food prices retreated. The head of Egypt's statistics agency said late last month that falling global prices for wheat, corn and butter would likely help inflation in Egypt fall for a fifth straight month in January. Last month, Egypt's trade and industry ministry cut its growth forecast to an annualized rate below 5.2% in the first half of 2009 due to "sudden variables." Ghali's comments add further evidence that the global financial crisis is affecting the most populous Arab country, with two of Egypt's biggest sources of foreign currency - tourism and the Suez Canal - already showing signs of faltering. The country's net foreign reserves fell $680m in January to $33.43b, the Egyptian central bank said recently. Prime Minister Nazif said in December that the Egyptian government had set its target for economic growth at 5.5% for the two years starting July 2008, after 7.2% growth in the 2007/8 financial year. (DNE08.02)
5.15 Egypt to Double Stimulus Package
Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali said that the government has raised its stimulus package to $5.4 b, two times higher than the previously announced amount. The money will mainly be invested in infrastructure projects, Bloomberg reported, which is expected to boost the overall economy and create jobs, contributing to improving personal incomes and, in turn, consumer spending. Half of the allotted amount will be spent as funding through loans within the first six months of 2009. According to government estimates, Egypt's economic growth is expected to slow to around 4%, down from three years of a record 7% growth rate. (MENAfn06.02)
6: TURKISH, CYPRIOT, GREEK & BULGARIAN DEVELOPMENTS
6.1 Turkey's January Inflation Falls to 9.5%
Turkey's January inflation eased to 9.5% on a year-on-year basis, as the country's economy cooled amid lower demand, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK) announced. The index rose 0.29% from December to January, less than the average 0.33% increase expected in a central bank survey last month, after a 0.41% decrease in December. Annual consumer price inflation stood at 10.06% in December. After years of high growth, around 6.5-7%, Turkey's economy slowed sharply in 2008, with growth retreating to 0.5% in the third quarter of 2008. Inflation seems to follow the same downward trend. (TUIK03.02)
6.2 Turkey Borrowed More Than $46 Billion from IMF in 2000-2008
Turkey borrowed over $46 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2000 and 2008, according to figures of Turkish Treasury. Turkey received $46.3 billion from the IMF and repaid $45.1 billion under the 17th, 18th and 19th stand-by arrangements between 2000 and 2008. However, $38.8 billion of this amount was repaid as principal capital and $6.3 billion was repaid as interest. Hence, the interest debt was not paid back completely. Turkey's debt stock to IMF was $24 billion at the end of 2003. This amount dropped to $21.5 billion in 2004, $14.6 billion in 2005, $10.7 billion in 2006 and $7.2 billion in 2007. Turkey's debt stock to IMF is currently $8.5 billion because interest payments are continuing. Meanwhile, indirect talks on a new stand-by deal between Turkey and IMF are underway. (Zaman10.02)
6.3 Turkey Ratifies Kyoto Protocol
On 5 February, the Turkish Parliament approved its membership of the Kyoto protocol, the U.N.-led pact to combat global warming. Turkey had announced in June its intention to sign the accord, which was first agreed by world governments in 1997. The government had postponed signing it for more than a decade because of its concerns about the cost on its economy. Parliament's ratification comes after intense pressure from both the European Union and international environmental organizations. Three voted against as 243 lawmakers voted in favor of the protocol. Environmentalists say Turkey has been late in participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and in ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. Turkey can no longer become a "party" to the protocol, so it has now "acceded" to it. Signing the Kyoto Protocol does not put an additional burden on Turkey until 2012, analysts said. Turkey was not a party to the convention adopted in 1992 when the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated, and it is not currently included in the agreement's Annex-B, which includes 39 countries that are obliged to reduce their greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. The Kyoto Protocol was open for signatures in 1998, and entered into force in 2005 with the accession of Russia. (Xing07.02)
6.4 Capacity Usage Hits Rock Bottom In Turkey
Most economic data is pointing to a decline in Turkey. Following disappointing news on December industrial output, capacity utilization in the country also came crashing down in January. Turkey began 2009 with disappointing economic figures. First the decline in December's industrial output, and now capacity utilization has hit rock bottom. Turkish manufacturers' capacity utilization fell to the lowest in at least nine years in January, as the global crisis decreased demand and drove many companies to halt output. Manufacturers were using 63.8% of their capacity, compared to 64.7% a month earlier, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TUIK. Capacity use was expected to fall to 62.1%, according to the median estimate of six economists in a Bloomberg survey. Car makers including Tofas, Fiat's Turkish unit, halted production in January as orders from Turkey and the European Union slumped. Industrial output fell 17.6% in December, the biggest decline since records began in 1986. The capacity utilization rate is expected to drop further in the coming months. Half of the companies surveyed by the Turkish Statistical Institute in Ankara said weak domestic demand was the reason for not operating at full capacity. Another 29% blamed lack of demand in export markets. (Hurriyet11.02)
6.5 Cyprus Trade Deficit Reaches Preliminary €6.2 Billion In 2008
The Cyprus trade deficit widened to €6.16b in 2008, according to preliminary data for December. Total exports rose by 7.8% to €1.2b while total imports rose by 15.3% to €7.3b. Preliminary estimates for December 2008 reported total imports/ arrivals of €497.5m, of which €339.5m were arrivals from other member states of the EU, and €158.0m were imports from third countries. Total exports/dispatches reached €92.1m, of which €49.5m were dispatches to other member states of the EU and €42.6m exports to third countries. Revised data for November, meanwhile, show that the trade deficit was €5,754.8m in January-November 2008 compared with €4,831.5m in January-November 2007. The main developments in Cyprus foreign trade in the first 11 months were as follows:
- Total imports/arrivals (covering total imports from third countries and arrivals from other member states) in January-November 2008 amounted to €6,829.4m compared with €5,836.7m in January-November 2007.
- Total exports/dispatches (covering total exports to third countries and dispatches to other member states) in January-November 2008 were €1,074.6m compared with €1,005.1m in January-November 2007.
- During November 2008 total imports/arrivals (covering total imports from third countries and arrivals from other member states) were valued at €595.7m.
Total exports/dispatches (covering total exports to third countries and dispatches to other member states), including stores and provisions, in November 2008 amounted to €109.7m. Exports/dispatches of domestically produced goods, including stores and provisions, were €58.6m, whilst exports/dispatches of foreign goods, including stores and provisions, were €51.1m. (Cystat11.02)
6.6 Greek Inflation Drops To Four-Decade Low
Greece's headline consumer inflation in January decelerated to 1.8% on an annual basis, its lowest rate in more than 40 years, and is likely to remain at around the same level this month, according to Greece's National Statistics Service (NSS). NSS data showed that inflation in January dropped to 1.8% year-on-year from 2% in December, mostly due to lower heating oil and gasoline costs. January's sharp drop was in line with eurozone price trends. Inflation in the 16 countries that have adopted the euro fell to 1.1% in January, a decade low, boosting pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates as price growth is now below its target. Heating oil in Greece fell 27.2% on an annual basis in January along with a 20.4% drop in gasoline prices. However, food items such as rice and fresh fruit products shot up 13.4 and 13.8% respectively, data showed. (Kathimerini10.02)
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6.7 Greener Power For Greece's PPC Plants
Greece's state-controlled Public Power Corporation (PPC) will be required to drop plans to build anthracite-powered plants and will be obliged to switch to more environmentally friendly methods, Development Minister Hatzidakis said. Hatzidakis announced that Greece's power company, PPC, will be required to switch from planned anthracite plants – also know as hard coal power plants (HCPP) – to natural gas or other forms of renewable energy. PPC subsidiary PPC Renewables also announced that it will invest €60m in nine wind parks, producing 35.1 MW of power. Crete and Samos will each get two wind parks while Paros, Lesvos, Rhodes, Sifnos and Lemnos will get one apiece. The projects are scheduled for completion in the next 24 months. (Kathimerini11.02)
6.8 Bulgaria's January CPI at 7.1%
Bulgaria's consumer price index (CPI) stood at 7.1% in January on the year on a preliminary basis versus an annual rise of 7.8% in December, mainly due to higher prices of education services, said the National Statistics Institute (NSI). On a monthly basis, consumer prices inflation rose by 0.8% in January, after a monthly decline of 0.2% in December, mainly due to higher food prices. The projected 2009 inflation is set at 5.8%, due to the expected weaker domestic consumption in view of the global economic downturn, while the annual average inflation is set at 6.7%, has said the government. (Reporter13.02)
6.9 Bulgaria Sets Aside Mere 0.33% of GDP for Innovations
Bulgaria slated only 0.33% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for innovations, according the latest report about the National Innovation Policy, the Bulgarian Energy & Economy Ministry press center reported. The report had been prepared by the Ministry's experts. The figures are based on data from 2007. The innovation resources have come mostly from public funding while private businesses in the country had insignificant contributions. Science and innovations are still not seen as key factors for the country's economic growth, the report concludes. 2009 has been declared "European Year of Creativity and Innovations." (TSW07.02)
6.10 US Grant to Support Bulgaria's Technology Development
On 5 February, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded the Bulgarian State Agency for Information and Communication Technology (SAITC) a grant aimed at fostering the development of a nationwide information and communications technology (ICT) network. The $390,180 grant will fund a study that will evaluate the economic and technical feasibility of developing a network that will ultimately connect all local and national government entities, enabling Bulgaria to comply with EU administrative standards. The grant is reflective of the Agency's ongoing commitment to the development of the ICT sector in Bulgaria. In the past seven years, USTDA has funded four orientation visits that brought senior Bulgarian officials to the United States to learn about cutting-edge US ICT equipment and services that could be applied in meeting Bulgaria's priorities for technological and procedural improvements in ICT infrastructure, emergency management and e-government services. To date, over $18m in US exports by Microsoft, Cisco, Tumbleweed, Hewlett Packard and IBM for consulting and training services and various hardware and software products are attributable to the contacts made during these USTDA-sponsored visits. The USDA advances economic development in developing and middle-income countries. (TSW07.02)
7: GENERAL NEWS AND INTEREST
*ISRAEL:
7.1 Israeli Kids are TV Champions
According to a report issued on 8 February by the nongovernmental National Council for Children's Welfare, 67% of children aged 6-12 watch five or more hours of television a day. The report also found that more than half of the children who have an internet connection at home surf for over two hours a day. Over 34.2% of children in Israel live below the poverty line. The main reason for welfare intervention is financial problems.
The People of the Book, at least in Israel, are reading less and watching television more than most of their counterparts in the western world. Israeli 11-year-olds watch television more than their peers in all western countries. The Jewish State ranks second in the rate of television viewing by 13-year-olds. Israel came in fifth in the relative number of 15-year-olds who watch TV over two hours a day. Most Israeli children still rate socializing with their friends as one of their favorite activities (56%). However, watching television comes close at 55%. Playing computer games among Israeli youth was reported at 48%, according to the June 2008 statistics. However, only 11% of children were especially fond of reading, while 25% listed sports among their favorite activities. Most children (67%) between 6 and 12 stated that they spent over five hours watching television every day. 10% watch morning programs before school, while 17% of children between 6 and 12 watch television between 9 p.m. and midnight. (INN09.02)
*REGIONAL:
7.2 Kuwaiti Women Attack Draft Law on Equal Rights
A draft law aimed at protecting women's social and civil rights in Kuwait has been attacked by prominent women in the country for “not going far enough.” Members of the Women's Cultural and Social Society (WCSS) said the draft law failed to address women's working rights dubbing the document the “keep them at home law”. In particular members of the WCSS had been hoping for improved housing laws giving full rights to divorced and single women. The comments were voiced at a recent WCSS-run event. Vague legal language, including Article One of the law, which referred to women working in Kuwait, without specifying Kuwaiti citizens, was a loophole that would harm women across the board, excluding Kuwaiti women from the workforce. The law was also unfair on men as it gave women the right to paid leave in the case of a medical family emergency, but did not extend the same right to men. The new draft law sets out plans to ensure the housing rights of Kuwaiti women, regardless of their marital status and offers unemployed Kuwaiti women and housewives a monthly stipend. Social grants and family benefits to working Kuwaiti women are also part of the new law, as is healthcare and education for the children of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis. (AB07.02)
7.3 Saudi King Appoints First Woman Minister
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has appointed the first ever female minister for the monarchy. Norah al-Faiz became deputy education minister for women's education, the first holder of a new position and the most senior ever granted to a woman in the kingdom. In a major reshuffle, the King also replaced central bank governor Hamad Saud al-Sayyari with his deputy, Muhammad al-Jasser. Sayyari had been at the helm of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the kingdom's central bank, since 1983 when he was appointed acting governor before being confirmed at the post two years later. Analysts said it was unlikely that Sayyari's departure would lead to a drastic change in SAMA's policies. The reshuffle did not affect either of the key ministries of oil or finance. (Various14.02)
7.4 Algeria Elections Set For 9 April
The Algerian government set 9 April as the date for a presidential election which is likely to extend president Abdelaziz Bouteflika's rule of the North African Opec member. Bouteflika is widely expected to seek re-election, extending his decade-long rule until 2014. Supporters of the 71-year-old independence war veteran say Algeria needs continuity of leadership to ensure it recovers from a conflict that raged for most of the 1990s and killed about 150,000 people. Anti-Bouteflika Islamists and secularists voiced dismay last year when Parliament scrapped a ruling limiting presidents to two terms, allowing Bouteflika to stand for re-election. One opponent described the move as a coup d'état in disguise. Algeria supplies Europe with 20% of its gas imports and the government has set aside over $140 billion to rebuild the country and stimulate an ailing private sector that is failing to create enough jobs for the fast-growing population. The country of 34 million people has regained a measure of stability in recent years but government forces are still fighting Islamist militants from Al Qaeda's north African wing, which has carried out sporadic suicide bombings and shootings. Bouteflika won re-election by a landslide in 2004 and a consensus opposition candidate has yet to emerge this time around. Apathy towards politics is widespread and many ordinary Algerians say the country will still be ruled by the same tight-knit political elite, whatever the outcome of the polls. (Various07.02)
8: ISRAEL LIFE SCIENCE NEWS
8.1 Copaxone Approved for Treatment of First Clinical Event Suggestive of Multiple Sclerosis
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved an expanded label for Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) to include the treatment of patients with clinical isolated syndrome (CIS) suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS). This approval includes 24 EU member countries that take part in the MHRA "mutual recognition procedure". A similar application for the expanded Copaxone label is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The PreCISe study, conducted in patients with CIS demonstrated that Copaxone significantly reduced the risk of developing clinically definite MS (CDMS) by 45% versus placebo and prolonged the quartile time to conversion to CDMS to 722 days, versus 336 days in those patients receiving placebo.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (http://www.tevapharm.com), headquartered in Israel, is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world and is the world's leading generic pharmaceutical company. The Company develops, manufactures and markets generic and innovative human pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as animal health pharmaceutical products. (Teva04.02)
8.2 Yissum Announces Nanotechnology for Increased Bioavailability of Compounds Wins Prestige Award
Yissum, the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, announced that Professor Garti from the Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has received the 2009 American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS) Stephen S. Chang Award for his invention of novel nanoparticles of structured lipids to improve the bioavailability of various drug, food or cosmetic ingredients. Prof. Garti's inventions are based on trapping the relevant water-insoluble ingredient in a tiny liquid droplet. The nano-scale droplets function as microscopic shuttles, which deliver their cargo with increased efficiency. The technology could be utilized for delivering insoluble substances, for slow and controlled release of drugs, for improved transdermal drug delivery, and also for increased absorption of various food additives, such as in energy and health drinks. This technology has led to the establishment of NutraLease, a company that harnesses nano-encapsulation technology for improve delivery of drugs and nutraceuticals, such as vitamin D and E.
Yissum Research Development Company (http://www.yissum.co.il) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was founded in 1964 to protect the Hebrew University's intellectual property and commercialize it. $1.2 billion in annual sales are generated by products based on Hebrew University technologies licensed out by Yissum. Ranked among the top technology transfer companies in the world, Yissum has registered 6,100 patents covering 1,750 inventions; licensed out 480 technologies and spun out 65 companies. (Yissum04.02)
8.3 Teva Announces Approval and Launch of Generic Imitrex Tablets
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced that the U.S. FDA has granted final approval for the company's Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to market its generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Imitrex Tablets, 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg for treatment of acute migraine attacks. Shipment of this product has commenced. As one of the first companies to file an ANDA containing a paragraph IV certification for this product, Teva has been awarded a 180-day period of marketing exclusivity. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (http://www.tevapharm.com), headquartered in Israel, is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world and is the world's leading generic pharmaceutical company. The Company develops, manufactures and markets generic and innovative human pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as animal health pharmaceutical products. (Teva10.02)
8.4 Oral Laquinimod for Multiple Sclerosis Granted Fast Track Status by FDA
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Sweden's Active Biotech announced that oral laquinimod, an investigational treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), has received a Fast Track designation from the U.S. FDA. Teva completed enrollment for the first of its two Phase III clinical trials for laquinimod (ALLEGRO) in November 2008 and is currently enrolling RRMS patients globally for the second Phase III study (BRAVO). Laquinimod is a novel, once-daily, orally administered immunomodulatory compound being studied as a disease-modifying treatment for RRMS. Active Biotech developed laquinimod and licensed it to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in June 2004. Results from a Phase IIb study in 306 patients were published in June 2008 in The Lancet and reported that an oral 0.6 mg dose of laquinimod, administered daily, significantly reduced MRI disease activity by a median of 60% (51% mean reduction) versus placebo in RRMS patients. In addition, the study showed a favorable trend toward reducing annual relapse rates and in the number of relapse-free patients compared with placebo. Treatment was well tolerated, with some transient and dose-dependent increases in liver enzymes reported, without clinically-evident liver damage. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (http://www.tevapharm.com), headquartered in Israel, is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world and is the world's leading generic pharmaceutical company. The Company develops, manufactures and markets generic and innovative human pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. (Teva12.02)
9: ISRAEL PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY NEWS
9.1 South Africa's Ports Expand NICE's IP Video Surveillance in National Security Upgrade
NICE Systems announced that Transnet Port Terminals, the largest cargo terminal operator in South Africa, is expanding NICE's IP video surveillance environment at Durban Car Terminal and Ngqura, for a total of five port terminals. The new project is part of a national security upgrade initiative designed to improve security at South Africa's commercial ports and ensure compliance with the government's Key Points and Strategic Installations regulations for the security of national critical infrastructure sites. This win further demonstrates NICE's strategic focus on securing critical transportation infrastructure sites in regions throughout the world. The recent deployment at Florida's Port Canaveral, the second busiest cruise port in the world, is another example. Transnet Port Terminals, South Africa's largest cargo terminal operator, operates 16 terminals at seven of the country's busiest commercial ports. The NICE solution will enable Transnet Port Terminals to monitor and record images from approximately 800 IP video surveillance cameras stationed at five of their busiest port terminals. Furthermore, by adopting NICE's IP-based video surveillance solution, Transnet will comply with the government's National Key Points and Strategic Installations regulations, aimed at ensuring efficient and effective control over, and optimum security of, critical infrastructure sites deemed of national and strategic importance by the government's Department of Safety and Security.
Ra'anana's NICE Systems (http://www.nice.com) is the leading provider of Insight from Interactions solutions and value-added services, powered by the convergence of advanced analytics of unstructured multimedia content and transactional data - from telephony, web, email, radio, video, and other data sources. NICE's solutions address the needs of the enterprise and security markets, enabling organizations to operate in an insightful and proactive manner, and take immediate action to improve business and operational performance and ensure safety and security. (NICE 07.02)
9.2 Optibase Partners with Applied Video Technology Video System Integrators in US Market
Optibase announced a new partnership with Applied Video Technology Inc. (AVT), an award winning US system integration firm focusing on design, procurement, engineering, installation and service of audiovisual, videoconferencing, video streaming and broadcast solutions. AVT will leverage Optibase's IPTV platforms and video distribution systems to provide its customers in the corporate and educational markets with professional encoding, decoding, video server upload and streaming solutions that deliver high quality video at a wide range of bit rates. Optibase solutions enable AVT's customers to broadcast live or on-demand lectures, conferences, training programs and courses at top video quality across campuses, regional offices and facilities. Optibase's advanced video distribution systems can be used to create custom courses for small student groups, deliver interactive material to off-site students, monitor classrooms and provide access to archives of taped lectures and other video content. By partnering with Optibase, AVT can offer corporations of all sizes solutions for streaming TV and satellite TV over the corporate network or internet; capturing and distributing executive announcements throughout the organization; providing training programs for staff; and sharing information across the network.
Optibase (http://www.optibase.com) provides video over IP solutions, specializing in video encoding, decoding and streaming for federal and state government agencies, Telco operators, enterprise organizations and the world's leading broadcast service providers. With a collection of open, standards-based products, Optibase enables its customers to take full advantage of video distribution over their IP network, ensuring superb video quality in a scale of bit-rates for simple and effective video streaming to desktops, STBs and VOD applications. (Optibase10.02)
9.3 Voltaire Announces 40 Gb/s InfiniBand Director Switches & Software for Scale-Out Data Centers
Voltaire announced a 40 Gb/s InfiniBand director-class switch, the Grid Director 4700, which offers the lowest latency in the industry. This switch, and Voltaire's new advanced management software, Unified Fabric Manager software, provide blazing performance, scalability and ease-of-use for large, high-performance clusters. When used together, the switch and software not only offer the highest performance expected from InfiniBand, but also enterprise-class reliability, high availability and service-level manageability, based on Voltaire's leadership in bringing high-performance computing into commercial applications and data centers. Part of Voltaire's 4th generation switch family, the Voltaire Grid Director 4700 features 324 ports of 40 Gb/s InfiniBand connectivity, with the option to double capacity to 648 ports using double-density fabric boards. The double-density fabric boards are the basis for HyperScale architecture, a unique stackable architecture for building larger configurations into the hundreds and thousands of nodes, with lower latency and greater simplicity than alternative solutions. The 19U high Grid Director 4700 has less than 300 nanosecond port-to-port latency to accelerate performance of applications running on server and storage scale-out fabrics.
Herzliya's Voltaire (http://www.voltaire.com) is a leading provider of scale-out computing fabrics for data centers, high-performance computing and cloud environments. Voltaire's family of server and storage fabric switches and advanced management software improve performance of mission-critical applications, increase efficiency and reduce costs through infrastructure consolidation and lower power consumption. Used by more than 30% of the Fortune 100 and other premier organizations across many industries, including many of the TOP500 supercomputers, Voltaire products are included in cluster and blade server offerings from HP, IBM, Rackable, SGI and Sun and provide the internal server-to-storage connectivity for the HP-Oracle Database Machine. (Voltaire 09.02)
9.4 Advasense & Creative Sensor Deliver World's Smallest 5MP Autofocus Camera Module
Advasense Technologies announced that the company is working with Taiwan's Creative Sensor, a leading manufacturer of contact image sensor modules, to create the world's smallest 5-megapixel autofocus Compact Camera Module (CCM) for the mobile phone mass market. Advasense's ASIO5 – a 5-megapixel, quarter-inch optical format, 1.4u FCP CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) is incorporated into the CSI autofocus CCM, measuring just 8.3mm x 8.3mm. As a result of tremendous size constraints on mobile phone imager footprints, smaller pixel sizes, with inherent light sensitivity and dynamic range issues, are being developed to enable those higher resolutions, but with corresponding degradations in image quality. Advasense's FCP - Feedback Controlled Pixel - maintains high performing, yet smaller pixels with True Dynamic Range, True Colors and On Chip True Image Stabilization. Ra'anana's Advasense (http://www.advasense.com) is a privately held fabless semiconductor company that provides high quality, high resolution CIS products to the mobile phone market. Advasense's patented Feedback Controlled Pixel (FCP) technology advances image quality. (Advasense09.02)
9.5 N-trig Introduces Enhanced Multi-Touch Functionality to Enterprise Market
N-trig announced, in collaboration with Dell, the launch of the Latitude XT2 notebook PC with an enhanced suite of multi-touch functionality. This advancement further expands the growth of Hands-on computing within the enterprise marketplace. The Latitude XT2 has higher optical performance and, in addition to the current multi-touch gestures - zoom, scroll and double tap - it includes rotate capabilities allowing users to turn pictures, documents and other media on the screen using natural, two-finger rotate gestures. First launched as part of the Dell Latitude XT, N-trig's DuoSense technology enables an unparalleled experience. By providing a more natural and intuitive method for working on a PC, users can now put aside their mouse and opt to use their fingers or a stylus. Currently available on Windows XP and Vista, the Latitude XT2's multi touch capabilities fully support Office 2007. N-trig has recently released beta drivers for Windows 7, which are available for Latitude XT2 users, enabling them to upgrade to multi-touch without having to change the hardware. Additionally, the beta drivers for Windows 7 enable ISVs to develop compatible software applications for full multi-touch.
Kfar Saba's N-trig (http://www.n-trig.com) is revolutionizing the way people interact with computers by providing the industry's first dual-mode pen and touch input device. N-trig's DuoSense technology is the only combined pen, touch, and multi-touch interface for today's advanced computing world. N-trig's DuoSense dual-mode digitizer uses both pen and zero-pressure capacitive touch to provide a true Hands-on computing experience for mobile computers and other digital input products over a single device. (N-trig10.02)
9.6 Billboards in Pensacola to Use magink Breakthrough Eco-Friendly Technology
In Pensacola, Fla., a digital billboard is operating with solar power using new light reflecting technology. Magink announced that Lamar Outdoor Advertising, a leading owner and operator of outdoor advertising and logo sign displays, has successfully utilized its Gen 3 reflective technology-based billboard. The magink partnership represents Lamar's ongoing efforts to implement new eco-friendly technologies in the out-of-home (OOH) advertising market. With rising demand for eco-conscious business practices worldwide, adopting environmentally-friendly technologies that provide a high return on investment is critical. magink's high resolution digital poster has been integrated into Lamar Outdoor's existing network of over 1,000 digital billboards covering prime outdoor media market space in the U.S. Unlike the light-emitting diode (LED) billboards contained in the network, magink's technology reflects ambient sunlight, providing a low power, non-intrusive visual display that is partially powered by solar panels. This allows the technology to blend into areas previously off-limits to OOH advertisers due to light restrictions or other environmental concerns. Mevasseret Zion's magink (http://www.magink.com), founded in 2000, is the world's first developer and provider of full color reflective digital ink technology. The company's product lines of indoor and outdoor solutions are based on proprietary technology that provides high resolution, high contrast, full-color, low energy consumption and cost effective digital display applications to a broad array of global industries. (magink10.02)
9.7 ASOCS & Renesas Deliver System Using World's First Wireless MultiComms Processor
ASOCS and Renesas Technology Europe announced availability of a GSM/GPRS/EDGE communication development system (CDS). Comprising of an ASOCS MP100 MultiComms processor and a Renesas Technology DRACO3 RF subsystem, the development system allows handset designers to rapidly prototype combined cellular and Internet products. The ASOCS MP100 MultiComms processor offers high-performance software reconfigurable modems, low latency air-interface switching and minimal power consumption - enabling user-transparent access to the internet. Using this processor, handset and device developers can now run cellular and Wi-Fi concurrently. Providing the development systems RF capability, Renesas' DRACO3 enables a power-efficient, cost-effective quad band EDGE radio solution in a compact footprint. Available for most leading baseband platforms, the highly integrated DRACO3 RF solution supports dual mode operation with a flexible HPA architecture. Founded in 2003, Rosh HaAyin's ASOCS (http://www.asocstech.com) develops and markets MultiComms processors designed to enable seamless connectivity over diverse air interface networks. ASOCS' ModemX is a unique solution based on patented algorithm technology and a flexible software-based modem. It ensures low power consumption and effectively runs multi-communication standards concurrently. ASOCS has partnered with leading chip makers, as well as hardware, software and module developers to provide mobile consumer electronics vendors with a complete MultiComm SoC solution. (ASOCS10.02)
9.8 modu Unveils Its Family of Mobile Phone Products
modu unveiled its first modu jackets portfolio for the modu phone. The much anticipated modu jackets complement the modu phone and are the first of many jackets that modu will introduce in 2009. These modu jackets will be commercially available beginning in the second quarter of this year as modu rolls out its mobile phone and ecosystem for the first time. At the heart of the modu ecosystem is a tiny, modular and sleek mobile phone. In addition to complete mobile functionality, the modu phone is a music player and a mass storage device containing 2 GB of internal memory. The innovative modu phone presents a bold graphical user interface and a unique seven-key keypad to perform basic functions even without a modu jacket. For added functionality and style, users can easily slip the modu phone into a range of modu jackets. This modu ecosystem offers boundless – and affordable – possibilities.
Kfar-Saba's modu (http://www.modumobile.com) manufactures the world's lightest mobile phone, with a vision of bringing a fundamental change to the dynamics of the personal communication world. modu has developed a tiny, modular and sleek mobile phone, which enables users to personalize their mobile experience in a simple and affordable way. (modu11.02)
9.9 VocalTec Softswitch Certified for Class-5 and Lawful Interception Services in Russia
VocalTec Communications received full Class-5 and all other necessary certification for its Essentra BAX softswitch from the Ministry of Communications in Russia. After successful testing and evaluation by Infocom, the Russian Center of Examination and Certification, VocalTec's Essentra BAX Class-5 softswitch solution received Class-5 certification, for both the local and transit node. These certificates complement Essentra's existing Class-4 certification. They also validate that VocalTec's Essentra solution meets all mandatory quality, functionality, legal and interoperability requirements, for commercial deployment throughout Russia. VocalTec is one of the first telecom vendors to receive comprehensive Class-5 certification for its VoIP softswitch solution, including certification for local node deployments under the new requirements issued by the Russian Ministry of Communications. Local node certification will allow VocalTec to offer VoIP solutions replacing legacy TDM-based switches with packet-based next-generation network solutions. Herzliya's VocalTec Communications (http://www.vocaltec.com) is a global provider of carrier-class multimedia and voice-over-IP solutions for communication service providers. A pioneer in VoIP technology since 1994, VocalTec provides proven trunking, peering and residential/enterprise VoIP application solutions that enable flexible deployment of next-generation networks (NGNs). (VocalTec 11.02)
9.10 Tower Semiconductor & Triune Systems to Collaborate on Power Management Platform
Tower Semiconductor and Texas' Triune Systems, an IC design and test development provider, announced an agreement to collaborate on developing the most complete power management platform in the industry. Through this collaboration, the companies will jointly design and develop intellectual property (IP) for Tower's 0.18-micron Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process to deliver a family of low and high voltage power management products and IP for a variety of applications to enable faster design cycles and lower cost designs. In particular, the companies will design and develop zero mask adder non-volatile memory blocks, based on Tower's patented Y-Flash technology, suitable specifically for 5V operation on high voltage platforms. High volume production for the co-developed high voltage power management products is expected to commence in H2/09.
Migdal Ha'Emek's Tower Semiconductor (http://www.towersemi.com) is a pure-play independent specialty wafer foundry. Tower manufactures integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to 0.13-micron; it also provides complementary technical services and design support. In addition to digital CMOS process technology, Tower offers advanced mixed-signal & RF-CMOS, Power Management, CMOS image-sensor and non-volatile memory technologies. (Tower11.02)
9.11 Lattelecom Selects ECI Telecom's GPON Solution
ECI Telecom has been selected by Lattelecom, the incumbent operator in Republic of Latvia, to build a high-speed FTTH network. Lattelecom selected ECI's award-winning Hi-FOCuS Multiservice Access Node (MSAN) for its Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) capabilities to build the state-of-the-art network. ECI is collaborating with its local partner DAN Communications in this deployment as prime contractor. ECI is enabling Lattelecom to deliver a faster network with higher capacity to provide customers with triple play capabilities, such as high-speed Internet and HD IPTV, as well as additional bandwidth-intensive services. As part of the project, Lattelecom will first launch commercial services in the capital-city Riga, where customers will enjoy access speeds of 100 Mbit/s, increasing to up to 500 Mbit/s by year end, and will look to expand the service nation wide thereafter. Latvia has an estimated 900,000 house holds and a total population of 2.3 million. The deployment of the FTTH network reiterates ECI's growing momentum in GPON solutions and is a strong proof point for the company's 1Net framework, facilitating operator's optimal transition to next-generation networks. The company's Hi-FOCuS MSAN platform has been recognized repeatedly by the industry as one of the most comprehensive fully multi-service access solutions on the market today, simultaneously supporting data, video and voice.
Petah Tikva's ECI Telecom (http://www.ecitele.com) delivers innovative communications platforms to carriers and service providers worldwide. ECI provides efficient platforms and solutions that enable customers to rapidly deploy cost-effective, revenue-generating services. Founded in 1961, ECI has consistently delivered customer-focused networking solutions to the world's largest carriers. The Company is also a market leader in many emerging markets. ECI provides scalable broadband access, transport and data networking infrastructure that provides the foundation for the communications of tomorrow, including next-generation voice, IPTV, mobility and other business solutions. (ECI11.02)
9.12 Shunra Software Wins INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine's Product of the Year Award
Shunra Software announced that Technology Marketing Corporation's (TMC(R)) Internet Telephony magazine has named Shunra Virtual Enterprise (VE) as a recipient of its 2008 Product of the Year Award. Shunra VE combines a high performance hardware appliance with easy-to-use application performance testing software. This creates a powerful network emulation solution that includes detailed reports and root cause analysis of application performance over the real world wide area network. Shunra VE is extremely easy to install, configure and use, and seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure and lab environments. Users can quickly identify business transactions which may experience performance problems when running over the production network. Shunra VE provides solutions for testers to automatically capture and record transaction packets, and use automated analysis tools to gain insight into the behavior of these transactions. This level of integration has proven to reduce root cause discovery time from weeks to hours.
Kfar Saba's Shunra Software (http://www.shunra.com) is the market leader in network emulation solutions for application performance testing throughout the entire application development lifecycle. Shunra's award-winning solutions enable development, quality assurance, pre-deployment and operations teams to create an exact replica of their production environment or design what-if network scenarios; allowing them to predict exactly how applications or infrastructure changes will perform in any networked environment--before rollout. Shunra's solutions and services are typically deployed in projects including data center consolidation; application performance readiness testing; VoIP testing; website testing and WAN optimization technology testing. (Shunra Software12.02)
9.13 ITS Telecom Offers SMBs the Connecto Solution at 'No System Cost'
ITS Telecom announced that the company, together with selected operators, is offering SMBs a unique all-in-one office communicator at ‘no system cost'. The company's Connecto solution will supply all the office voice and data services over the cellular network. Connecto will offer SMBs a significantly lower total cost of ownership by combining a cost-effective package for all voice and data traffic, and reduced maintenance since fewer devices and networks are needed. The operators working with ITS Telecom will subsidize Connecto's cost in selected markets, offering a long term communication package to their customers while serving as the sole provider of all communication services. These operators are anticipating new revenue streams from all incoming and outgoing calls, data and internet provisioning - all of which will enable a full system return on investment in only a few months. The new Connecto package will make it possible for cellular operators to penetrate the SMB market and provide a complete array of services that match wireline operator offerings. The solution is especially well-suited in the current economic downturn, where operators must diversify revenue sources and increase their customer base as part of any short or long term strategy. Azur's ITS Telecom (http://www.its-tel.com) is a major vendor with special proficiency in FMC, IP PBX and PBX peripherals focusing on converged IP solutions in more than 60 countries with uncompromised quality. Connecto, ITS Telecom's flagship is a unique all-in-one wireless office communicator of IP-PBX, voice, data, WiFi and Internet connectivity in one integrated appliance that operate over the cellular network. (ITS13.02)
9.14 RED-C Takes Long Links Further - Introducing the UltraSpan Inline Amplifier
RED-C Optical Networks launched its UltraSpan Inline Amplifier, which is designed to support long links that require inline amplification. This network-ready, remotely managed, 1RU rack unit is targeted at applications such as datacom, enterprise, disaster recovery, security, surveillance networks and Storage Area Networks (SAN). The UltraSpan Inline Amplifier is an ideal solution for inline amplification in long, data-oriented links, especially for systems which currently support only terminal sites. It enables to extend links between terminals by inserting one or more repeater stations between them. The UltraSpan Inline Amplifier is an important addition to RED-C's UltraSpan product line, which provides system vendors with comprehensive network-ready, managed solutions for amplifying long links. The amplifier can be remotely managed and monitored from the terminals via an optical supervisory channel (OSC), which carries out of band (1510nm) management data between the inline amplifiers and the amplifiers located at the terminal stations. Thus, the UltraSpan amplifiers along the link are connected to one another via the OSC, carrying standard Ethernet, and can be accessed and managed using SNMP or a web-based GUI from any terminal or inline location.
Tel Aviv's RED-C Optical Networks (http://www.red-c.com) is a leading provider of state-of-the-art EDFAs, Raman amplifiers and optical monitoring devices for all network segments (long haul, regional, metro and access) and for all network applications (telecom, cable and enterprise). Beside a broad variety of EDFA and Raman modules, RED-C offers innovative and comprehensive solutions for some of the industry's most difficult technological challenges today, such as ultra long repeaterless links and 40 Gb/s transmission networks. (RED-C 12.02)
9.15 Voltaire To Deliver 40 Gb/s Switch for IBM BladeCenter
Voltaire will design a next generation high-performance 40 Gb/s InfiniBand switch module for IBM BladeCenter. The new IBM custom switch will deliver 100% faster InfiniBand connectivity to accelerate performance of applications running on BladeCenter. The new switch module enables additional benefits for IBM BladeCenter in both the enterprise data center and high performance computing (HPC) markets. The combined solution will better support the performance requirements of enterprise applications for virtualization and enterprise resource planning and, because of the high bandwidth and I/O throughput, will greatly simplify large-scale HPC deployments. In addition to performance and scalability, Voltaire solutions contribute to the BladeCenter's energy efficiency by requiring very low power per port, making it a more energy efficient solution than bladed systems using 10 Gigabit Ethernet for the interconnect.
Herzliya's Voltaire (http://www.voltaire.com) is a leading provider of scale-out computing fabrics for data centers, high-performance computing and cloud environments. Voltaire's family of server and storage fabric switches and advanced management software improve performance of mission-critical applications, increase efficiency and reduce costs through infrastructure consolidation and lower power consumption. Used by more than 30% of the Fortune 100 and other premier organizations across many industries, including many of the TOP500 supercomputers, Voltaire products are included in cluster and blade server offerings from HP, IBM, Rackable, SGI and Sun and provide the internal server-to-storage connectivity for the HP-Oracle Database Machine. (Voltaire 12.02)
9.16 Elron Group Company Teledata Wins $16.2 Million Project from ICE Costa Rica
Elron Electronic Industries said that group company, Teledata Networks (21% held by Elron), a leading global provider of innovative Multiservice Access solutions for Next Generation Networks (NGN), has signed a contract of $16.2m for the delivery of BroadAccess-1000E Multiservice Access Gateways (MSAG) to ICE, Costa Rica's National Electricity and Telecommunications Company. The award follows an international public tender issued by ICE, in which BroadAccess-1000E was selected as the exclusive solution. The project will enable ICE to transform its current network to IP-based NGN architecture for the provisioning of Triple Play services, comprising a range of telephony, broadband internet and IPTV services. As part of the project, hundreds of BroadAccess-1000E systems will be deployed across the country to provide a complete range of services to residential, business and corporate customers. Elron Electronic Industries (http://www.elron.com), a member of the IDB Holding group, is a leading Israel-based technology holding company directly involved in the long-term performance of its group companies. Elron identifies potential technologies, creates strategic partnerships, secures financing, and recruits highly qualified management teams. (Elron16.02)
9.17 Amatole Selects VocalTec to Supply Voice over WiMAX to Under Served Areas in South Africa
VocalTec Communications announced that Amatole Telecoms, a South African USAL (Under-Serviced Area License) service provider, has selected VocalTec's Essentra VoIP solutions in partnership with RedLinx, a South African based value-added partner. The project includes the deployment of VocalTec's VoIP solution over Amatole Telecoms' WiMAX carrier-grade, converged IP network. VocalTec's Essentra solution will support Amatole Telecoms' requirement to provide customers with innovative residential and enterprise services, over a next-generation network architecture. This complete VoIP infrastructure will enable the provision of subscriber services at reduced cost, while enhancing service flexibility as well as the rapid deployment of value-adding services and applications. Herzliya's VocalTec Communications (http://www.vocaltec.com) is a global provider of carrier-class multimedia and voice-over-IP solutions for communication service providers. A pioneer in VoIP technology since 1994, VocalTec provides proven trunking, peering and residential/enterprise VoIP application solutions that enable flexible deployment of next-generation networks (NGNs). (VocalTec 16.02)
9.18 Discretix Suite of Content Protection Solutions Available for Android Smartphone Platform
Discretix announced the availability of its complete suite of mobile content protection solutions for the Open Mobile Handset Alliance's Android. Recognizing the importance of open source mobile platforms, Discretix' suite of content protection solutions, offers mobile handset vendors a pre-integrated solution, incorporating best-of-breed technology, lower development risk and reduced time to market. Android – an open source platform – delivers a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. Android is built on the open Linux Kernel, and will continue to evolve as the developer community works together to build innovative mobile applications.
Kfar Netter's Discretix' (http://www.discretix.com) security solutions are deployed in a wide range of consumer electronics devices enabling services and applications, while protecting the device and its contents. Discretix' products include embedded security co-processors and a broad range of security applications. The solutions are tightly integrated into the device, enhancing security without compromising the user experience. Discretix, a privately-owned company, serves the needs of some of the world's best-known semiconductor and device manufacturers and has been consistently ranked among the leaders of the embedded security market. (Discretix16.02)
9.19 Orange Botswana Chooses Alvarion for WiMAX Turnkey Project
Alvarion was chosen by Orange Botswana for a turnkey WiMAX deployment, using Alvarion's WiMAX Forum Certified 4Motion end-to-end solution. The commercial network built at the 2.5 GHz frequency band enables Orange Botswana to provide advanced data services to businesses and homes in Gaborone and Francistown, Botswana's two largest cities with a total population of over 330,000. The first network was launched in June 2008 in Gaborone – Botswana's capital and one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa. Following this successful deployment Orange Botswana increased the coverage in Gaborone and launched a second network in Francistown – an important center for industry and commerce, in November 2008. Future extensions of the networks are planned in other areas throughout the country. Under the terms of the agreement, Alvarion is also providing Orange Botswana with project management and implementation capabilities including network planning, network dimensioning, installation, technical support and professional services.
Tel Aviv's Alvarion (http://www.alvarion.com) is the largest WiMAX pure-player with the most extensive WiMAX customer base and over 250 commercial deployments around the globe. Committed to growing the WiMAX market, the company offers solutions for a wide range of frequency bands supporting a variety of business cases. Through its OPEN WiMAX strategy, superior IP and OFDMA know-how, and ability to deploy end-to-end turnkey WiMAX projects, Alvarion is shaping the new wireless broadband experience. (Alvarion16.02)
10: ISRAEL ECONOMIC STATISTICS
10.1 Israel's January CPI falls by -0.5%
The Central Bureau of Statistics announced that Israel's Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.5% in January. The fall in the CPI is attributed to lower prices for three main items housing, energy and vacation packages in both Israel and abroad. Fuel prices fell 5.5% in January following the drop in the price of oil on global markets, while the prices charged by hotels and for vacation packages was down by 4%. In addition there was a fall of more than 1% in apartment rentals as well as falls in the prices of food and clothing. There were price rises in cosmetics, municipal taxes and fresh vegetables. The January CPI included two changes to its weightings. The weighting for food, not counting fresh produce, increased to 14.8% of the basket of consumer goods measured by the bureau from a previous 13.7%. The housing component was cut 0.3%age point to 20.7%. The CPI is adjusted once every two years. January was the third consecutive month in which there was a decline in the CPI. (CBS16.02)
10.2 Israel's Imports & Exports Fall Sharply
The Central Bureau of Statistics announced on 12 February that Israel's exports of goods, excluding diamonds, fell by an annualized 23% in November 2008 - January 2009, after falling 22% in June-September 2008. High-tech exports, 43% of total industrial exports excluding diamonds, rose by annualized 3.8% in November-January, after falling 15.9% August-October. Exports of electronics and computer components rose by an annualized 15.4% in November-January. Exports of mixed high-tech exports, 31% of industrial exports, fell by an annualized 21.3% in November-January, after falling 19.8% in August-October. Chemicals exports fell by an annualized 21.6% in November-January. Exports of rough and polished diamonds plummeted 66% to $406 million in January 2009 from $1.18 billion in January 2008. Imports of goods totaled $3.4 billion in January. Trend figures indicate an average decline of 2.8% a month (an annualized drop of 28.7%) in imports in November-January, after falling by 2% a month (an annualized 21.5%) in August-October. (CBS12.02)
10.3 Israel Sees Sharp Drop In Credit Card Purchases
Globes reported that there Israel has seen a significant fall in growth in credit card use in January 2009. In January Israel's three major credit card companies – Isracard, Cal - Israel Credit Cards and Leumi-card Ltd. saw lower growth in credit card clearing of minus1% to 2.5% compared with January 2008. In recent years credit card use in Israel has grown by 9% to 12% annually. The slowdown in credit card use is a clear indication of lower consumption and a recession in the economy. Figures from the credit card companies indicates that food consumption, which represents 20% of the average purchases of a credit card, are growing at the same rate as the market but other sectors such as furniture, electrical appliances, and clothing and footwear have seen a 10% to 15% fall in credit card purchases. (Globes 09.02)
10.4 Israel's Car Imports Halved
Fewer than 10,000 cars were imported in January 2008, 58% fewer than the 25,000 cars imported in January 2007, the Israel Tax Authority reported on 5 February. Imports of appliances fell by 15-25%, and imports of commercial vehicles fell by 41%. The Tax Authority noted that the decline in car imports began in April 2008 and increased in October, as economic activity slowed, and demand by private consumers and leasing companies plummeted. Refrigerator imports fell 16% in January compared with the corresponding month, imports of clothes dryers fell 15%, dishwashers by 26%, washing machines by 30%, TVs by 4%, and VCRs and DVDs by 22%. (ITA05.02)
10.5 Israel Sees Jump in Hotels With Wireless Internet
The number of hotel rooms in Israel with wireless Internet access increased by 20% in 2008 to 12,600 rooms, according to a survey by Ipass, a strategic partner of wireless internet provider, Smartnet. The survey found that WiFi access at hotel rooms grew in ten cities worldwide: London, Singapore, Tokyo, Munich, Bonn, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Houston, and San Francisco. The survey also found that Europe has 50,000 WiFi hotspots, twice the 25,000 available in the US. On the basis of the global trend, Israel is seeing a 25-30% annual growth in wireless Internet use. (Globes 09.02)
11: In Depth
11.1 ISRAEL: IVC - Greylock Israel is 2008's Most Active Venture Capital Fund
On 16 February IVC Research Center released results of its Survey to determine 2008's most active Israeli venture capital funds. IVC Research Center ranked Israeli venture capital funds according to the number of First investments made in 2008. The data are based on information received directly from the VC funds and from the IVC Online Database (http://www.ivc-online.com). The survey relates to investments in Israeli and Israel-related companies and in foreign high-tech companies made by Israeli management firms. The ranking reflects the number of deals only, not capital invested.
Greylock Israel topped the 2008 most active funds ranking with nine First investments. Vertex ranked second with eight First investments for the second straight year. DFJ Tamir Fishman and AquAgro placed third with seven investments each, and they were followed by Carmel and Israel Healthcare Ventures with six First investments each.
Greylock Israel is owned by US-based Greylock Partners and is dedicated to investments in Israeli companies. Its investments are geared toward IT & software, with four 2008 deals in this sector. Vertex's First investments were equally split among the IT & software, Internet and semiconductor sectors, with two deals in each. DFJ Tamir Fishman, a merged entity between Tamir Fishman Ventures and the US's Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), made four of its seven investments in Internet companies. Carmel Ventures directed its investments mostly to the Internet and IT & software sectors, with two deals in each.
AquAgro, a venture capital fund dedicated to cleantech, made all seven of its deals in that sector. IHCV, another sector-specific fund, made its six investments in life science companies. Of particular note is that IHCV investments were all made in companies related to Moshe Mizrahi, a co-founder of Syneron - IHCV's first significant exit .
In 2008, 33 First investments (28%) were made in Seed stage companies, compared to 43% in 2007. Proseed, a VC fund traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, made the most investments in Seed companies with three deals. Twelve of 32 venture capital funds made no investments in Seed companies.
Ten First investments were made in foreign companies in 2008. Infinity's Israel-China VC fund, with 60% of its managed capital designated to investments in China, made four of its five First investments in Chinese companies.
In 2008 Israeli VC funds made 119 First investments in technology companies, compared to 127 investments in 2007. More telling is the dollar amount of the First investments, reflected in the findings of IVC High-Tech Quarterly Survey 2008, which slid 28% from the previous year. According to IVC CEO Koby Simana, “The reduced activity reflected the economic crisis that deepened in the fourth quarter and the difficulties confronted by Israeli VC funds in raising new capital. We expect a continued decrease in First investments in 2009.”
The IT & software sector attracted the largest number of First investments (26) in 2008 - 22% of the total number of investments. In 2007, the sector ranked fourth, with 16%. The life sciences sector ranked second with 25 investments or 21%, while in 2007 the sector managed to attract only 7% and ranked fifth.
IVC Research Center is Israel's leading research center providing business leaders with an unmatched wealth of data on Israeli high-tech, venture capital and private equity industries. IVC products and services are used regularly by high-tech companies, venture capital funds, private investors, financial investors and institutions, as well as public entities such as the Office of the Prime Minister, the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Bank of Israel and the Office of the Chief Scientist. (IVC 16.02)
11.2 LEBANON: Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Industry Forecast for Q1 2009
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com) announced the addition of the "Lebanon Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2009" report to their offering.
In BMI's updated Business Environment Ratings for Q1/09, Lebanon slipped further down the matrix ranking 17 key markets in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, now occupying 13th position. The low placement illustrates regulatory shortcomings as much as limitations of the small population size. Among other factors, the country's attractiveness suffers from political volatility, limited healthcare finances, deficiencies in its intellectual property (IP) regime that have resulted in a sizeable market for counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and the modest forecast growth of its drug market in the next five years.
Nevertheless, despite the expected deterioration in the government's fiscal position as a result of the wider global financial crisis, the authorities have budgeted for a 14% rise in expenditure for 2008, following a massive increase in 2007. We, however, think the spending will come up against capacity constraints, although foreign aid and government money will continue to sustain what momentum there is in the domestic economy. What appears to have been a slightly better-than-expected economic performance in 2008 is encouraging, but huge risks remain, with BMI maintaining our forecast of annual trend-level GDP growth of 2.0% for the remainder of the forecast period, which will hamper any major growth of pharmaceutical and healthcare expenditure.
Still, the government appears committed to an increase in efficiency within the healthcare sector. To this end, in October 2008, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health announced that it was to launch a project to provide Lebanese people with medical cards in November. He added that the government is also planning to make health insurance compulsory for all Lebanese. Presently, it is estimated that up to 40% of the Lebanese population do not have any type of insurance coverage, which has also negatively impacted on patients' access to medicines.
The above program is likely to result in an increased use of generic medicines, given their lower cost. By 2013, the share of generics is forecast to increase to 21.1%, from an estimated 19.5% in 2008, with the value of the segment topping $128mn and mostly being supplied by imports, given the limited extent of domestic manufacturing. However, this growth will be conditional upon the increase in the acceptance of generic copies, which are presently viewed as substandard for a number of reasons, not least owing to the lack of information on therapeutically equivalent generics within both the public and professional spheres.
Changes, such as rewarding pharmacists for cost-conscious behavior and introducing a minimum dispensing fee for low-cost drugs and a maximum fee for more expensive drugs, would further encourage the development of the generics market in Lebanon, although the traditional preference for branded products will ensure that patented medicines continue to account for around two-thirds of the total market. (R&M04.02)
11.3 MIDDLE EAST: IMF Sees Spending by Oil Exporters Softening Global Financial Crisis Impact
Continued investment spending by Middle Eastern oil exporters is cushioning the impact of the global financial crisis on the entire region, IMF Middle East and Central Asia Department Director Masood Ahmed said on 8 February in Dubai. Discussing the economic outlook for the economies of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP) at the Dubai International Financial Centre, he noted that the impact in terms of growth is being seen but it is more muted, thanks also to a stronger starting position in some countries.
The IMF expects the MENAP oil exporters (Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen) to grow at 3.6% in 2009, down from 5.6% in 2008. "For the oil exporters, the decline in oil prices and OPEC production cuts are projected to reduce oil export receipts by almost 50% in 2009. This implies a loss of government revenue to the tune of $300 billion compared to 2008," Mr. Ahmed said. "Nevertheless, most governments—especially those in the GCC—have so far indicated that they will maintain their spending and investment plans."
"As a result, oil exporters' current account surplus of around $400 billion in 2008 is expected to turn into a deficit of $30 billion in 2009. For most countries, this deterioration is from a position of significant strength, and thus can comfortably be sustained by the large stock of reserves that these economies have built up," Mr. Ahmed said. "Thus, by continuing to spend, oil-exporting countries are contributing substantially to supporting global demand and are acting as stabilizers during the global downturn," he added.
"Emerging markets and developing countries in the region2 are projected to slow to 3.6% in 2009, from 6.3% in 2008. The global slowdown will clearly have a significant impact on growth through lower exports, tourism, remittances, and higher cost of credit. However, spending by oil exporters will soften this impact on countries that have strong trade and investment links with them," Mr. Ahmed said. "Because of the relatively high public debt ratios and the much more difficult financing outlook, the scope for counter-cyclical policies is limited for most of the emerging market countries."
"Risks to the outlook are tilted to the downside. The global economy is going through its most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression with global growth projected to be only 0.5% during 2009. Against this background, the risks to the outlook for the countries in the region include the following: First, if oil exporters cut their long-term oil price expectations and, consequently, their spending, growth prospects would be weaker for the entire region. Second, a more prolonged global recession would imply even weaker exports, tourism and remittances for most MENAP emerging markets and developing countries. Finally, if asset price corrections deepen and the impact of asset price corrections feed through to corporate and, ultimately, bank balance sheets, some financial institutions in the region may be under stress," Mr. Ahmed concluded. (IMF09.02)
11.4 KUWAIT: A Democratic Model in Trouble
As Kuwait heads once more for parliamentary elections in 2009 - having held such elections just last year - repeated clashes between the executive and legislative branches are creating doubts about the Kuwaiti model, once a source of inspiration to many in the Gulf and beyond. The Kuwaiti parliament has begun to be seen as an institution obstructing the investment that the Emir hopes can further develop his country's economy. The fact that the National Assembly has been dissolved three times in nine years, that four governments have stepped down and five others have been formed in less than three years, and that interpellation of ministers has often ended with the government resigning or the National Assembly being dissolved has stripped the Kuwaiti experiment of much of its appeal.
Kuwait can claim some real achievements in political life. From the early 1960s, when Kuwait adopted its first written constitution and its National Assembly was elected by direct secret ballot, the Kuwaiti system has stood out from those of its Arab peers. Although parliamentary life was suspended from 1976-81 and 1986-91 and the Assembly has been dissolved many times, Kuwaitis have elected twelve Assemblies and parliamentarians have questioned more than 40 ministers over the years, including members of the ruling al-Sabah family. Kuwait finally extended the vote to women in 2006, though none have yet been elected to the parliament, and the parliament played a critical role in steering succession in 2006 and revising the electoral law in 2008.
In some ways, the existence of a lively political life helps the Emir's plan to transform Kuwait in the upcoming years into a financial and commercial hub for the region. In January 2009 the country hosted the first Arab summit on economic and social development, asserting the need to gauge development's role in Arab societies. The Kuwaiti model of freedoms was also on display; after an unprecedented leap in the number of daily newspapers (now fifteen Arabic language and three English language dailies), Kuwait took first place among the Arab countries in the 2008 Press Freedom Index.
The free-wheeling Kuwaiti system is more often blamed, however, for impeding economic development. For example, in order to avoid a confrontation between the government and the National Assembly, the Supreme Petroleum Council recently cancelled a multi billion-dollar deal with Dow Chemical to which the state-owned Petrochemicals Industries Co. had agreed in November 2008. The Popular Action bloc had declared it would insist on questioning the Prime Minister on the deal if it was not cancelled. Similar political pressures jeopardize other projects, including a $15 billion project to build refineries. The debate has heated up, and the government that resigned in 2008 singled out three reasons for the current state of affairs: the deteriorating level of dialogue, the arbitrary use of constitutional tools, and the inability of the government to work with the National Assembly in the current atmosphere. In an exceptionally harsh attack, the government blamed the Assembly for “chaos and deviancy in parliamentary practices” after the Assembly insisted on questioning Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Muhammad Al-Sabah, leading to his resignation - and subsequent reappointment by the Emir.
There is not much optimism in Kuwait that the upcoming elections will end this stalemate between the executive and legislative branches. MPs and hopefuls are preparing their campaigns in a somewhat grim atmosphere, and some political figures are declining government positions in order to avoid entering the battle. There is even fear that the Emir might again suspend parliamentary life, which would be a severe blow to the system.
Kuwaitis and outside admirers of its political participation model are taking a step back and asking whether the country is still on course. Some officials, members of the general public, and even intellectuals in Kuwait and the region no longer regard it as an inspirational paradigm, especially compared to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar's versions of capitalist development without the tumult of Kuwaiti politics. The situation is neatly summarized by a new saying in the Gulf: “Kuwait is the past, Dubai the present, and Qatar the future.” Surely this is too harsh a judgment of the Kuwaiti experiment, which deserves more serious examination and revision so that it can again become a workable model and inspiration to the region.
Abdallah Shayji is professor of International Relations at Kuwait University. (ARB02/2009)
11.5 QATAR: No Need to Economize
At a time when other countries are scaling back spending or focusing on loss mitigation, the Oxford Business Group reports that Qatar is pushing ahead with a program of investments to further strengthen the economy. Indeed, the country appears best placed of all the Gulf states to ride out the global financial storm. The underlying cause for Qatar's buoyancy is its long-term scheme to expand its natural gas production, a project that is scheduled to peak by 2010. This year, the country expects to double its liquefied natural gas (LNG) output to 62m tonnes per year, increasing that to 77m tonnes per year by the end of 2010.
On February 2, the minister of state for energy and industrial affairs, Mohammed Saleh Al Sada, told local media that due to this increased output, Qatar's economy should grow by some 10% this year. This is far above the 0.5% global growth predicted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest World Economic Outlook, issued in late January, as well as a stark contrast to the negative growth outlook for many of the world's leading economies, such as the US and Japan.
While not quite as optimistic as Al Sada, a research note issued by Standard Chartered Bank the same day said the Qatar economy would expand by around 8.5% this year, with inflation expected to drop to 8%, almost half of the 15.2% high reached in mid-2008.
This growth has insulated Qatar's private sector from the worst of the global slowdown. According to Sheikh Fahad bin Jassem Al Thani, minister of business and trade, no local companies have been forced to close as a result of the crisis, and there have been no staff layoffs reported. "Qatar is among the least affected countries," he told a seminar held in Doha on February 10. "The global recession hardly has any major impact on our economy, which is in very good shape."
That is not to say Qatar has been entirely unaffected. Though growth is expected to be strong, it is nowhere near the record highs of 2005, when nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) soared by more than 30%.
The property market is expected to cool somewhat. A report issued in mid-February by Kuwaiti investment bank Markaz warned that the real estate sector could deflate in a similar manner to Dubai. According to the report, 38% of Qatar's population works in the real estate and construction sectors, which could suffer as a result of the economic downturn. Though the financial services sector has not suffered as it has in other countries - thanks mainly to its low exposure to toxic debts - the government has moved to shore up the position of local banks and boost liquidity in the market.
Last October, the government unveiled a scheme by which the state-run Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) could buy up to 20% of listed bank's shares. One of the lenders to benefit from this program has been the Qatar International Islamic Bank, which sold a 5% stake to the QIA in late January for $127m. While providing support to some sectors, the overall strength of the economy as well as the depth of its fiscal reserves have allowed the state to push ahead with efforts to further diversify the country's economic base away from a dependence on oil and gas, which currently constitute around 57% of GDP, according to the Standard Chartered report.
Another step in this diversification process was announced on February 10 by the minister of business and trade, when he released details of a plan to establish a $550m company to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The new company, which will begin operations early in 2010, will ensure that SMEs have assistance to develop and expand, thus reducing the economy's reliance on the energy industry. "SMEs have a key role to play in the economic and social development of the country. The private sector has the potential to generate numerous jobs," the minister said.
Further afield, the state is looking to capitalize on the global crisis by seeking investment opportunities overseas. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 31, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani told the international media that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund was considering increasing its stakes in some of its existing holdings and acquiring shares of up to three blue chip companies. The minister said these new investments could be in the financial services, industrial and tourism sectors, while the state was also considering raising its holdings in London-based Barclays Bank, in which Qatari investors have more than 6% of shares. According to Bloomberg, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has some $58bn worth of investments.
With strong growth predicted and more investments coming on line, the Qatari economy looks set to shine amidst the gloom of the global crisis, emerging even brighter after the clouds have cleared. (OBG16.02)
11.6 UAE: Abu Dhabi - A Boon for Contractors
Like many other countries around the world, the Oxford Business Group said Abu Dhabi is seeking to alleviate the effects of the global financial crisis through increased public spending, manifested by an overhaul of the entire transportation system.
This year's budget is the largest in the history of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with infrastructure spending slated to increase by 24% year-on-year, to $11.5bn in 2009. According to local media, Abu Dhabi itself will spend around $275bn in the next five years on infrastructure projects [KTH2]. This naturally comes as good news for contractors, suppliers and developers, who welcome the extra cash flow at a time when credit remains tight.
Many projects have already been launched. The Department of Transport (DOT) has drawn up a shortlist of contractors to develop a 325km-long highway that will cross the Western Region and link Mafraq with Ghweifat near the Saudi Arabian border. According to officials, the project is in the pre-qualification stage and the tendering process will be launched within a month. Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of the year at an estimated cost of around $2.5bn.
Another opportunity for contractors is the $2.5bn Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone development, currently under way. The new port will have an initial capacity of 2m TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) that will gradually be expanded to reach 6m TEUs. Khalifa Port will eventually absorb all of Mina Zayed's operations in 2010, with the capacity to manage an expected growth in imports and exports in the longer term.
Abu Dhabi airport too is undertaking a massive expansion project. Last month, it announced a short-list of contractors considered for the $6.8bn Midfield Terminal expansion. The first phase of the project calls for a 220,000 sq meter terminal which will accommodate 20m passengers per year (up from 12m currently). Ultimately, it aims to handle 50m passengers and 2m tonnes of cargo a year. Among many ambitious plans to overhaul the sector, the Abu Dhabi Surface Transport Master Plan, which is set to be finalized in the second quarter of 2009, studies the possibility of building two metro lines in Abu Dhabi.
Finally, plans for a national railway are underway after members of the Federal National Council urged the Ministry of Public Works to fast-track the project. The 537km regional railway will significantly reduce traffic on the heavily congested roads connecting the emirate. It will ultimately unite with a trans-GCC network that will connect all six member-states. The first phase of the UAE's rail network would see a double track railway built from Ruwais in Abu Dhabi to Fujairah. Eventually, there would be about 900km of track running from the coast to the Saudi border. The regional mega-project is estimated at around $14bn, and the first stage of construction, is expected to be completed by 2016.
An unintended benefit of the government's commitment to massive infrastructure projects is the banking sector. Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi Commercial bank (ADCB) set up the ADCB Macquarie Infrastructure Fund (AMIF), a $188m infrastructure investment fund designed to support government-backed projects. In January, a consortium of international banks closed a $500m financing deal with the Abu Dhabi Ports Company for the development of Khalifa Port, a generous gesture at a time when many banks have tightened their lending policies on all major loan categories. Although the short-term effects of the investments will be restricted to the ailing construction sector, the emirate is forging ahead with its economic diversification program to ensure more balanced growth in the coming years. (OBG12.02)
11.7 SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Leadership Crisis Looms: Health of Crown Prince Falters
Simon Henderson writes for the Washington Institute (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org) that after months of speculation about the health of the designated successor to King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan, Saudi officials are now openly talking about Sultan's ill health. The kingdom - a close U.S. ally, the self-professed leader of the Islamic world, the world's largest oil exporter, and most recently the much-needed source of financial capital for the world's struggling economy - is heading for a period of changing leadership. The identities of the future kings, however, are so far unknown and largely unpredictable.
Sultan Undergoing Treatment
Crown Prince Sultan, who is also the kingdom's long-serving defense minister, is currently in Morocco after six weeks of treatment in New York City. Recently, his son Khaled, the assistant defense minister, said in a briefing of Saudi armed forces commanders that his father would be returning to the United States in a month for more tests and treatment. Although Khaled said his father was "getting better and his health condition is progressing," analysts have recalled that in 2005 Sultan was operated on for colon cancer and in April 2008 flew to Geneva for what were claimed to be routine medical tests.
If Sultan (who turns 85 this year) dies before King Abdullah (86), a new crown prince will be appointed. The selection of the crown prince was formerly the sole prerogative of the king, but in 2006 Abdullah established a new body, the Allegiance Council. The council, which is made up of senior sons and grandsons of the kingdom's founder Abdulaziz (also known as Ibn Saud), is a wider group than has been consulted in the past and will now share responsibility for the choice.
Unlike most other monarchies, Saudi succession is fratrilineal, passing from brother to brother, rather than from father to son, for nearly fifty years. Since the death of Abdulaziz in 1953, the throne has passed between the first of his thirty-five sons in descending order of age. This mechanism - with an occasional jump when a son has been unwilling, unable, or otherwise deemed unqualified to reign - has allowed a nominated crown prince to serve alongside the king in a leadership partnership that has usually resulted in smooth successions.
Five Kings in Five Years?
An unintended consequence of this system is that Saudi kings are becoming older when taking the throne: Abdullah's predecessor, Fahd, was sixty-one, and Abdullah was eighty-two (although he was de facto ruler from 1996 to 2005 after Fahd was crippled by a series of strokes). Unless the Allegiance Council makes an imaginative choice of a much younger monarch, the current system of respecting (old) age, government experience, and the brother-to-brother line could result in a rapid succession of kings in the next several years.
Abdullah is clearly preparing the ground for the council's work. The council's chairman, the king's half-brother Mishal, is regularly seen at Abdullah's side during important kingdom meetings. Although Mishal was defense minister in the 1950s and governor of Mecca in the 1960s, he has otherwise eschewed government service in favor of developing his business interests. Mishal's role is likely to be crucial in developing the workings of the council. Perceived as an ally of Abdullah, his own claim to the throne is weak. He will likely face great challenges within the council from the most powerful faction - the Sudairi seven - the largest group of full brothers, which now numbers six since the death of Fahd. This faction includes Sultan, Interior Minister Prince Nayef (also reported to be unwell), and the governor of Riyadh province Prince Salman.
Several scenarios could occur over the next few months:
Death of Prince Sultan: The Sudairi princes are likely to press for the next crown prince to be selected from among them. Prince Nayef has a claim but is not considered sufficiently popular. His younger brother Prince Salman is a possible choice.
Death of King Abdullah: Despite his many public appearances, the monarch, now the oldest surviving son of Abdulaziz, is said to be increasingly limited in his abilities. If Sultan is still alive when Abdullah dies, the crown prince will almost certainly become king. Theoretically, the Allegiance Council law allows for the possibility of either the king or the crown prince being declared medically unfit by a committee of medical experts. This step, however, is unlikely against a powerful royal. As king, Sultan could abolish the council and appoint his own crown prince.
Succession follows existing lines. Some of the other eighteen surviving sons of Abdulaziz are considered ineligible to be king because several of them have non-Saudi mothers or are considered eccentric. Excluding these, the next possible candidates are Abdulrahman (78), Nayef (76), Abdulillah (74), and Salman (73). All except Abdulillah, who was made an advisor to the king in 2008, are Sudairis.
Succession pattern changes: The simplest way of avoiding a rapid turnover of increasingly old and infirm kings is to skip over older candidates and choose a younger man, either from within the younger ranks of the sons of Abdulaziz or from among his grandsons. Of the sons, Salman qualifies as a younger option, as does the 66-year-old Muqren, who heads the kingdom's foreign intelligence service. Although many of the grandsons already have decades of government experience, the Sudairis predominate and are likely to resist being bypassed.
Challenges for U.S. Policy
Not knowing who will be king matters less if the process is known. But the deliberations of the untested Allegiance Council system, whose procedures are known only in outline, will be secret. In addition, when Sultan and other senior royals die, Washington will lose familiar interlocutors. Sultan's son Khaled effectively runs his father's defense ministry, as does Nayef's son Muhammad at the interior ministry. Will these fiefdoms be acknowledged? Will these sons be elevated to replace their fathers, or will a new king replace them by other, less well-known princes?
None of the Saudis best known to the U.S. public are in the running to be king: foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal is chronically ill with Parkinson's disease; his brother, former intelligence chief and ambassador to the United States Prince Turki al-Faisal, was sacked from the former job and sidelined in the latter; former ambassador to the United States and now Saudi security council chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan is excluded because his mother was an African servant; and businessman Prince al-Walid's father Talal has a record of publicly criticizing the royal family.
U.S.-Saudi relations have had their ups and downs in recent years. Although counterterrorism cooperation has somewhat improved, the Saudis were not particularly helpful against Osama bin Laden before the September 11 terrorist attacks, in which fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudis, and Riyadh was unsympathetic when oil prices rose over $100 per barrel last year. But working relationships have persisted and seem likely to continue. The Obama administration's likely new Iran envoy, Dennis Ross, wrote in Newsweek last month that Washington "needs" the kingdom for its policy of forcing choices on Tehran.
Washington hopes to avoid an internal Saudi royal dispute like the one that occurred between Abdulaziz's eldest son King Saud and his eventual successor Faisal, which crippled the kingdom's government between 1958 and 1964. Riyadh will be allergic to external interference or advice on such matters, but the outcomes of the probable transitions in the next few months will be of intense interest to the United States and much of the world.
Simon Henderson, Baker fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Washington Institute, is author of the Institute's 1994 policy paper After King Fahd: Succession in Saudi Arabia. The sequel, After King Abdullah: Succession in Saudi Arabia, will be published in Spring 2009. (WINEP21.01)
11.8 YEMEN: Electoral Game of Chicken
Parliamentary elections in Yemen tend to be raucous events, unlike the country's presidential elections, which are largely scripted coronations. But parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2009 threaten to be unusually quiet, as the government's only competitor - the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) - is threatening to boycott. The government has responded that the elections will go ahead as planned with or without the JMP, pointing out that most political parties are willing to participate. The thirteen other parties to which the government is referring, however, currently have no seats in parliament and are widely considered to be loyal to the government.
In the nearly 20 years since Yemen's unification, 24 different parties have participated in three sets of parliamentary elections. But as with many statistics regarding Yemen, these numbers are misleading. While 21 different parties took part in the 2003 elections, for example, only four of them received more than 1% of the vote and the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) won nearly 76% of the vote. The vast majority of Yemeni parties function as democratic window dressing rather than as real rivals for power.
Since the creation of the JMP in November 2005, it has become common to speak of an opposition in Yemen, but this journalistic shorthand glosses over the fact that the coalition is a fractured movement with little in common save an opponent. Its two leading parties, the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) and Islah, spent much of their time prior to 2005 demonizing each other, while the other members of the coalition are electorally inconsequential. Part of the JMP's problem has been crises of leadership in both Islah and the YSP. Islah is in the midst of a leadership crisis following the December 2007 death of Sheikh ‘Abdullah al-Ahmar, who had headed the party since it was established in 1990. The new nominal leader, Muhammad al-Yadumi, has yet to consolidate his control of all factions. For its part, the YSP has lost scores of its best leaders, initially through a series of assassinations prior to the 1994 civil war and then to exile following the war. The last fifteen years have been no kinder, with periodic defections and asylum applications as well as the high-profile assassination of Jarallah ‘Umar in 2002.
The government has taken advantage of the JMP's current paralysis to force through controversial legislation. In August 2008, the GPC pushed through a vote to maintain the 2001 election law for the April 2009 elections, discarding a draft law sponsored by the JMP. The JMP draft included amendments recommended by the European Union following the 2006 presidential election, including a requirement that voters cast ballots in their home districts rather than at work, so that government officials cannot press subordinates to vote a particular way. Such changes would have eliminated large swaths of GPC support in the south, currently exercised through military garrisons and government offices.
The GPC was able to drop the JMP draft electoral law, to which it had agreed in principle, after the JMP refused to honor its part of the bargain by nominating fifteen candidates to the Supreme Elections Commission, which will oversee the elections. The JMP took that stance to protest the continued detention of political prisoners, many of whom were YSP members arrested on charges of instigating unrest in the south. The result was a political stalemate that allowed the GPC to uphold the old law, which will give it an advantage in the April elections. In a move aimed to ease tensions and encourage JMP participation in the elections, President Ali Abdullah Saleh subsequently released twelve high profile political prisoners on September 11. Then, in late November, local elections were pushed back four years until 2013. Some in the JMP fear that the postponement sets a precedent that could be repeated in pushing back the presidential election that is also scheduled for that year in order to prolong the rule of Saleh (in power since 1978).
Al-Ghad, a weekly independent Yemeni newspaper, reported in early January that an agreement between the GPC and JMP to delay the elections for four to six months was imminent. But so far no such agreement has materialized, while the rhetoric on both sides continues to escalate.
Boycotting elections has never worked well for opposition parties in Yemen. The YSP boycotted the 1997 elections, but managed only to marginalize itself, winning only seven seats when it returned to the fold in 2003 (as compared to the 56 seats it won in 1993). The JMP is hoping that this time will be different. JMP leaders believe that if they can maintain a united front in the threatened boycott, no one will be able to accept the parliamentary elections as legitimate. The European Union has already said it would refuse to monitor the elections if the JMP declines to participate. It is a risky political maneuver, but apparently the only one the JMP knows how to execute.
Gregory D. Johnsen is co-editor of the forthcoming Islam and Insurgency in Yemen. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. (ARB02/2009)
11.9 ALGERIA: Revitalizing Tourism
Algeria is stepping up efforts to revitalize its tourism industry, seeking to lure both more local and foreign investment. However, after years of neglect, the Oxford Business Group reports that Algeria's tourist infrastructure has a long way to go before the country catches up with its neighbors in the Maghreb in becoming a destination of choice.
According to figures from the Tourism Ministry, Algeria attracted 1.74m visitors in 2008. Nonetheless, more than 1.2m of these were Algerian expatriate nationals returning home for holidays, with just over 500,000 tourists originating from other countries. By contrast, Tunisia hosted around 7m overseas visitors in 2008 and Morocco 8m, according to official figures, which puts Algeria's results into the shade.
In the race to develop its tourism amenities, Algeria has set itself the ambitious target of attracting 20m overseas visitors per year by 2025. To this end, the government has drawn up a strategy, the National Tourism Development Plan (Schema Directeur d'Amanagement Touristique, SDAT), which identifies areas for potential development and measures to attract investment.
As part of SDAT, more than 280 new hotels are due to be built, a program that is already under way. At the end of January, Tourism, Environment and Land Planning Minister Cherif Rahmani announced that contracts for 90 new hotels, including 12 rated as five-star, had been signed with domestic investors as part of the government's overall strategy to expand the existing visitor accommodation pool.
In 2001 tourism contributed 1.7% to Algeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, this figure has grown progressively in recent years. In its latest assessment of the industry issued last year, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said tourism's contribution to Algeria's GDP would rise from 6.4% or $8.4bn in 2008 to 6.6% or $13bn by 2018. Furthermore, the WTTC has predicted solid growth for the Algerian tourism sector over the next decade, in line with general expectations for the country's economy as a whole.
While the government is hoping that growing interest in Algeria as a tourism destination, along with the subsequent investment, will help reduce the ranks of the jobless, the WTTC predicts only a modest rise in the overall percentage of the workforce employed in the sector over the next 10 years, from last year's total of 506,000 to 666,000 by 2018. In spite of the absolute increase in the number of positions, this would only represent a minimal increase in terms of total employment, from 5.6% to 5.7%, due to the expanding employment pool in Algeria, with more of the relatively young population entering the workforce.
In an interview with OBG last year, Rahmani identified a number of key issues that Algeria had to address before it could realize its full potential as a tourism destination. Chief among these issues was the need to improve the quality of human resources in the sector. As a result, the government has established a national academy to train tourism staff at Tipaza. It provides students with a broad range of skills, including increased awareness of information and communication technologies, an issue identified by the government as vital to the development of the sector. Among some of the other factors Rahmani highlighted as impeding progress were weaknesses in public health and infrastructure, along with the threat of terrorism.
While none of these issues can be solved overnight, progress is being made. The state's $150bn program designed to improve infrastructure and social services has seen some of these concerns addressed, with airports upgraded and road access to coastal and interior regions improved.
Security has also been bolstered with the formation last July of a new 1000-strong police unit to operate at tourist sites across the country. The country's image as a safe tourist destination has been constantly rocked by ongoing terrorist attacks, with many countries such as Canada, the US and member states of the EU urging visiting nationals to be cautious when travelling in Algeria, particularly in remote or outlying areas. The security push is key, given that it is precisely these remote areas that Algeria hopes will help its tourism drive, as it seeks to promote adventure tours and diversify its existing industry away from its focus on the sun and sand of the country's coastal strip. "Saharan tourism is crucial for us", Rahmani told OBG, adding that the government had identified four sites for development. However, investors and potential visitors will remain wary if the security situation does not improve.
Until that time, and until the full benefits of SDAT are felt, the country's tourism industry will be overshadowed by those of its Maghreb neighbors. However, blessed with stunning landscape and hundreds of kilometers of coastline, by 2025 Algeria may have found its place in the sun. (OBG16.02)
- Israeli Shekel conversions done at a rate of NIS 4.00 = $1.00
- Turkish Lira conversions done at a rate of NTL 1.60 = $1.00
- Euro conversions done at a rate of € 1.00 = $1.25
- Jordanian Dinar conversions done at a rate of JD 1.00 = $1.41
- UAE Dirham conversions done at a rate of Dh 3.66 = $1.00
- Omani Rial conversions done at a rate of OR 0.385 = $1.00
- Pakistani Rupee conversions done at a rate of Rs 60 = $1.00
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