Business Community

Dubai’s annual real estate investment conference has rebranded in its quest to provide innovative global opportunities and investment security, the chairman of property advisory firm Jones LaSalle Blair Hagkull has said. The event, scheduled to take place from October 4 – 7, 2010 at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre, would now be referred to as Cityscape Global, as organisers seek to shed the image of a beleaguered real estate market and wider economic problems that ...

The volume of insured business of the shariah-compliant export credit insurance programme, which is managed by the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), is expected to double to $2 billion (Dh7.3bn) this year as more businesses recognise the importance of hedging credit risks. While the volume of their business may have shrunk by nearly 30 per cent from $1.4bn in 2008 to $1bn in 2009 – due to the inability of policyholders to ...

The surge in prices of oil and petroleum products which have soared to 44.89 per cent in 2010 has put a cap on consumption in Pakistan, Aasim A. Siddiqui, an investment expert, has said. In an exclusive interview with Alrroya.com, Siddiqui, who is also Pakistan’s government advisor on various assignments for infrastructural development and investment opportunities, said the country’s dependence on imported oil directly affects local prices, which has shown an average increase of 1.4 per cent ...

The glut of commercial spaces rapidly growing in Dubai due to market oversupply and under demand could portend well for the emirate in the long term, Landmark Properties’ Director Research & Advisory Services Jesse Downs has said. Currently, according to real estate brokerage firm Landmark Properties, the commercial market is witnessing increased supply from new developments like Business Bay, where 6 million square feet of office space is due for completion this year. While the superfluity may be ...

Affordable housing will be the key focus at this year’s edition of Cityscape Jeddah set for June 7-9, Saudi Arabia’s Cityscape Exhibition Director Deep Marwaha has said. According to the latest government statistics, around 80 per cent of the Saudi population which continues to grow at an annual rate of 2.9 per cent, is under the age of 39, where many of them are married couples in search of affordable housing to start their own families. This, ...

Governments worldwide are increasingly supporting and recognizing the quality of International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes as it is the fastest growing international curriculum across the globe especially in S.E. Asia, Europe and the Americas. Top schools in all parts of the world are turning to the IB curriculum to prepare their students for the demands of the 21st Century. Here in the UAE, Taaleem, (Taaleem means education in Arabic) is seeking to blaze the trail with the launch of ...

The Islamic asset management industry is expected to be worth about $125 billion (Dh458bn) in the next 10 years – a growth of more than 46 per cent from its current value of $67bn – as demand for shariah-compliant financial products continue to move upwards. Datuk Noripah Kamso, Chief Executive of the Malaysian-based global shariah investment manager CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management, estimates a double-digit annual average growth rate for the industry in the next decade. “In terms of growth ...

After a successful motoring season that saw the UAE enter into history books by hosting the inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix, celebrated Emirati rally ace says the country is firmly in the fast lane. In an exclusive interview with Alrroya.com, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who is also the President of the Automobile and Touring Club (ATCUAE) of the UAE and Vice President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile commonly referred to as the FIA, said the busy year-round ...

The massive global recall coupled with economic slowdown has not dented Toyota’s profit earnings in the UAE and GCC, Al Futtaim's Managing Director Simon Frith, has said. However, Frith stressed that no model in the UAE was being “recalled”, and that the campaign launched by Al Futtaim early last month was merely aimed at “servicing the cars.” In an interview with Alrroya.com, Frith also revealed that Toyota’s overall sales in January rose 45 per cent and 28 ...

The recent financial crisis that battered countries worldwide forced many industries to change the way they operate. Human Resources sector is one of such areas that have seen significant transformation. In the UAE, financial services and technology industries were doing great before the crisis, but things are different now. Panos Manolopoulos, Stanton Chase’s Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, says that financial services industry was hit badly not only in the UAE but throughout the ...