Sharjah delegation arrives in US for roadshow

Source: Gulf News (Read full story)

Sharjah’s largest ever delegation, comprising more than 20 government and private organisations, arrived in Washington, D.C. on Friday, for the first roadshow in the US organised by the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) under the slogan, ‘Sharjah — Promising Opportunities, Global Horizons’. Taking place from Monday until October 4, the roadshow aims to promote Sharjah’s investment, business and cultural offerings — as well as to explore avenues of cooperation with US companies and organisations.

…

Continue reading »

3rd US-GCC Strategic Cooperation Forum

Source: SUSRIS (Read full story)

…

A joint communique from the second ministerial meeting of the U.S.-GCC Strategic Cooperation Forum, on October 1, 2012, described the purposes of the effort: “The Forum was launched in March 2012 to deepen strategic cooperation and coordination of policies to advance shared political, military, security, and economic interests in the Gulf region, foster enhanced stability and security throughout the Middle East, and strengthen the close ties between the GCC and the United States.” Aluwaisheg said the move probably reflected Washington’s recognition of the growing role of the GCC and its increased cohesiveness, coupled with the heightened threats in the region.

…

Continue reading »

Discussions continue on GCC security agreement

Source:Kuwait Times (Read full story)

MP Khalil Al-Saleh urged the parliamentary foreign affairs committee not to rush its report on the GCC security agreement until they ensured it matched Kuwait’s constitutional regulations. Al- Saleh also told reporters that the agreement would be discussed today and that all security-related bodies should be invited to the meeting, namely the ministers of foreign affairs and interior. He also wondered why it took the government so long to endorse it if it did not contradict the Constitution. “This treaty includes disastrous articles”, he underlined reminding that until last May when some of its articles were amended, Kuwait was the only GCC country that did not sign the treaty approved in Riyadh in 1994 as some of its articles contradicted Kuwait’s Constitution.

…

Continue reading »

Kerry thanks UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah

Source: The National (Read full story)

The US secretary of state John Kerry has thanked Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Foreign Minister, for the UAE’s support for efforts to hold Bashar Al Assad accountable for using chemical weapons in Syria, as well as its backing for peace negotiations in Geneva to end the civil war there. During bilateral talks on Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah and Mr Kerry also affirmed the importance of Washington’s insistence on a binding, verifiable removal of Syria’s chemical weapons, a US state department official said. Mr Kerry met officials from a number of Arab countries to discuss issues likely to be addressed by the US president Barack Obama’s speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, including Syria, Egypt and the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

…

Continue reading »

King Abdullah lends new dimension to unification

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

 The Kingdom’s National Day, celebrated on Sept. 23, has come a long way in broadening the concept of unification over the years.  Though it meant unifying the disparate sheikhdoms into territorial integrity under its founder, late King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud, its implications across the socioeconomic and cultural spectrum, however, were not lost on the successive rulers in the House of Saud. It was Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah who fine-tuned the definition of unification as an operating philosophy. After all, a country’s unity and territorial integrity demands that the various elements involved in holding it together — from demographic to socio-economic — should also be reinforced in the national interest.

…

Continue reading »

GCC to discuss single fuel price

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

Oil ministers in GCC countries will discuss steps that have been taken toward finalizing a study on a single price of petroleum products in GCC countries next Tuesday during the 32nd Petroleum Cooperation Committee meeting. The meeting will be held in Riyadh at the headquarters of the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Oil analyst Rashid Abanami expects the process to contribute to saving 30 percent of the total consumption of fuel in Saudi Arabia, which is smuggled to neighboring countries to be sold at higher prices. “A unified market for petroleum products could exist within the next six years,” said Abanami.

…

Continue reading »

UAE’s nuclear programme follows highest safety standards

Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)

The UAE has affirmed that it has taken significant steps to develop its nuclear power programme following the highest safety standards in accordance with international best practices and guidelines laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “My delegation would like to reiterate the UAE’s commitment to working with the IAEA towards the strengthening of nuclear safety, security and safeguards worldwide, while promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” said Ambassador Hamad Al Kaabi, the UAE’s Permanent Representative to the IAEA, in the UAE statement at the 57th session of the IAEA’s general conference in Vienna on Wednesday.

…

Continue reading »

UAE to announce bank exposure rules

Source: The Peninsula (Read full story)

The United Arab Emirates central bank is expected to announce within one or two months rules restricting the amount of exposure which banks can have to the debt of government-related entities (GREs), a top commercial banker said yesterday. Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, head of the national banking industry association and chief executive of Mashreq Bank, told reporters that each bank would then discuss the time frame for its compliance with the central bank on a case-by-case basis. “It is already finalised by the central bank. Now the central bank just has to announce it – I think in the next month, two months max. It’s already passed the board,” he said.

…

Continue reading »