Al Bashir calls aid agencies subversive

Vivian Salama

March 30, 2009

DOHA // Confident and defiant in the face of an international warrant for his arrest, Omar al Bashir, the president of Sudan, addressed the 21st regular session of the Arab League in Qatar, defending his decision to expel non-governmental organisations from Sudan and his right to resist arrest.

Mr al Bashir accused aid organisations of providing sensitive information about Sudan to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, declaring it an effort to destabilise the Sudanese government. He claimed that the humanitarian problem in Darfur has been exaggerated, particularly with regard to claims of food and water shortages.

On March 4, the ICC issued a warrant for the arrest of the Sudanese president on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

“These organisations were providing some support, but their costs were so high [and they] have started to work outside their mandate,” Mr al Bashir said. They “signed secret agreements with the ICC to provide ICC with some reports”.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki- moon, condemned the Sudanese leader for his decision to expel key international non-profit organisations, saying it resulted in the suspension of life-sustaining services for more than one million people.

Despite the efforts of Sudanese governmental organisations, UN agencies and the remaining NGOs, Mr Ban said yesterday, “the gaps cannot be filled with existing capacities”.

A number of delegates gathered in Doha expressed concern over the ICC’s decision to arrest Mr al Bashir. Several pointed to the court’s failure to issue arrest warrants for alleged war crimes of Israeli leaders. The Arab League’s secretary general, Amr Moussa, called it a double standard.

The majority of the Arab League member states are not signatories to the Rome statute that created the ICC in 1998. 

Bashar Assad, the president of Syria and host of last year’s summit, called upon the Arab leadership to show solidarity with the embattled Sudanese leader. He predicted that Sudan would descend into chaos if Mr al Bashir were arrested.

“We are to extend our full support to Sudan in order to avoid to steps in the future that might lead to the division of Sudan,” Mr Assad said. “The pretext that Sudan has made some violations is something we can discuss.”

The issuance and reaction to the ICC warrant are among the latest events to dominate pressing issues facing the League of Arab Nations. Several leaders, including the summit’s host, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, chose to avoid the issue of Sudan all together, focusing instead on the region’s economic challenges.

Other shadows were cast this year by Libya’s president, Muammar Qadafi, who accused Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah of exercising US policies to solve Arab problems. This is not the first time an outburst by Mr Qadafi grabbed significant attention at the Arab summit. In 2003, he took a shot at King Abdullah over the US military presence in the region, calling Saudi Arabia’s ties with the United States “a pact with the devil”.

In 2004, he smoked cigars on the conference floor in a show of contempt and stormed out of the assembly after the delegation’s refusal to accept his proposed Arab-Israeli peace plan. The following year in Algeria, he returned, accusing Palestinians and Israelis of being “stupid”.

Although Mr Qadafi has lured the watchful eyes of the media, he was not the only one to offer a distraction from the summit. This year, the absence of Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, drew significant attention given the recent rivalry over approaches to the Palestinian crisis. Cairo continues to mediate talks aimed at Palestinian reconciliation and forging a sustainable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Squabbles often mar the annual Arab summits and dominate coverage, with clashes growing increasingly sharp in recent years after a series of conflicts, including the second intifada, the US-led war in Iraq, political instability in Lebanon and Israeli military operations in Lebanon and Gaza. 

Many are growing increasingly sceptical of the ability of Arab leaders to find concrete solutions to the issues facing the region.

“People now look at the Arab summits as entertainment,” said Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor in chief of Al Quds Al Arabi, a pan-Arab newspaper published in London. “They aren’t looking at resolutions; they are looking at these sideshows: who is going to clash with who; who is going to boycott, who will come; who is cross with someone. It is like a soap opera.”

Last year’s summit in Damascus was held amid a boycott by Lebanese delegates and the humiliating low-level representation by some of the Arab world’s most powerful countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

“The Arab street increasingly sees itself as interconnected and they would like to see their leaders guide them to finding solutions, but they can’t even get together for a meeting,” said Hady Amr, director of the Brookings Doha Centre. 

“The Arab world has high hopes: they want jobs, dignity, increasing opportunities to participate in society and their governments are not delivering.”

Qatar draws scepticism over Darfur

Vivian Salama

March 29. 2009 

DOHA // In the past year, the tiny Arab Gulf emirate of Qatar has brokered a historic peace deal between political opponents in Lebanon and played host to a number of Arab League summits as well as to the Doha Round of world trade talks.

However, as the host of the latest Arab League summit, scheduled to begin tomorrow, Qatar has drawn scepticism as to its ability to fairly mediate one of the Arab world’s deadliest and longest-running conflicts: Darfur.

Amnesty International has called upon Qatar and members of the League of Arab States to enforce the arrest warrant against Omar al Bashir, the Sudanese president, before this week’s meeting.

The Qatari government and the Arab League have refused to arrest the Sudanese leader, wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying his arrest would further destabilise the country. Qatar, like most of the Arab League nations, is not a signatory to the ICC’s founding treaty.

The 22-nation organisation is expected to address regional issues, including the arrest warrant for Sudan’s president and Palestinian divisions.

Sudan's Al Bashir is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity

Mr al Bashir is expected to attend the meeting. Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, who met the embattled Sudanese leader in Cairo last week, yesterday said he would not come to Doha.

Although some regional analysts said they believe the refusal to detain Mr al Bashir is no surprise, it could compromise Qatar’s credibility to serve as a regional arbitrator.

“I do not think it is in Qatar or any Arab country’s best interest to arrest President Bashir, but certainly some of the rebel groups in Darfur might see this as taking sides,” said Saleem Ali, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.

Home to substantial oil and natural gas reserves, Qatar in recent years has cultivated a reputation as a friend to almost anyone. It plays host to one of the largest US military bases and, until the recent incursion on Gaza, to one of few Israeli commercial offices in the region.

Qatar is on amicable terms with Iran and has staunchly defended the interests of Hamas and Chechen separatists. In 2005, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, bestowed a gift of US$100 million (Dh367m) to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina, while also investing $1.5 billion to build an oil refinery in Zimbabwe.

“Qatar is punching above its weight,” said James Reardon-Anderson, the dean of Georgetown University in Qatar. “So you see it in their foreign policy – the Lebanon deal, the Darfur deal, they are trying to be bigger than they are.”

The emergence of Qatar in recent years from a tiny and somewhat underdeveloped nation of one million – 75 per cent of whom are expatriates – into an international hub for sport, education, science, trade and culture, has been regarded as the emirate’s first step towards becoming a global political heavyweight.

“The leadership here really sees this as an opportunity to transfer this wealth of natural gas into human capacity and to use that momentum to affirm their culture and affirm their vision and transform their society,” Mr Reardon-Anderson said.

Once the exclusive domain of Saudi Arabia in the Gulf and Egypt in the broader Middle East, the role of political intermediary and conciliator has fit Qatar, which has invited everyone from Iranian and Israeli diplomats and provided a home base to US military personnel and Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi, a hardliner Sunni cleric.

“Qatar is generally well positioned to play a mediating roll because it has very good relations with the West and at the same time it is perceived in the Islamic establishment as having some sympathies with Islamist causes,” Mr Ali said. “Because of this rather unusual mix of circumstances, it is really a tight rope that they are walking on now particularly because of this US military base.”

In 2003, the United States announced it would pull out virtually all of its troops from its military base in Saudi Arabia, long deemed a symbol of Washington’s influence in the region. The US Central headquarters in Qatar and the Fifth Fleet naval base in Bahrain drew a sea of controversy for the two Gulf nations, particularly after US military operations began in Iraq in 2003.

It is, some argue, Qatar’s role as a media hub since the launch of its home-based network, Al Jazeera, in 1996 that has brought it the greatest praises and criticism. Various regional governments have condemned the Qatari government for allowing Al Jazeera to boldly criticise Arab regimes while protecting the image of Qatar. In 2002 Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic ties with Qatar over the issue, but resumed them in 2007 when Qatar promised to rein in coverage.

Oil Exporters Ignore Iran’s Call for Embargo Over Gaza War

Hello from Lahore, Pakistan!  I just arrived today and plan to base here for at least the next six months.  There is so much going on here at the moment that I feel very fortunate to have a front row seat.  I am extremely eager to hear about new and interesting story ideas here in the country so I invite you all to submit some suggestions.  

In the meantime, I wrote the story below in Dubai last week regarding calls for an oil embargo against supporters of Israel over the Gaza crisis.  As of today, about 1,000 Palestinians have been killed as the result of Israel’s attack on Gaza, most of them civilians.  Please consider ways in which you can help the poor people of Gaza rebuild after this destructive conflict with Israel.

by VIVIAN SALAMA

MIDDLE EAST TIMES

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Cozy economic ties with the West and cool heads have led the Arab Gulf’s leading oil exporters to ignore calls by Iran for an oil embargo against supporters of Israel over the Jewish state’s military offensive in Gaza. 

Mirfaysal Bagherzadeh, brigadier-general of Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard, has urged Muslim countries to cut oil exports to Israel’s allies as punishment for their inaction against the its “unequal war” on the Palestinian territory.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, responded this week saying that the use of oil as a weapon in the Arab-Israeli conflict is not a solution.

“The oil producers who need their income … are not going to do that,” he said at a news conference in Riyadh. “The use of oil, especially at this time, is an idea that is at least past its worth.”

The comments from Tehran echoed sentiments by members of Bahrain’s lower house of parliament earlier in the week that “all retaliation options” should be considered by Arab governments against the Israeli aggression.

While the tiny Gulf kingdom is not a major oil exporter, it is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

“Bahraini and Kuwaiti parliaments are quite renowned for nationalistic and even Islamist voices that do not necessarily reflect the position of their particular governments,” said Neil Partrick, assistant professor of international studies at the American University of Sharjah.

The renewed Israeli attacks in Gaza have claimed nearly 1,000 lives since they started on Dec. 27.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and a delegation of European Union foreign ministers have been meeting with Arab heads-of-state in an attempt to broker a cease-fire and bring both parties back to the negotiating table.

Israel’s government has been accused of heavy-handed tactics resulting in huge destruction of infrastructure and high civilian casualties.

Protesters have come out in large numbers in cities across the region demanding that their governments take action to stop Israel and make it take responsibility for the heavy losses.

A statement released this week by the Saudi cabinet accused “the policy of war, violence, murder and torture practiced by Israel against the Gaza Strip and throughout Palestine” as demonstrative of the “extremist political parties in Israel and abroad aiming at [the] restructuring of the region of the Middle East according to their terms.”

The Saudi government also criticized American nepotism toward Israel. Speaking at this week’s U.S.-Gulf Forum, the Saudi deputy foreign minister said that the United States has “adopted policies full of flaws against the Gulf nations and the Middle East while it has been extending all-out support to Israel.”

For countries in the Gulf, their oil wealth has historically proven to be a mighty weapon in times of turmoil. Flash back to the now infamous oil embargo by Arab producers during the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and the armies of Egypt and Syria. The boycott sent shock waves around the world – the market price for oil soaring almost immediately from $3 a barrel to $12.

Arab oil producers would subsequently take a hit, however, as consumption dropped by 5 percent over the following two years. The crisis served as a wake-up call for countries in the West to seek alternative sources of energy and ultimately, reduce dependency on oil imports.

Today, Saudi Arabia is the only major Middle East oil supplier to the United States. The United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iran sell mostly to Asia, while Kuwait divides its exports among countries in Asia and Europe, while sending only a small amount to the United States.

“So the phrase ‘we need to reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil’ is actually a misnomer,” said Raja Kiwan, an energy analyst with PFC Energy, a Bahrain-based consultancy. “Most of [Iran's] oil is sold to Asia, so the comments by the Revolutionary Guard should be seen as political rhetoric.”

Like other oil producers in the region, Iran depends on oil revenue for as much as 90 percent of its foreign income – and is currently suffering as the result of plummeting oil prices. An export ban is therefore believed by analysts to be in no one’s interest – most of all, the oil producers.

“The GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] has no appetite for an oil embargo because the embargo of the 1970’s was quite damaging economically for the Gulf countries,” noted Partrick.

Martin Lovegrove, vice chairman of oil and gas for Standard Chartered Bank in London said that oil producers must consider the implications an oil embargo could have on their domestic economies.

“Some, if not the majority, of these countries would certainly have to tighten their belts should they have an embargo, and not just for the short-term,” he said.

“An embargo could increase prices again at a time of true economic sensitivity in the world financial, business and personal economic markets [and] this could delay any real term recovery in prices.”

Political Storm Finds a Columbia Professor

As a former student of Rashid Khalidi, I can say with confidence that the accusations by Sarah Palin and John McCain of the professor’s “radical” associations to the PLO are absolutely outrageous and infuriating.  The fact that they would dedicate so much time to such a trivial (and false) subject just days before the election, when the country’s economy is tanking and its troops are dying, confirms in my mind the fact that a McCain/Palin ticket will only lead our country into further catastrophe.  There are plenty of people around the world who regard advisors to the Bush administration as also having links to a “terrorist organization.” What they have done to Dr Khalidi is, in my opinion, defamatory and I really hope that Americans recognize that.  

Political Storm Finds a Columbia Professor

By MARC SANTORA and ELISSA GOOTMAN

Published: October 30, 2008

Rashid Khalidi had been bracing for the storm for months, friends said

Since an April news report detailing his relationship with Senator Barack Obama, Mr. Khalidi, a Middle East scholar and passionate defender ofPalestinian rights, had waited to see himself caricatured by Republicans as part of a rogues’ gallery of Obama associates, which has come to include the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. andWilliam C. Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground.

He was surprised, the friends said, that so little criticism came — until this last frenzied week before the election, when Senator John McCain cited the April article in The Los Angeles Times about a dinner Mr. Obama attended in Mr. Khalidi’s honor in 2003, and questioned Mr. Obama’s commitment to Israel.

In recent days, Republican partisans have accused Mr. Khalidi, a professor at Columbia University since 2003, of everything from anti-Semitism to baby-sitting for Mr. Obama’s children.

For Columbia, the firestorm is the latest episode in a string of messy, public controversies regarding Middle East politics. In 2004, pro-Palestinian professors were accused of intimidating Jewish students. Mr. Khalidi was not one of those teachers, but he was barred the next year from lecturing New York City public school teachers for having used the words “racist” and “apartheid” in discussions of Israel.

“It just seems really ironic to me that Rashid would be singled out as a figure in the trumped-up controversy,” Alan Brinkley, Columbia’s provost and a friend of Mr. Khalidi’s since 1985, said in a telephone interview Thursday. “In a field that is often politicized, he is respected by people on the right as well as the left.”

Ariel Beery, a former Columbia student leader who was involved in a pro-Israel group’s film about the 2004 controversy, said Mr. Khalidi was different from those accused of intimidation.

“In terms of his role as a professor, he was excellent,” Mr. Beery said Thursday in a telephone interview from Israel, where he lives. “He was provoking, he always allowed for different opinions, he had an open zone where people could voice their disagreement.”

Mr. Beery did criticize Mr. Khalidi’s leadership of the Middle East Institute at Columbia, saying it was “highly politicized” and “not promoting a diverse view of the Middle East.”

Mr. Khalidi, who is on sabbatical, declined to comment.

Mr. Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of Arab studies at Columbia, was born in Manhattan in 1948. His father, a Palestinian Muslim born in Jerusalem, worked for theUnited Nations, and his mother, a Lebanese-American Christian, was an interior decorator. He graduated from the United Nations International School and earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale in 1970 and a doctorate from Oxford University in 1974.

He taught at universities in Lebanon until the mid-’80s, and some critics accuse him of having been a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization. Mr. Khalidi has denied working for the group, and says he was consulted as an expert by reporters seeking to understand it.

He was an adviser to the Palestinian delegation during Middle East peace talks from 1991 to 1993. From 1987 until 2003, he was a professor at the University of Chicago, where he became friends with Mr. Obama.

At Mr. Khalidi’s farewell party in 2003, according to the Los Angeles Times article, Mr. Obama fondly recalled their many conversations, saying they provided “consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases.” But Mr. Khalidi told Harper’s Magazine that a report in National Review Online that he had baby-sat for Mr. Obama’s children was nonsense.

Daniel Pipes, who directs the conservative Middle East Forum, said: “If one’s talking about American political life, he’s at the extremes, at the margins. If one’s talking about the field of Middle East studies, he’s in the middle of it. But the field itself is dominated by professors who do not permit other points of view.”

In 2005, after a New York Sun article highlighted some of Mr. Khalidi’s statements, the New York City schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, barred Mr. Khalidi from a teacher-training course. In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Khalidi said then that he “may have used the word ‘racist’ about Israeli policies,” and acknowledged saying in a speech that if the movement of Palestinians continued to be restricted, “it would develop into worse than the apartheid system.”

Addressing an accusation that he had endorsed the killing of Israeli soldiers as legitimate “resistance” to occupation, he said: “Under international law, resistance to occupation is legitimate. I didn’t endorse killing Israeli soldiers. These people will take anything out of context. Anyone who knows me knows the last thing I am is extreme. I’ve called suicide bombings a war crime. I’m a ferocious critic of Arafat.”

Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, a liberal synagogue on the Upper West Side, said he has known Mr. Khalidi for years and called the allegations “completely absurd and uncalled for and malicious.”

Referring to comments he had seen on blogs and television, he said, “In no way has he ever indicated that he favors the destruction or disappearance of Israel,” and added, “He has always been consistently in favor of dialogue and common ground.”

At Columbia, Mr. Khalidi is known as a gregarious scholar who takes a special interest in students, often meeting them for lunch near campus and hosting dinners featuring Palestinian food cooked by his wife, Mona, an assistant dean at the university. After he came under attack this week, students created a Facebook group called “I stand by Rashid Khalidi,” with 205 members by Thursday night.

“He makes history entertaining,” said Maher Awartani, 24, an Arab student leader who has taken his class. “It’s like a grandfather telling his grandson a story of what happened.”

Mr. Awartani criticized not just the McCain campaign but also the Obama campaign’s tepid response, saying, “It should have been like, yes, I know him, and I’d like to know more Middle East experts, because that’s an important thing when you’re making policies.”

Karen Zraick contributed reporting.

 

Better pay and jobs keeps Indian workers at home

By Vivian Salama

The National | September 18. 2008 9:20PM UAE

MUMBAI // Higher salaries and increasing market maturity in India are making it increasingly difficult for companies in the GCC to lure skilled labour.
Developments and expansion in the retail, IT and construction sectors are creating more jobs, making it a viable option for many workers to either remain in India or return home from overseas.

“People are attracted back here on the basis of attractive salaries and packages,” said Nicola Evoli, an international sales strategist for Grottini Retail Environments. “There is a demand for a certain calibre of employees in India and, until recently, those positions were given to American, British and Australian consultants. However, more and more you see Indians filling these positions.”

According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India will require at least 30 million additional skilled workers in sectors such as health care, banking and financial services, retail, the motor vehicle industry and construction by 2015. These sectors employ about 40 million skilled workers. Construction is expected to create between 13 million and 15 million jobs in the next seven years, up 39 per cent from the 33 million it employed last year, according to the CII.

Consequently, the country was expected to have one of the highest pay increases in the world at 14.1 per cent, nearly 10 per cent above the local inflation rate, a Mercer report released earlier this year revealed. Higher salaries and greater employment prospects are making India an appealing alternative to those who once opted to leave the country because of limited prospects.

About six million Indian nationals live in the GCC and account for as much as 50 per cent of the expatriate workforce in some Gulf countries.

“There are several factors in the market that could reduce flows of Indian labour to the UAE,” said Venu Rajamony, the consul general of India in Dubai. “The demand for workers is high and salaries have gone up in India, whereas in the GCC, the cost of living is really going up.”

According to a recent survey released by Bayt.com, nearly three quarters of residents in the UAE say their salaries have not kept pace with the soaring cost of living. The report, released last month, found consumer confidence had taken a hit under inflation and soaring living costs.

However, there is evidence that the region’s governments are working to combat this growing concern.

A Hay Group Compensation and Benefits report, also released last week, revealed that aggressive salary increases, particularly for professional and supervisory jobs in the UAE, were occurring.

Based on information from more than 264 employers throughout the UAE, the average basic salary increase was eight per cent. Some analysts say this is not enough to keep up with the region’s skyrocketing cost of living.

“Inflation will have an impact on attracting new people to the GCC,” said Mary Nicola, an economist with Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai. “Now that the cost of living is more expensive, businesses when trying to set up shop and attract new talent have to fork over more money.”

Certainly, India is not sheltered from the soaring inflation rates taking hold of economies around the world. The country’s inflation rate in recent weeks was quoted at 12.63 per cent, however, the prime minister of India Manmohan Singh said this week he expected that rate to ease slightly to 12.1 per cent later this year.

The Gulf does offer one significant advantage that some analysts believe could hinder India’s efforts to woo labour back to its domestic industries. The government of India imposes an income tax on individuals, companies, firms, co-operative societies and trusts, whereas the Gulf remains tax free. 

“Here in India, there are very high salaries on top-ranking jobs, miserable salaries in the low-ranking jobs, and in between you have not too many attractive positions to attract employment back from overseas markets, especially from the Gulf where the salaries are tax free,” Dr Evoli said. “Just as Dubai is getting very expensive, Mumbai is also getting very expensive, so it is a bit complicated to say that India will remain a better option for employment.”

Some analysts believe that despite the expansion of India’s economy and the development of several industries, the country, with a population of more than 1.1 billion people, cannot keep up with the demand for employment.

“This country needs 20 million jobs every year, but we produce only 10 to 11 million jobs,” said Ireena Vittal, a partner with the consultancy firm McKinsey in Mumbai. “Even if these industries grow to twice their size, I think some people will still opt for employment in the Gulf.”

Retail Developers Head to India

Vivian Salama

The National | September 16. 2008 8:35PM UAE

MUMBAI //Reforms to India’s once obstructive foreign direct investment policies are seen as the driving force needed to ignite the country’s buoyant retail industry by luring property developers from around the world.

Previous barriers, including excessive red tape, have stalled progress to seize the massive opportunities that India’s retail property market has to offer. 

However, policy reforms at the start of this year have opened the doors for more companies to take advantage of India’s booming retail sector.

“The market in the UAE will get saturated very soon, so retail developers have to look at other markets,” said Shavak Srivastava, the managing director of Sq.Ft. Consulting UAE, based in Dubai. “India has had a lot of restrictions as far as foreign investments, but this is now changing. We will see a lot of developers going into the country.”

Worth approximately US$350 billion (Dh1.28 trillion) a year in sales, India’s retail sector is expected to woo more than $35bn in investments in the next five years, according to the consultancy Technopak.

Currently, foreign developers can undertake construction activities within a space of 50,000 square feet. 

However, the Indian government is under pressure to raise that ceiling to facilitate higher foreign direct investment in the property sector. While there have been improvements to government policies, industry leaders say more needs to be done.

“There is still a lot of work needed to clean up the mess in the system,” said Ashwin Puri, the chief executive of Property Zone, a retail property consultancy. “Traditionally, Indian development companies were family-run, so they tended to keep things close to themselves, but now they are beginning to grasp the benefits of foreign investments, so I think we will see a lot of changes to come.”

Only six to seven per cent of India’s retail industry is “organised”, with small businesses traditionally dominating the sector. However, the growing spending power by the country’s emerging middle class has created a massive demand for broader, more diverse retail options.

“Around 300 million people are considered part of the middle and upper middle class in India,” said Mr Srivastava. “All of these people are potential consumers, so there is a huge potential and much more than anything that is offered in the Gulf.”

Malls, not private shops, are the order of the day. About 300 mall projects are currently under way across India, many of which cover more than one million sq ft. More than 100 million sq ft of gross leasable area (GLA) is due for completion by the end of the year, according to India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham).

Numerous UAE-based developers are already tapping into the Indian market in search of new and prosperous opportunities. Emaar MGF, the property developer’s Indian subsidiary, has the most established presence in the country with a number of projects in the works including Central Plaza, a shopping centre in Mohali Hills in Punjab. 

A spokesperson for Emaar MGF said the company planned to contribute approximately 18 million sq ft of retail space and 55 million sq ft of residential development across India by 2010.

Last year, Dubai-based Al Fajer Properties announced a joint venture to create a property fund in India to facilitate investments by small investors in Dubai. Majid al Futtaim Group is also studying opportunities, although no deals have been finalised.

Lulu Group, a subsidiary of Emke Group, also recently started construction on a mixed-used development in the Indian city of Kochi, set to be one of the country’s largest shopping centres. The Dh1.2bn multiplex will include a shopping mall, a five-star hotel and a tower geared exclusively for travel and tourism businesses when it opens in 2010.

Despite the ease of foreign investment restrictions, a number of obstacles still stand in the way of real investment in India’s retail sector. 

The land acquisition process is long and tedious, often deterring companies from carrying through with the process. Skyrocketing property prices have also been a concern, however prices have eased in recent weeks. One of the biggest concerns of industry leaders is the lack of domestic training and experience for properly exploiting the market.

“The country really needs to clean up the mess of the system,” said Mr Puri. 

“India has the resources but doesn’t have experience, and I think that is where a lot of the more developed markets, like those in the GCC, come into play.”

Export Ban Frustrates Farmers

Vivian Salama

The National | September 15. 2008 8:13PM UAE

MUMBAI // Rice farmers are growing increasingly frustrated as their planting season nears and India’s export ban on the grain continues. With planting just two weeks away, farmers fear they will suffer financially as countries, including the UAE, turn to other markets to satisfy demand. 

India’s non-basmati rice – the most affordable and popular variety of this staple grain – has not left its borders since April. The government in New Delhi said the ban was to safeguard domestic supplies for the world’s second-largest population.

However, the embargo has many critics abroad – heavily rice-reliant countries in the Gulf – and in India. This month, the country’s food ministry estimated positive yields of 6.24 million tonnes for the coming rice season, well above the target of 5.2 million tonnes. The government has already opted to lift the ban on corn exports, saying it expected to harvest a bigger crop this year.
“We have to protect the interest of farmers,” India’s agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, told Reuters.

The Indian government had originally imposed the ban on non- basmati rice last October, but lifted it following protests from exporters. It later re-implemented the ban and added a duty of US$200 (Dh735) per tonne for the export of basmati rice. 

Now, talks to reverse the ban on certain types of rice have stalled, despite positive forecasted yields. Farmers are angered by the ban, saying it is detrimental to India’s agricultural sector.

“Farmers don’t want bans on rice or wheat,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a paddy farmer and president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union of Punjab. “When exports are banned, farmers lose money.”

The decision by countries such as India, Egypt and Brazil to limit exports on rice as a way to curb skyrocketing prices and feared domestic shortages has been criticised by Gulf-based retailers whose businesses rely heavily on sales of the grain.

The price of the benchmark 100 per cent B grade white rice was up last week to $735 per tonne, although it has slipped with falling oil prices from its record high of $1,080 per tonne in April.

The UAE imports more than 75,000 tonnes of rice annually from countries including India, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. More than 3.5 million Indians live in GCC countries, with 1.4 million in the UAE alone, making this a hot-button issue in the region.

However, those representing India’s agricultural sector insist that the stakes are even higher domestically. Agriculture is a major component of the economy, from which more than 66 per cent of Indians earn their living. 

While India currently holds a 53 per cent share in the global basmati rice market, many industry insiders are concerned that countries such as those in the GCC, which once relied heavily on India for their rice supplies, will turn to other sources such as Pakistan and Thailand to satisfy demand.

“A lot of that rice is coming into the Middle East right now, but what is happening is that non-basmati has been replaced from countries like Thailand, where prices are starting to get lower week by week,” explained Sunil Bhanji, the Middle East general manager for Tilda, which has its farms in the Indian state of Haryana.

Burhan Turkmani, the general manager of Al Rabiah Trading, based in Dubai, said: “We used to get our non-basmati rice from India but ever since the ban, we have been importing non-basmati from any other countries, like Thailand. For other types of rice, we try not to rely on India now because their prices have soared since the ban.”

Today, the food chain that takes the most basic items from the ground, and via a series of wholesalers and middlemen eventually into a retail shop and into consumers’ hands, has come under strain, with soaring oil and food prices gripping the world. Retailers in the UAE, who have been forced to cap their prices in recent months, say importers should pay the price. But importers say they are at the mercy of exporters.

“In terms of who calls the shots or holds more clout with regard to the distribution chain, it would be the middleman, often private exporters or marketing boards who take from the farmer and then set export prices,” explained Abah Ofon, a soft commodities analyst for Standard Chartered Bank.

Governments in the GCC have recently made it their priority to build up strategic food reserves to protect against export bans and high prices, while eliminating the added costs brought on by middlemen. The Government of Abu Dhabi has already finalised a scheme to purchase farmland in Northern Sudan, and is currently in talks with the governments of Pakistan, Egypt and Kazakhstan. 

Indian farmers insist that rather than curbing exports, their country’s agricultural sector would benefit far more from similar investments by the GCC countries. 

“This would bring many good things to India,” Mr Setia said. “India now encourages foreign investment and farmland investments would be a welcome step.”

UAE cities at odds over lifestyle, ties to Iran

from the IHT today.  Interesting – i was just discussing this with a friend today!  Who’s to say that small and overly pretentious countries with strong ties to the United States are not at risk of getting onto the bad side of defiant neighbors given the evolving world order?

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi and Dubai have been rivals for decades, one building world-class museums as fast as the other has been throwing up skyscrapers.

But the healthy competition that’s helped transform them into two of the Middle East’s most vibrant and bustling cities has soured as they grow increasingly divided over their relations with two other rivals — Iran and the United States.

At first, the differences were cultural. Dubai’s sprawling beaches, American-style theme parks and over-the-top shopping malls clash with the more prim sophistication of Abu Dhabi, which is building a symphony orchestra and branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums.

But now Dubai’s soaring commercial growth, liberal Western outlook — and massive trade with Iran — are becoming a liability for U.S.-friendly Abu Dhabi.

With half the population and glitz of Dubai, Abu Dhabi is the richest emirate and capital of the seven that make up the United Arab Emirates. As the world’s fourth largest exporter of oil, Abu Dhabi is also the main provider for the rest of the semi-independent states, including Dubai.

That gives Abu Dhabi the political capital to assert its authority and rein in Dubai’s at times murky commercial dealings with Iran.

The UAE and other Sunni-ruled Arab states are suspicious of Shiite Iran, just a boat ride across the Gulf from Dubai. They share the West’s concern over Iran’s nuclear program and fear Tehran’s growing ability to empower Shiites across the region, especially in Iraq.

Iran and the UAE have diplomatic ties and both benefit from their booming commerce. Thousands of Iranian business are based in Dubai, which also hosts the Arab world’s largest Iranian expat community.

With U.S. sanctions against Iran already in place and Washington threatening new penalties for Tehran’s failure to curb uranium enrichment, Dubai is finding it more difficult to defend its lucrative commercial dealingswith Iran’s ruling elite.

The UAE has been a loyal ally in America’s war on terror. The U.S. has been allowed to operate in an airbase in the outskirts of Abu Dhabi and its warships regularly dock in Dubai’s ports.

But Iranian investment in Dubai — about US$14 billion each year — buoys a robust development plan largely financed with foreign cash. The trade is also huge boost to Tehran’s confidence that it can survive Western-imposed sanctions.

“Iran is not suffering from sanctions if it can still bring things through Dubai,” said Jean-François Seznec, a Gulf specialist at Georgetown University.

Last year, the Bush administration asked Abu Dhabi to crack down on companies suspected of smuggling equipment to Iran to build explosive devices killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House also expressed concerns about shipments to Iranian front companies operating in Dubai.

Within days, the UAE president announced a law that allows authorities to “ban or restrict imports, exports or passthrough shipments for reasons of health, safety, environmental concerns, national security or foreign affairs.”

Authorities announced the closure of some companies, but it isn’t clear how thoroughly the law has been enforced. Analysts say Dubai has largely ignored America’s pressure to curb trade with Iran.

By continuing with business as usual, “Dubai has been jeopardizing Abu Dhabi’s relationship with Washington,” said Christopher Davidson, a UAE specialist and a lecturer at the U.K.’s Durham University.

Plus, Dubai’s permissive ways to accommodate Western residents and tourists — by circumventing alcohol restrictions and other rules in the conservative Muslim country — have made the city-state a “liability for the federation, with its behavior,” Davidson said.

So Abu Dhabi has stepped up its pressure, starting with delicate issues Dubai has trouble defending — nudity and excessive booze. Last month, Dubai obliged when Abu Dhabi questioned its neighbor’s Islamic credentials.

Police detained almost 80 people over in a crackdown on public drinking, topless sunbathing and nudity on public beaches. Undercover policemen also rounded up 17 foreign men authorities accused of being gay.

Dubai’s acting police chief vowed to detain all those suspected of acts “deemed offensive, immoral or disrespectful.”

But limiting Iranian business in Dubai is a tougher task, with few rewards for Abu Dhabi, analysts say.

“Neither of them wants to be too close to the U.S. nor too distant from Iran,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, political science professor at Emirates University.

The balancing act associated with trying to accommodate the U.S. and Iran has enabled Dubai and Abu Dhabi to “play good cop, bad cop,” Seznec said.

But he said it was also possible Abu Dhabi doesn’t truly want Dubai to stop being “the main transport hub for Iran.”

The UAE capital looks after the interests of other Gulf states, who fear a U.S. recession and high inflation because their currencies are pegged to the dollar, Seznec said.

“And a bankrupt Iran is simply not in the Gulf’s interest,” he said.

Counting the rising cost

Vivian Salama

The National: July 29. 2008

The world’s insatiable appetite for oil has hit UAE shoppers in their stomachs as well as their wallets with spiralling food costs. And the problem appears to be growing.

Consumers are paying more for everything from a bag of rice to a carton of eggs, simply because it takes oil to run farm machines, power the processing and packaging factories and fuel all modes of transport. 

“Food prices are directly correlated to oil prices,” explains Marios Maratheftis, the head of research for Standard Chartered Bank. “We can’t sell US$140 barrels of oil then expect food prices to go lower.”

In recent months higher oil prices have manifested themselves locally in the form of higher commodities prices, the pain of which is passed on to consumers. 

As the most demanded staple food, rice has soared to unprecedented levels, with global prices up from $650 (Dh2,386) per tonne to a 25-year high of $1,000 in just the first three months of this year. A decision by India’s government to halt exports of non-basmati rice – in an effort to curb prices and avoid domestic shortages – has exacerbated the situation here, driving prices even higher. India’s move has been widely criticised by UAE retailers whose businesses thrive on sales of the grain.

“We have a lot of Indian people here who want to eat their rice, even if the price of basmati rice keeps getting more expensive,” says Burham Turkmani, the general manager of Al Rabiah Trading in Dubai. 

Khaled Zanul Abid, the manager of Talal Supermarket in Jebel Ali, agrees. “I am Indian, so I know how my customers feel. They like to eat certain kinds of rice from India. But they have to eat, even if the price gets very high,” he says. “Everything is becoming so expensive for the people now.”

Food inflation is foremost among concerns of the federal government, which reported a 11.1 per cent jump in inflation last year. Although inflation has largely been driven upwards by rents, food, beverages and tobacco accounted for 11 per cent of the rise and are believed to contribute as much as 30 per cent to overall GCC inflationary pressures. According to the Emirates Consumer Protection Society, domestic food inflation could rise as high as 40 per cent this year.

Experts say cheap ingredients are being passed off as 

“Inflation will not go away,” warns Andy Barnett, a professor of economics at the American University of Sharjah (AUS). 

“Problems will continue indefinitely until people give up and let the underlying adjustment that’s taking place take hold.”

Various measures – some more controversial than others – have been taken to ensure that the situation does not spiral out of control. The initial response was price caps. Earlier this year the Government signed agreements with various domestic retailers including Baniyas Co-operative Society, Carrefour, Union Co-operative Society and LuLu hypermarkets for implementing price caps on items such as chicken, rice, flour and eggs in an effort to combat rising prices set by suppliers. In April, the Government announced it was stockpiling more than a dozen “essential” food items to reduce the likelihood of food shortages, often a backlash after price caps. One month later, officials with the Economy Ministry announced that 15 items – including dry and condensed milk, frozen and canned vegetables, baby food, chicken, edible oil, rice, flour, fish, meat and tea – were to be placed on a free import list in a bid to contain inflation.

“Price caps should be on the suppliers, not the retailers,” says David Berrick, the retail general manager of Abela Supermarkets, which has a domestic headquarters in Abu Dhabi. “They’re implementing these policies on just 16 or 20 commodities. What about the other 20,000 products in our supermarket? We can lower our prices and use the marketing tool of ‘everyday low prices’, but if supplier costs go up, we have no choice but to raise prices.”

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Scents and Sensibility

Vivian Salama

The National | July 08. 2008 9:40PM UAE

Throughout history Arabs have used fragrance as a form of art, a symbol of reverence and a token of beauty. In the 13th century the Sufi Arab mystic, Ibn Arabi, wrote in his masterpiece, Pearls of Wisdom, “of all the worldly goods, three things are dearest to my heart: perfume, women and prayer”. 

Centuries earlier, the art of perfume-making was documented on the walls of the tomb of Petosiris by ancient Egyptians, who used different scents for everything from hygiene and prayer to animal sacrifice and mummification. When Tutankhamen’s tomb was opened some 3,300 years after his death, the scent of perfume could still be detected there.

Today perfume still plays an integral, albeit more subtle, role in Arab and non-Arab societies alike. And, with oils and fragrances ranging in price from a few dirhams to thousands of dollars, it is big business. Revenue from perfume sales in the Middle East is an estimated US$3 billion (Dh11.01bn) a year, with the UAE accounting for one quarter of sales. 

“Unlike in other parts of the world the perfume industry here stems from the rich culture and heritage of the people of this region,” explained Salim Kalsekar, the managing director of Rasasi Perfumes in Jebel Ali.

Perfumes are the highest-grossing products at Dubai Duty Free, last year earning $122 million, or 14 per cent of total sales. Leading perfume makers estimate that their profit from sales in the city of Dubai is between three and five times greater than any other market in the region. Industry professionals estimate that each person in the GCC spends an average of $334 on perfumes and cosmetics per year.

“Call it an obsession or a love connection with fragrances,” said Abdulla Ajmal, the deputy general manager of Ajmal Perfumes. “In this part of the world it’s about individuality. Men wear the dishdash and women wear abayas. Their faces, whether via make-up or grooming, and their scent, are the clearest ways to exert their individuality.”

The global perfume industry is in a period of expansion and diffusion, with new fragrances, a new emphasis on bottle design, and the use of celebrity endorsement to boost sales.

A 2008 Euromonitor International report showed that global fragrance sales were worth $30.5bn in 2006. The French perfume industry commands a 40 per cent share of a global market in which the world’s emerging economies are becoming increasingly important. 

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