Arabian Countries with recent economic Activity:

Bahrain | Kuwait | Oman | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | UAE | Other Arab Countries

UAE
 
UAE continues to be the leading nation in the Arabic world with most of the corporate news happening here. Joint ventures, new projects, new investments, ambitious future plans were the order of the day in the month of February.
 
Interestingly, there was a marked rise in the UAE companies’ projects involvement outside the Arabic world. Abu Dhabi National Energy acquired CMS generation and ABB's power generation interests in Morocco and India; Enshaa Holdings, a portfolio company of Abraaj Capital announced the launch of Karachi Financial Towers, state of the art twin towers that will be the tallest structure in Pakistan along with the National Logistics Corporation (NLC) of Pakistan, for which ArabTec Construction Co. won the construction contract.; Dubai Ports World received approval to build a container port in China; Aabar Petroleum Investments Company and its partners, Horizon Oil Ltd and Tana Resources (Thailand) Ltd, have been conditionally awarded the petroleum contract for Block G11/48 in the Gulf of br>  
The financial services and real estate industries prospered more than any other industry. But, the aerospace industry shared the limelight too with many new flights being launched and plans for more planes being formulated. Also, Abu Dhabi Airports Company plans to outs outsource the airport services at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
 
The much talked about Emaar Properties’ "Burj Dubai”, on course to become the tallest tower in the world, will not be delayed as per the company. Also, the company will add to its Dh220b international portfolio a Dh85b project in downtown Algiers and is negotiating with Jordan-based Arab Bank to buy a 10% stake.
 
Financially, National Central Cooling Company posted a record-breaking 104% growth in net profits to Dh104.4m, Deyaar, a fully-owned subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank reported a 192% growth in net profits to Dh412m while General Electric Company reported a 32% increase in its Middle East and Africa revenue to Dh20b (USD5.5b) in 2006.
 
Aluminum seemed to be the metal of the day with Ras Al Khaimah Investments & Development signing an agreement with the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to set up an alumina refinery and an aluminum smelter at a cost of USD2b and Dubai Aluminum Company Limited and Mubadala Development Company signing an USD8b joint venture for the development of Emirates Aluminum (EMAL).
 
DU Telecom hogged the limelight for going live ending a 34-year monopoly over the sector by incumbent telecom operator Etisalat.
 
UAE can take pride in some awards too. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has been named the Most Improved Islamic Bank in the Middle East by Euromoney and the Bank along with L&T Interstate Road Corridor Limited won the prestigious Euromoney Project Finance 2006 Transport Deal of the Year Award.
 
To end the note, UAE was on the right path of progress in this month with all the industries receiving a satisfactory deal.