GCC is 13th largest world economy

Source: Emirates 24/7 (Read  full story)

Gulf hydrocarbon producers emerged as the 13th most powerful economy in the world in 2011 while strong oil prices allowed them to become the fifth largest exporter with the highest trade surplus, according to a Bahraini minister. Hassan Fakhru, minister of trade and industry, estimated the combined GDP of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at around $1.4 trillion in 2011, the 13th largest in the world. He put the global GDP at around $70 trillion in 2011.

…

Continue reading »

Major Saudi firms in Forbes Top 500 list

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

With the support of Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s minister for culture, youth and community development, Forbes Middle East hosted a prestigious event at Ritz Carlton, Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, in recognition of The Top 500 Companies in the Arab World and The Top 100 Making an Impact.
The event, which included an exclusive award ceremony and gala dinner, was attended by senior government officials, top executives from various business sectors, and an array of other high profile guests. The event was also graced by the presence of Nasser bin Aqeel Al-Tayyar, president of Arab Publisher House, who welcomed Sheikh Nahayan along with other dignitaries.

…

Continue reading »

Cabinet ministers resign amid standoff with MPs

Source: Kuwait Times (Read full story)

…

The new developments came amid reports that the Assembly might be dissolved just a month before a June 16 crucial ruling by the constitutional court on the controversial amendment of the electoral law. But a number of MPs ruled out the possibility, saying they expected the Amir to issue a decree to suspend the Assembly for one month, based on a clause in the constitution. The measure will give just enough time for the ruling to be issued while the Assembly is not in session. Among many possibilities, the court could declare the electoral law amendment as unconstitutional, which will mean forcing the Assembly’s dissolution and calling for fresh elections.

…

Continue reading »

US-led action in Syria would empower Iran, not weaken it

Source: The National (Read full story)

…

The Iranian leadership has a successful track record of emerging as the winner whenever a sovereign state in the Middle East experiences instability, civil war or foreign intervention. For instance, the protracted civil war in Lebanon created a ripe environment for Iranian leaders to give birth to one of the strongest non-state actors in the region, Hizbollah. Also, after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, Iranian leaders were immediately able to help create a powerful Shiite proxy in Iraq – the Mahdi Army – as well as coordinate with Shiite leaders to infiltrate Iraqi governmental affairs. The Iranian leadership and Revolutionary Guard’s strategies are characterised not by public or foreign interventions, but by clandestine investments in local, community-based, organised groups that empower a proxy capable of fighting not only regional governments but world powers.

…

Continue reading »

Saudi Arabia launches first F15-SA jet plane at Missouri ceremony

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

The Saudi Air Force recently launched its F15-SA jet plane at an inauguration ceremony held at a Boeing site based in St. Louis, Missouri. Boeing today rolled out the Boeing F-15SA, ushering in a new era in fighter aircraft capability and affordability for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The launch comes amid plans for the air force to modernize its fleet of fighters. The recent addition means that the Kingdom has entered a new age in its fighter planes, allowing it to be at the forefront of air forces worldwide.

…

Continue reading »

Saudi Aramco to Open 3 US Research Centers

Source: Energy Tribune (Read full story)

 …

Saudi Aramco has announced the opening of three research centers in the United States with Houston named one of the cities to house a new facility focused on upstream research. Houston joins two other U.S.- based centers in Cambridge, Mass. and Detroit designed to extend the energy giant’s global research and development (R&D) network. The Houston Research Center, expected to be operational later this year, will consist of teams spanning upstream subsurface domains. Saudi Aramco is currently hiring experts from around the world to work in this center that has state-of-the-art laboratory to develop technology to advance the discovery and recovery of oil and gas.

…

Continue reading »

UAE denounces Iran lawmakers’ visit to islands

Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)

…

Meanwhile, the Federal National Council has expressed condemnation and denunciation of the visit made recently by a delegation from Iran’s Shura Council to the three occupied UAE Islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa. In a statement issued today, the FNC said the policy of ‘Fait accompli’ practiced by Iran to perpetuate its occupation of UAE’s islands would not change historical and legal facts that confirm UAE sovereignty over the islands, and their territorial waters, airspace, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, as being an integral part of the UAE. Condemning the Iranian Shura Council’s, the FNC denounced the Iranian provocative acts which constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its territory and undermines all efforts for a peaceful settlement to end the Iranian occupation of the islands.

…

Continue reading »

Prince Turki on Saudi Arabia’s Role after Arab Awakening

Source: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (Read full story)

Prince Turki Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research & Islamic Studies, delivered an address at the Harvard Kennedy School titled Saudi Arabia’s New Foreign Policy Doctrine in the aftermath of the Arab Awakening. The talk on April 25, 2013 was the culmination of a daylong workshop on Saudi Arabia hosted by the school’s Middle East Initiative in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

…

Continue reading »