Saudi police smashed their way into an apartment to find a dead Eritrean man dangling from the ceiling fan and unravel the mystery of bad smell that had irked neighbours, a newspaper said on Saturday.

Residents of the three-storey building in the southern province of Jizan close to the border with Yemen had told friends of the dead man, 40, about the bad smell coming from his flat, ‘Alwatan’ said.

“His friends phoned the police, who came and broke the door…they found his body hanged from the ceiling fan…preliminary investigation indicated the man had committed a suicide.”

Emirates 24/7

Saudi state-owned Aramco has been administering a tender for a seismic survey of Saudi territorial waters in the Red Sea. Industry sources said European companies have submitted bids to survey 14,000 square kilometers in a project worth up to $200 million.

Some of the bidders were identified as Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services, the Netherlands’s Fugro and Britain’s WesternGeco. Aramco has been preparing to begin drilling for energy reserves in the Red Sea in 2012.

The sources said Aramco has deemed the Red Sea the next major source for crude oil and natural gas for the Saudi kingdom. Saudi Arabia has reached a capacity to produce 12.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Exploration activities are taking place across the red sea region. Sudan has recently started drilling its first overseas offshore exploration well in the Red Sea Basin off Sudan with the help of the state China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

The well falls in Area 15 under the franchise of the Red Sea Petroleum Operating Co., a consortium of five firms including the CNPC, Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas, Sudan’s state oil firm Sudapet, Nigeria’s Express Petroleum and Sudanese firm High Tech Group. Petronas and CNPC each have a 35 percent interest in the block 15.

According to the Sudanese minister of Energy and Mining the results from prospecting for oil and gas in the Red Sea are positive.

Tokar-1 is one of two exploration wells in Block 15, located some 130 kilometers southeast of Port Sudan. The CNPC and its partners plan to complete drilling in six months. The wells have a designed drilling depth of 3,700 meters, and water depths of 38 meters and 52 meters respectively.

An international meeting on Somalia held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, chaired by the United Nations, called on the world community to offer practical and, where possible, direct support to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) as it battles extremists in a country that has had no central government for almost two decades.

Under the chairmanship of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the 33-member International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG) noted the TFG’s call for the global community to establish a greater presence in Mogadishu, the war-torn capital, as soon as possible, and welcomed the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) decision to open an office there.

“The ICG condemns the continuing violence perpetrated against Somali civilians by extremists,” the group said in a communiqué, citing in particular the suicide bomb attack on a graduation ceremony for medical students which killed at least 15 people in Mogadishu earlier this month.

It also deplored the continuing piracy off the Somali coast and its “devastating effect on the lives of those in Somalia and the region as well as international trade” and welcomed the international naval presence while recognizing that the causes of piracy are on land and must be addressed urgently.

The ICG reiterated its support for the 2008 Djibouti process, a peace accord between the TFG and one of the rebel groups, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), which was meant to pave the way for the cessation of all armed conflict across the faction-plagued country.

“It calls on all groups and factions to join the Djibouti process and work with the Transitional Federal Government which is the legitimate and internationally recognised Government of Somalia,” the communiqué said.

“The ICG welcomes the TFG’s commitment to continue its outreach efforts to all groups willing to cooperate and ready to renounce violence and encourages the TFG to continue and expand its efforts.”

According to the United Nations Mission in Somalia representatives from more than 30 countries, regional and international organizations are meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 17 December. They will discuss concrete measures to support further the Somali Government and the implementation of the Djibouti Agreement.

Welcoming the meeting, the United Nations Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, who chairs the ICG, said this is a time to take stock of the progress made and to lay down clear and tangible steps forward.

“We now have a credible partner in the Somali Government to work with in re-establishing the elements of governance and to put in place a foundation for strengthening stability. The International Community must seize this opportune moment to provide immediate and urgent support to the Somali Government.

“Despite the numerous challenges and the horrendous attacks by those who try to derail the peace process, the current Government has managed to stay its course for nearly a year. They have until August 2011 to pave the way for restoration of peace and for rebuilding of the lives of the people.

“Any assistance provided now is much more valuable than it will be in the future because it will allow this Government to fully engage in establishing stability and to begin rebuilding the nation. In essence, support now will guarantee a future later.

“The International Community was united in its condemnation of the 3 December bombing in Mogadishu. It needs to be equally united and determined in supporting the Government in its efforts to advance the stability.”

Mr. Ould-Abdallah also expressed his thanks to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for organizing the conference and to the Saudis for their offer to host the meeting and to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for facilitations offered.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 42.3% of the total inflow of investment of the 14-state Western Asia region, which stood at $90.2bn.

Three countries combined, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE accounted for 77.6 % of the flow of investment to the region.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s 2009 report, which covers the 2008 investment results, the Turkish economy had attracted some $18.1bn in 2008, down from $22bn recorded in 2007, while the UAE attracted $13.4bn, up from the $13.2bn recorded in 2007.

For comparison, in 2006 Turkey came in first place having attracted $21.1bn in investment, followed by Saudi Arabia, and UAE.

Multinational group investment

The increase in investment in Saudi Arabia took place with the influx of several foreign companies, including Royal Dutch/Shell (UK-Netherlands), Sinopec (China), Eni (Italy), and Lukoil (Russia), for natural gas exploration in the south-eastern region of the Kingdom.

In addition to awarding contracts to Mac Dermont (United States), Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Korea), and Petrofac (UK) to develop the onshore and offshore fields of Karan gas field.

By comparison, last year Saudi investments failed to exceed $1bn, representing a sharp decline compared to the $13bn in 2007. The report stressed the need to engage in institutional investment rather than individual investment, for its rewarding returns and reduced risks.

Increase in business ranking

Saudi Arabia has jumped three places in business environment and investment competitiveness ranking to number 13, according to a report by the International Finance Corporation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The reforms pursued by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz seem clear, as the country has gone from number 67 in 2005 to number 13 in 2009 on the index, which measures 183 countries around the world.

The Kingdom has continued to maintain its performance as the best country for investment in the Middle East and North Africa, as it moved up the business starting index from 28 to 13.

The country also came 16 on the index for protecting investors.

FDI increase

Recent investments have focused on the real estate sector with an estimated 21%, the petrochemical industry with 16%, and the extraction of gas and oil with 10%, with economists projecting an increase of 40% of investment during the coming four years to exceed $3bn.

The global financial crisis has altered the image of foreign direct investment, by recording a sharp rise in the share of developing economies to total 43% in 2008. Inflow of foreign direct investment to developing economies has reached $621bn.

This change in the pattern of inflows may partly be attributed to the significant decline in FDI flows to developed countries which fell by 29% in 2008 compared to the previous year, to $962bn. Source: (AmeInfo)

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nizar bin Obaid Madani received here yeserday Eritrean Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Othman Saleh.

During the meeting, a message from Eritrean President Isaias Afworki to the Custodian of the Two holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was handed over by the Eritrean official to Dr. Madani. The meeting was attended by a number of officials. Source: (QNA)

The first phase of the port will cost 4 billion riyals ($1.07 billion) with operations expected to start in 2012 and have a capacity of 1.7 million containers, it added.

The statement did not say if the agreement with SBG meant the cancellation of another initial agreement signed in April, 2008 by EEC with DP World for the same purpose.

The agreement with DP World also aimed at developing and operating the port at King Abdullah Economic City, except that it predicted operations to start towards the end of 2010 and to have a 1.6 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) capacity by mid-2011.

DP World officials were not immediately available for comment. Earlier on Monday, EEC announced that it had has cancelled a 1.4 billion riyals contract which it awarded to SBG in 2008 due to a drop in costs. Dubai-based Emaar Properties is a key shareholder in EEC.

King Abdullah Economic City is the most prominent among a series of “economic cities” that are part of Saudi Arabia’s plan to diversify the country’s oil and gas-based economy and provide more jobs for the country’s growing population.

EEC has faced some delays delivering housing and business units, as well as a 6-12 month delay on the first phase of the city’s port which it expects to complete in 2011. Source: (BusinessMaktoob)

The important milestone was achieved on the back of Austal’s recent award of a technical management and maintenance contract for the two catamaran ferries.

Each 88-metre vessel now performs six return trips per week, operating on 100 nautical mile route between Dibba in Saudi Arabia and Safaga in Egypt.

The service has already proven popular with Pilgrims travelling on to Mecca, Egyptian workers travelling to and from Saudi Arabia as well as business and leisure travellers. So far more than 69700 people have utilised the service, which has also facilitated the transport of 3514 vehicles and 730 trucks.

Integral to the successful launch of the new service, Austal’s comprehensive technical management and maintenance package is being undertaken over a three-year period and includes options for an additional two years.

The package will see Austal perform planned and preventative maintenance support, unscheduled maintenance, management and performance of annual surveys and maintenance periods as well as shorebased engineering support.

As a result, Austal has established a dedicated, fully staffed service office in the Egyptian port city of Safaga, where it will utilise the region’s existing maintenance docking facilities where required.

Along with building on the company’s extensive experience in the Middle East region, Austal General Manager – Service, Michael McCourt, said the project demonstrated Austal’s growing technical management and maintenance capability.

‘Austal continues to grow its global Through Life Support (TLS) capability, which now includes countries such as Oman, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela,’ Mr McCourt said.

‘As this contract has already shown, Austal is committed to ensuring client vessels are fully maintained and available for operation in accordance with the vessels’ planned operational profile. We are pleased to be involved in establishing and maintaining this important public transportation service in the Middle East,’ he said.

Mr McCourt said Austal can tailor service packages to suit individual requirements by drawing on more than 20-years experience in aluminium vessel design and construction.

‘Having delivered more than 200 vessels to both commercial and defence customers worldwide, including 16 to the Middle East, we understand what is required to maximise the operational availability of every fleet,’ he said.

The two 88-metre ferries ‘Cairo’ and ‘Riyadh’ were originally delivered to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in December 2008 and later gifted to the Egyptian Government to improve the standard of ferry services across the Red Sea.

Each vessel has the capacity to carry 1200 passengers, 120 cars and 15 trucks at an operating speed of 37 knots. Source: (AMEINFO)

RIYADH, Aug 3 (Reuters) – A group of Saudi-based investors, including the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), will launch later this year a seven-year plan worth $1 billion in Africa to reduce dependency on rice imports and supply the Middle East region.

The so-called 7X7 project aims at developing and planting 700,000 hectares of farm land to produce within seven years 7 million tonnes of rice, said Salim Lalani, head of investments at Foras International Investment Company, one of the partners in the project.

“We are looking at three to four countries: Mali, Senegal and may be Sudan and Uganda,” Lalani told Reuters.

Food security has topped the policy agenda in the arid Gulf Arab region following rampant inflation in 2008 that underscored its dependence on imports and forced countries to invest abroad to ensure supplies of staples such as rice and wheat.

The project’s political backers are the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which groups more than 50 countries, and the governments of Mali and Senegal, both of which are OIC members.

“On the financial front, there is the IDB and the Private Sector Islamic Development Corporation,” Foras said in written replies to Reuters’ questions.

ISLAMIC TARGETS

The project’s focus on rice aims at catering to the needs of West African and Middle Eastern countries in the commodity.

“West Africa’s annual deficit in rice reaches about 2 million tonnes,” Foras said.

Saudi Arabia imported a little over 1 million tonnes of rice in 2008, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture. West African giant Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation and an OIC member, produces only a fifth of its 2.5 million tonnes annual rice needs.

“This (project) is among targets set by the OIC and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry to confront the food shortage crisis, increase agricultural output and improve rice productivity,” it added.

A feasibility study led by a team of Thai experts will be completed this month and the project will start with a pre-execution phase covering 5,000 hectares in Mali, close to the Niger River Basin. “We will then move to the execution phase of the project covering 50,000-100,000 hectares, which will be gradually increased over a seven-year period. Effective work will begin by the end of this year,” Foras added.

Of the 50,000-100,000 hectares, 20,000 hectares will be planted with rice at the cost of $200 million, Foras said. It did not say under what form of ownership the land will be granted to the partners.

Saudi Arabia has urged companies to invest in farm projects abroad after deciding last year to reduce wheat production by 12.5 percent per year, abandoning a 30-year-old programme to grow its own which had achieved self-sufficiency but depleted the desert kingdom’s scarce water supplies.

In January, the government cited Ethiopia, Turkey, Ukraine, Egypt, Sudan, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Vietnam as some of the countries that Saudi investors and officials might look at.

Several Saudi firms have already started investing in agricultural projects from Indonesia to Ethiopia. The world’s top oil exporter said in January it had received the first batch of rice produced abroad by local investors.

Qatar has launched a crack down campaign on labour rights abuse by employers across the country. The Ministry of Labour is going to check each month around 100 companies on violating employees’ rights.

For many years law of the business owner ruled over general legislation in respect to employee rights and freedom at work place.

Especially, in the Gulf States immigrant workers from Africa, India and South East Asia often used to have a “no rights” status while doing their job.

Many of the workers had been exposed to the good will of the employer regarding, payment, holidays, safety at the work place as well as hiring and firing.

Thousands of Eritreans work in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as house mates, construction workers, taxi drivers and factory workers.  Most of the foreign workers went to these countries on the basis of the widespread perceptions in their home land of lucrative and exciting jobs abroad.

Unfortunately, finding a situation that meets minimum standards of decent work is often a matter of luck and not a guarantee. Those who are not so lucky may become trapped in highly exploitative situations with few exit options.

Many workers have to go through conditions, which remind on slavery and a second class society. Only until last month domestic workers were excluded from labor laws in Saudi Arabia, denying them rights such as a weekly day of rest, limits to hours of work and overtime pay.

However, the Gulf States have taken the right direction by introducing more and more labor protection laws into their legal system. This will help the government to stop the increasing number of staff turnover amongst qualified foreign workers.

Big and important companies in the region need to have a very active human resource department, because work conditions make people come and go in no time. Hence new labor legislation in the Gulf States might help to improve the situation by improving conditions for the employees.

Todays Zaman, Turkey: Held up by rigorous customs procedures at the Saudi Arabian-UAE border, hundreds of Turkish trucks have joined in long queues waiting at the Al-Ghuwaifat border gate to enter Saudi Arabrabia

One of the biggest problems the truck drivers face is the hot weather, exceeding 50 degrees Centigrade and above seasonal norms. By last week, trucks in the queue numbered in the thousands.

The delays at the border have reportedly been happening for the past month; it is taking drivers up to 16 hours to move just two kilometers. Many say they have almost run out of food and drink and that they are finding it difficult to stand the heat. Read the full story

In March 2008, Forbes Magazine published the worlds richest billionaires. Ranking number 19 was Prinz Al Waleed bin Talal, a Saudi business man who supposed to be the promoter of trade between the Middle East and the West.

The Prinz had a extravagant lifestyle and was the first private person to order a custom made Airbus 380 for his personal use. His risky financial investments during the stock market boom come now to hunt him due to speculative losses when the financial downturn started. The Prinz tries now to shift from business man to politician, in order not to loose everything of his fortune. Read more: