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Uber’s chief operating officer Barney Harford said the company will increase its investment in key growth markets like the Middle East, which might include a bid for Dubai-based Careem, its rival in the region.

The US-based ride-hailing firm recently sold its South-East Asia business to Singapore-based rival Grab and now has “resources available that are allowing us to double down in critical competitive markets in particular India and the Middle East North Africa”, Harford told CNBC television.

Responding to CNBC question about the possibility of acquiring Careem – its rival in the Middle East – Harford said that the company has ruled out “transactions for minority stakes.”

“We’ve been very clear about is that going forward we have no interest in doing transactions for minority stakes,” he told the broadcaster.

“It would be crazy for us as a hypergrowth company to not engage in conversations about potential partnerships

“But we’ve been very clear, the markets that we remain in today are core markets for us.

“We’re doubling down on our investment and we’re very committed to these markets,” he added.

Harford said that the situation in the Middle East with Careem “is very different” to Southeast Asia, where Uber got a 27.5 percent stake in Grab – valued at roughly $6 billion – in return for its operations there.

“There were three players in that market. We had a smaller position,” he said. “We…operate in a position of very clear strength here in the Middle East and North Africa market.”

Uber made a loss of $4.5bn last year, despite a 61 percent increase in sales. He said the profitable markets it operates in will allow Uber to invest indefinitely in markets like the Middle East and North Africa.

“We actually are in a fortunate position that a good number of the markets that we operate the ride sharing business today are already profitable. We are able to use the profits from those markets to allow us to invest on an indefinite basis in key growth markets such as the Middle East and North Africa where we’ve announced plans to double down investments,” Harford said.

Source:http://www.arabianbusiness.com/395174-uber-to-invest-indefinitely-in-middle-east-market-says-harford

Saudi authority teams up with US-based AMC Entertainment for historic event in King Abdullah Financial District

The Development and Investment Entertainment Company (DIEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will launch Saudi Arabia’s first public cinema this week in collaboration with US-based AMC Entertainment.

The newly created cinema complex will be located in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh.

DIEC and AMC Entertainment will commemorate the historic moment with a gala event on Wednesday, hosting prominent local and international guests, a statement said.

The launch event will be a private screening, showing a Hollywood blockbuster, the name of which will be announced later this week.

It is the first in a series of invitation-only screenings that will be held during April, the statement added.

The cinema is set to open to the public in May, and tickets to public show times are planned to go on sale later this month through an online ticketing system.

A further three screens at KAFD’s theatre will open in the third quarter of 2018 and represent the beginning of a partnership that could see 40 or more AMC Cinemas complexes open in the Gulf kingdom over the next five years.

The partnership between DIEC and AMC Entertainment will advance a key objective of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 to grow the entertainment sector.

DIEC said it intends to invest up to SR10 billion in entertainment projects by 2030.

Source: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/retail/394292-saudi-arabia-to-launch-first-cinema-in-riyadh-on-wednesday

The Ministry of Industry (MoI) signed an agreement with the Municipality of Dekwaneh and the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), part of Balamand University, to develop the industrial zone in Dekwaneh-Mar Roukoz.

Dany Gedeon, Director General at the Ministry, said: “This project is part of the Ministry’s plan to renovate and reduce pollution in seven industrial zones including Choueifet, Kfarshima, Mkalles, Taanayel, and others.” Dekwaneh municipality has taken the initiative to start the project. The ministry has started also working on the Choueifet industrial zone.

Gedeon said that $300 million will be required to renovate these zones. The ministry is negotiating with international donors like the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), and others to finance these projects.

In Dekwaneh, stakeholders will be working to carry out the master plan and surveys required to renovate the industrial zone, develop its infrastructure, reduce pollution, and enhance its services.

Companies in this zone will be subject to the rules and regulations by the MoI. It will also negotiate with donors to provide funds to develop and revamp the area. The Municipality of Dekwaneh will fund the master plan for the project and provide the field surveys needed to start the project.

ALBA will prepare the initial studies and determine what infrastructure is required, as well as estimating the cost of the project and the time needed for completion.

Source:http://www.libc.net/2018/03/02/dekwaneh-is-the-first-of-seven-industrial-zones-under-renovation-in-lebanon/

While the Qatari economy displayed an exemplary resilience to the impact of the unjust siege imposed by the Saudi-led bloc, the country’s manufacturing sector led the way in 2017 by clocking exceptional growth and unprecedented expansion.

Thanks to the concerted efforts by all stakeholders, Qatar has been able to transform the challenges into opportunities in almost every sector of the economy. While ramping up production of its existing industrial units, the country began setting up new factories to quickly move towards self-sufficiency.

According to a statement by the Minister of Energy and Industry HE Mohammed bin Saleh al Sada, the number of factories entering the production stage in the first six months of the siege doubled compared to the same period a year ago.

The minister’s statement hinted at the futile attempt by the siege countries to jeopardize Qatar’s economy.
In fact, Qatar’s economy has only picked up momentum since the siege with new plants in manufacturing, food, cement, plastic and steel sectors developed at a fast pace. Qatar has managed to attract huge investments into its manufacturing sector. According to a statement issued by Ministry of Energy and Industry, Qatar has attracted investments of about QR260 billion in its manufacturing sector.

“A total of 730 industrial facilities have been registered with the ministry. Qatar is putting a lot of efforts to realise the directives of the wise leadership in achieving a balanced and sustainable industrial development,” Sada was quoted as saying by Qatar Tribune.
In a bid to encourage local industry and small and medium enterprises, Qatar has provided incentives for industries such as fee exemption on equipment, raw materials and machine parts.
The manufacturing sector has become one of the most attractive investment opportunities in Qatar following the new legislation which facilitates the process while providing investors with a slew of incentives.

The ‘Own Your Factory in 72 Hours’ initiative launched by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), after the blockade, has been a major draw. Under the initiative, 63 investors were shortlisted for setting up factories in Qatar worth a total of QR2.5 billion. The ministry has already provided licences to the shortlisted firms and begun allotting land for setting up the factories in New Industrial Area.
Ahmad Zeidan, head consultant of ‘Own Your Factory in 72 Hours’ initiative, told Qatar Tribune that the shortlisted investors had already started work on their respective projects.”Within one year, all the factories will begin production,” Zeidan said.
Launched as part of the MEC’s ‘Single Window System’, the ‘Own Your Factory in 72 Hours’ initiative, has drawn a huge response from both local and global investors.

The ministry set up a committee comprising representatives from 10 different ministries and government bodies to evaluate the applicant-investors.

The committee received a total of 8,128 applications from investors in Qatar and more than 1,000 requests from 50 countries for winning the 250 investment opportunities covering eight major industrial sectors.
Out of the 9,128 applicants, the committee shortlisted around 900 investors for evaluation and meetings.
After holding more than 450 personal meetings with investors, the committee finalised the names of investors for 63 projects. More names will be announced at a later stage.

According to information provided by the ministry, out of the 63 investors, 22 will be setting up industries in the food sector.
While the overall manufacturing sector witnessed growth, there was more focus on food, medicine and other essential products with a view to tiding over the diplomatic crisis.

The Qatari government also partnered with the private sector to promote local products both in domestic and international markets.
The ‘Made in Qatar’ exhibition organised by Qatar Chamber in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Industry and Qatar National Bank became a huge success.

The size of the area allocated for the exhibition increased from 15,000 square metres (sqm) last year to 30,000sqm this year. The number of exhibitors also doubled compared to the previous edition.

Qatar Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani told Qatar Tribune that the siege has given birth to an”industrial renaissance” in the country.

Source:http://www.qatar-tribune.com/news-details/id/104216

US President Donald Trump took the world by storm earlier this month when he pushed forward with plans to impose import tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium entering the United States.

The new tariffs are due to come into force 15 days after the order was issued on 8 March. Trump said the levies were necessary for national security reasons and to stop the foreign “assault “on the US.

However, he exempted Canada and Mexico from the tariffs and held out the possibility of excluding other US allies by signalling that the tariff policy was open to more exemptions.

The US is the world’s largest steel importer, buying about 35 million tons of foreign steel in 2017. The decision could harm the Egyptian steel industry, since while Egypt does not export aluminium to the US it does export steel.

Egypt exported 170,000 tons of steel to the US in 2017, Hassan Al-Marakby, deputy head of the Metallurgical Industries Chamber (MIC) at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said.

This represented a large increase over 2016, he said, adding that if Egypt was not exempted from the new tariffs, it would likely lose these exports.

Al-Marakby also said that the figure had been expected to increase as Egypt has good production capacities and several Egyptian steel companies have potential regarding possible steel exports to the US.

Only two Egyptian companies currently export steel to the US, Ezz Steel and Kandil Steel, he said.

Egypt should push for asking the US for an exemption on the new tariffs, he said, explaining that were this to be granted it could represent an opportunity for Egypt to boost its steel exports to the US by filling the gap created by other countries not likely to be exempted, including Turkey.

Al-Marakby said that Turkey had exported 2.5 million tons of steel to the US in 2017.

“This could give Egypt the chance to boost its steel exports to the US and increase its market share,” he said.

The chamber will be holding talks with the trade ministry, he said, in order to push towards exempting Egypt from the tariffs. Egypt’s steel exports to the US represented three per cent of total US steel imports in 2017.

The decision to exempt Egypt from the new tariffs would likely be a “political” one, Al-Marakby said. If Egypt did not receive the exemption, it could lose up to 170,000 tons of exports and the potential to boost its steel exports to the US in the coming years, he said.

Egypt’s steel exports to the US were worth some $102 million last year, according to figures from the General Organisation for Import and Export Control.

Trade Minister Tarek Kabil said recently that steel exports did not represent more than six per cent of Egypt’s total exports, and that the US share did not exceed three per cent of these.

Egypt’s trade with the US stood at $5.5 billion in 2017, compared to $4.7 billion in 2016, an increase of 13 per cent.

Al-Marakby said he was optimistic about the possibility of exempting Egypt from the new tariffs, even though Egypt was included on a list of 12 countries drawn up by the US Department of Commerce recommending that Trump impose at least 53 per cent tariffs on their steel imports.

Other countries on the list include Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

The recommendation on tariffs came as part of a list of remedies drawn up by the US Department of Commerce to address the problem of steel imports.

In a report entitled “The Effect of Imports of Steel on National Security”, it said that the US steel industry had closed six oxygen furnace facilities and idled another four since 2000 because of foreign competition, representing more than half such plants in the US.

It also said that employment in the industry had dropped by 35 per cent since 1998.

Other countries are seeking to be exempted from the US tariffs. The European Union and Japan urged the US last week to grant them exemptions from metal import tariffs.

The EU is also threatening counter-measures that could target US imports into Europe ranging from maize to motorcycles. Under World Trade Organisation rules, the counter-measures have to be in place within 90 days of the US tariffs coming into effect.

European steel and aluminium associations have warned that the US tariffs could mean their sectors shedding thousands of jobs.

Even within the US, experts said that higher US tariffs on imported steel could leave some US steel workers jobless.

Source:http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/292911/Business/Economy/Trump-steel-tariffs-Harming-Egypt%E2%80%99s-exports.aspx