Nadia, 38, is a mother of two and works as a maid. Her husband – the main provider in the family – earns LE 400 ($73) per month, an income that hardly meets the family’s basic needs. “I used to be a stay-at-home mother, but the surge in prices forced me to work, said Nadia. …

Investment in the Palestinian territories is a double-edged sword. As with all areas of high risk there is always the promise of high return, yet a certain level of political stability is needed to attract investment to the territories. The Palestinian Authority (PA) and its partners in the West are looking to attract investment in …

As oil prices continue to shoot to new records breaking a heady $127 a barrel last week before edging back slightly, Egypt – a country not cushioned by oil wealth – is left wrestling with soaring energy and food bills. Crude oil prices account for over half the cost of gasoline at the pump, weighing …

An explosion in internet usage in the Middle East by ordinary people will show the world that the region is just like anywhere else, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said on Sunday. Too often when people around the world reflect on the situation in the Middle East they focus on extremism and the different problems, Wales …

Conflicts over water resources have grown exponentially in the last 150 years. Throughout swathes of South East Asia, the Middle East, and North East Africa, burgeoning populations are putting strain on limited water resources, and many analysts believe that water, not oil, will be the biggest source of conflict in the 21st century. The Nile …

Triggered by the rise in commodity prices, water scarcity and the high demand for food security, experts expressed the necessity for a series of policy reforms and investment flows to improve the efficiency of water management and food production in the Middle East. Prince Turki Bin Talal Al Saud, chairman of the board of trustees …

First Lady of the US Laura Bush praised the work of the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) and other Egyptian NGOs during her visit to Sharm El-Sheikh this week. Amr Ali, managing director of HEPCA, gave the First Lady and leading members of Congress a presentation on the work of HEPCA on May …

The winners of Egypt’s first Business Plan Competition for Industry were announced at an awards ceremony Monday at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Sharm El-Sheikh. Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid gave out prizes to the winners of “Mashroak Hakika (Make your Project a Reality). The winning project was …

Overlooking an investment portfolio that contains a number of successful businesses, Shahira Zeid could easily be mistaken for a workaholic. She, however, is not. “I just learned to work eight to 10 hours a day, she said, comfortably revealing her ‘secret.’ Zeid is the vice chairman and CEO of MZ Investments, a private equity group …

CAIRO: A series of leaps brought steel prices to nearly LE 7,800 per ton over the past few days, with market chatter suggesting they could clamber as high as LE 10,000 in the coming months. Recently, irritated consumers staged a protest at an Al Ezz Steel Rebars warehouse in Qalyubia, accusing steel merchants of hoarding …

If you think the only responsibility for a business is to make profits, think again. Experts at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Sharm El-Sheikh highlighted Arab businesses’ civic duty – alongside governments and civil society – to invest in their communities. “A number of years ago, the only responsibility for business …

VIENNA: Oil prices dropped below $126 a barrel Monday in Asia after punching through to another trading record at the end of last week despite the prospect of an increase in output by Saudi Arabia. The world s leading oil producer promised an additional 300,000 barrels of crude a day as US President George W. …

As oil prices continue breaking records on an almost daily basis, leaders at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East debated whether the region’s oil-cushioned tycoons have invested enough in their own communities, namely in non-oil producing countries. In particular, they questioned if leaders in the Middle East are translating the gains of the …

SHARM El-SHEIKH: With an oblique reference to US President George Bush’s keynote speech during the opening plenary on Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that in the West there was a trend to build a negative image of Islam. Anger and turmoil, he said, result when we see an Israeli tank on Arab …

With the aim of exploring forces that will improve the region’s economic future, gender equality took center stage at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East. A seminar dubbed “Middle East Gender Parity Group: Vision for 2020 shed light on the progress of narrowing the gender gap in the region and ways to deal …

CAIRO: There’s a legend here that the 19th century sovereign Mohamed Ali, in his fervor to modernize the Egyptian economy, tried to pluck stones from the Pyramids to build dams in the Nile Delta. Luckily for the tourism industry, one advisor was sharp enough to dissuade him, and the last Ancient Wonder of the world …

This year’s theme is ‘Learning from the Future.’ I think that one of the most important lessons I have learned is that tomorrow will not be ours to shape unless we start building tomorrow, today, said King Abdullah Ibn Al Hussein of Jordan in his opening address at the World Economic Forum on the Middle …

What happens when a country outgrows its laws? When nearly a third of the workforce labors in the shadow market and 90 percent of residences go unregistered? To start, collecting taxes becomes a headache. As Egypt’s population swelled over the past few decades, the tax system sank into a largely ungovernable morass, with compliance shrinking …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: In his inaugural speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East in Sharm El-Sheikh Sunday, President Hosni Mubarak called on all heads of state, decision-makers and economic leaders to face the global challenges that are hindering stability and prosperity worldwide, including achieving peace on the Palestinian front. “The world is …

Metro Cash and Carry International, Germany’s biggest retailer, aims to open around 10 wholesale outlets in Egypt, an investment of up to ?150 million. It plans to open its first Cash & Carry wholesale store in Egypt by late 2009 at an expected average cost per store of around ?15 million. Frans Muller, CEO of …

RIYADH: President Bush failed to win the help he sought from Saudi Arabia to relieve skyrocketing American gas prices Friday, a setback for the former Texas oilman who took office predicting he would jawbone oil-producing nations to help the US. Bush got a red-carpet welcome to this desert kingdom, home to the world s largest …

DUBAI: Interpipe Limited, a major global producer of steel pipes and railway wheels, announce its key financial results for 2007, reporting a growth in revenue and net profit by 24.3 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Revenue reached $1.8 million in 2007, up from 1.4 million the previous year. Net profit increased to $256 million, up …

CAIRO: Dubai Group, the diversified financial services company of Dubai Holding, has acquired a 49 percent in Egypt’s Sphinx Glass Company in partnership with Cairo-based private equity firm Citadel Capital. Dubai Group invested AED 730 million in the project through its subsidiary Dubai Capital Group to become the second largest shareholder in the greenfield project …

During a question and answer session broadcast recently, Gamal Mubarak was asked why people continue to queue for hours for government-subsidized bread despite government promises that its free-market policies will transform the economy. Mubarak, general secretary of the ruling National Democratic Party’s Policy Committee, pointed to the Chinese experience where, he said, the transition from …

Many Alexandrians say that living anywhere else is like being a fish out of water. Hosna Rachid agrees and her eyes simply gleam when she talks about her beloved hometown. Sitting in her office at Unilever Mashreq’s headquarters in Alexandria, it is easy to see this is where she feels right at home. More than …

Iwas once sitting at a travel agents trying to get travelers’ cheques for Syria. “Where are you going? the bleached damsel behind the desk said, “Sierra Leone? Egypt, despite owing affiliation to the same cultural and regional bloc as the aforementioned country, is a household name. If biblical pre-school Pharaoh stories haven’t etched the country …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: In his opening speech at the World Economic Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, US president George W. Bush emphasized the need for political reform to go hand in hand with economic reforms, the importance of collectively fighting terrorism, and his hopes for a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in 2008, as usual making …

With Egypt’s convenient location, year-round sun, beaches and heritage, the nation’s tourism has always been one of the prime generators of liquidity. Maintaining the influx of tourists and increasing their rate of return is a challenge the country is eager to face. For decades, Europeans have flooded the various Red Sea resorts and expressed a …

LONDON: The price of oil rocketed to a record high point of $127.43 per barrel on Friday, as US President George W. Bush prepared to urge Saudi Arabia to pump more crude, analysts said. New York s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, beat the previous all-time peak of $126.98 set …

Over the past year Egypt’s emerging economy has received accolades for strides in development rates. The World Bank-International Finance Corporation’s “Doing Business 2008 Report has described Egypt as the world’s top reformer of regulations for the ease of doing business, outpacing other reformers worldwide and in the region with improvements in five out of 10 …