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PERSONAL ASSISTANT<br />
central Asia Business Forum<br />
24 March, Hanover Chamber<br />
of Commerce<br />
The on-going commodity boom in the<br />
republics of Central Asia is pouring<br />
billions into the state coffers of these<br />
developing countries. The Hanover<br />
Chamber of Commerce aims to steer<br />
intrepid German entrepreneurs safely<br />
through the corruption minefield.<br />
A delegation is also planning a trip to<br />
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in June<br />
2011.<br />
www.hannover.ihk.de<br />
8th lower Saxony Foreign Trade<br />
Forum with Turkey as the special<br />
guest<br />
5 April, Hanover Fair, Nord/LB Forum<br />
After huge criticism in the past few<br />
months by Turkish business associations<br />
outraged at the German visa policy,<br />
the leader of Lower Saxony, David<br />
McAllister, is more than likely to strike a<br />
conciliatory note in Hanover. The Türk-<br />
Alman Business Center project will also<br />
be launched at the fair. The centre is designed<br />
to encourage Turkish companies<br />
to choose the northern German state<br />
as the exclusive location of their German<br />
branch offices.<br />
www.nglobal.de<br />
34 BusinessReport 1/2011<br />
DAG delegation to the Gulf<br />
7 to 13 April<br />
»The times are long gone when Gulf<br />
business heavyweights saw Europe<br />
through English eyes only«, writes Harald<br />
M. Bock, General Secretary of the<br />
German-Arab Association (DAG) in his<br />
invitation to German businesses to join<br />
the delegation. The trip will include Qatar<br />
and the UAE. One of the key issues<br />
for the group will be education exports.<br />
For, contrary to popular misconceptions<br />
about the children of oil sheikhs,<br />
young Emiratis now have to stand on<br />
their own two feet in the labour market.<br />
www.d-a-g.org<br />
International building show,<br />
Turkeybuild in Istanbul 2011<br />
27 April to 1 May in Istanbul<br />
With more than 800 exhibitors and over<br />
100,000 visitors, Turkeybuild is the leading<br />
construction trade fair in the region.<br />
One Austrian company is attempting to<br />
tap into the market, not by landing major<br />
14th German-Arab Business Forum<br />
11 to 13 May, Ritz Carlton in Berlin<br />
As always, the annual get-together of<br />
the German-Arab Chamber of Industry<br />
and Commerce Ghorfa will be a magnet<br />
for hundreds of high-ranking representatives<br />
of the German-Arab business<br />
world. This year Lebanon has been<br />
selected as the Partner Country<br />
– which is not a bad decision, given<br />
the rapid growth of the Beirut property<br />
industry. But, a word to the wise – analysts<br />
are already warning of a speculation<br />
bubble. Will the boom last until the<br />
15th forum?<br />
www.ghorfa.de<br />
Numov – First Near and<br />
Middle East Ports conference<br />
15 June in Hamburg<br />
In actual fact, the Near and Middle<br />
East Association (Numov) turned its<br />
back on the City of Hamburg long ago<br />
– and, so say informed sources, not<br />
much importance is attached to Hanseatic<br />
customs these days, either. But<br />
Numov plans to use the occasion of<br />
the international »Ports Conference«,<br />
to report on the latest port projects in<br />
the Near East. Weatherproof clothing<br />
recommended.<br />
www.numov.org<br />
SToP PRESS<br />
The taste of success<br />
Exciting times for the largest pan-Arab television station<br />
– while Western media regret having progressively<br />
pruned their network of foreign correspondents<br />
over the past few years, the satellite broadcaster Al<br />
Jazeera from Qatar has 24/7 access to local experts.<br />
Many journalists had no choice during the protests in<br />
North Africa but to turn on the live stream of the Al<br />
Jazeera English-language programme. <strong>Download</strong>s<br />
via the online stream have increased since the start of<br />
the demonstrations by more than 2,500 percent. Particularly<br />
in the USA, there appears to be a huge demand<br />
for such news– almost 60 percent of its viewers<br />
came from the land of Uncle Sam.<br />
picture: Al nassma<br />
in our upcoming issue<br />
Camelicious<br />
Security first<br />
government contracts but through its<br />
German and Austrian chocola-<br />
DIY stores. The bauMax building supply<br />
te expertise and fine, slightly<br />
Billion-dollar deals with danger chain will be opening six branches there<br />
salty camel milk are the secret<br />
by 2012 – although, according to CEO<br />
Martin Essel, the Turkish DIY tradition<br />
to the success of Al nassma. The<br />
leaves a lot to be desired.<br />
Dubai company has recently started selling its chocola-<br />
AGENDA<br />
www.yapifuari.com.tr<br />
te camel milk in Japan and the USA too. The company<br />
has been selling its products in selected stores all over<br />
the Emirates region for two years now. So far, European<br />
gourmets can only get these pralines, chocolate camels<br />
and blocks of chocolate in »Date« or spicy »Arab« flavour<br />
by placing a special order. Such treats naturally<br />
come at a price: a block of milk chocolate costs the equivalent<br />
of EUR 5 and a camel caravan in an elegant wooden<br />
slipcase around EUR 32.<br />
How to park a billion?<br />
Analysts are warning of an oil price shock, and<br />
governments on the Gulf are watching the protests in<br />
their neighbourhood with growing unease. Business<br />
people tend to prefer peace as a rule too, but the dictator<br />
domino effect is not worrying everyone – especially<br />
not the property sector in the UAE. While Europe<br />
is busy freezing the accounts of the Ben Alis and<br />
Mubaraks, the Emirates remains an attractive place<br />
to park capital. »The exiled elite will simply take their<br />
money to Dubai and buy property with it there,« say<br />
insiders. Apparently it will do the sector good after<br />
the hammering it took from the financial crisis.<br />
While the authorities are supposed to check the origins<br />
of large sums of money, in practice, »almost<br />
anything goes«.<br />
picture: Nicolas Salcido/US Army
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