France and Poland, a Competition on the Leadership of the International Monetary Fund

Once again, Paris looks for winning the position which it occupied most of the times. Figures from Western Europe, and most of these figures were French, but Poland wants to break the French role to back its candidate to be the first Chairman of the International Monetary Fund who belongs to one of the rising markets.
On the other side, there are voices which belong to (The Group of the Eleven), representing more than 110 developed countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, calling for choosing the next chairman among a group of candidates based on qualification and not on citizenship. But these voices, though they are many, are unheard of, because of the dominance of the big countries which inherited the ownership of the positions of the international institutions, rather they divided these positions among them.

Algeria Resorts to the European Commissioner to Solve its Problems with Spain

Algeria decided to resort to the European Commission to solve its dispute with Spain after the latter refused an Algerian demand to increase the prices of gas it exports to Spain by 20%. In a press conference, Algerian minister of Energy and Mining, Chakib Khelil, said on Thursday that the Spanish government did not respond to the demand of the Algerian company (Sonatrach) with regard to granting it the rights to enter the market of natural gas distribution and promoting it in Spain just like the European companies, which Madrid does’nt impose any conditions on.

The Palestinian Government Counts on an Economic Salvation Plan

Minister of Planning in the Palestinian Emergency government Dr. Samir Abdullah expected “rapid recovery plan” to bring about a vigorous launch in the Palestinian economy, but he asserted that the success of the plan depends on the government’s success in controlling the security situation and offering a suitable environment for investment and developmental work.

Iran Expands in Laying Railways

Iranian Assistant Minister of Rail Ways and Transportation, Hussein Tharani, said last Thursday that his country has projects for laying railways with more than 8000 k.m. adding the peace projects require a sum of money estimated by 13 trillion riyals for this year.

Syria says: Our Economy Stands on a Solid Ground

Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah Dardari, said that the Syrian economy stands today on a solid ground, adding that the economy faces big challenges to complete the process of transforming into the social market economy. The Syrian news agency (SANA) quoted Mr. Dardari as saying that Syria has achieved great and important economic and developmental reforms since 2000. He pointed out that one of the most important results of these reforms are the increase of non-oil growth rate by 7% in 2006 compared to 0% in 2000, the increase of exports by more than 10 billion US$, the decrease of an employment and poverty, overcoming the oil shock during the last three years and maintaining the economic balance.

Al-Quds Bank for Development and Investment Fixes Global’s Share

The administrative board of al-Quds Bank for Development and Investment,. Decided to cancel the agreement signed with the Kuwaiti company (The International Investment House) “Global”, which fixed the share of the Kuwaiti company in the bank’s capital by 40%, and re-fixed the share by 30% only. The administrative board justified this cancellation by saying that the Kuwaiti company did not fulfill its obligations according to the agreement.

Dubai Stock Market Witnesses the First External Circulation

“Khezana Natinal Company”, the investment arm of the Malaysian government, announced yesterday that it put into circulations bonds with a value of 850 million US$ at the international Dubai stock market, making it the first circulation at Dubai stock market from outside the area raising the volume of the circulated bonds to 12.78 billion US$.

Tunisia Grants Canada an Exploration Concession for Fuels

Tunisia and Canada have signed an agreement according to which the Canadian establishment (Rigo Oil Company) and the Tunisian Establishment for Oil Activities, have been granted a concession for fuel exploration known as “Janoub Tuser” (South of Tuser) concession.

“Dar al-Estethmar” Possess 17% of “Bobian Bank”

The Kuwaiti Al-Watan newspaper said that “Dar al-Esethmar” company managed to accumulate a-17%-share in “Boubyan Bank”, although it published on the stock market’s web site that it owns 11.3% only.

Cars Prices Settle in Jordan

Cars investors and traders in the Jordanian local market asserted that cars prices in Jordan have settled despite the instability of the exchange rate of the main world currencies as well as the important costs of goods.

2 billion US$ for the Establishment of a Bank in Sudan

The International Kuwaiti Group for Investment announced that has been granted the required official approvals for the opening of a bank in Sudan with a declared capital of 2 billion US$, 50% of it is already paid.

More Opposition on Adopting Oil and Gas Law in Iraq

The Iraqi National Consensus Movement joined on Friday the opponents of oil and gas draft law, which has been sent to the parliament, considering that this law does not serve the interest of the country. The draft law arises many disputes among the political blocs. Al Sader Bloc expressed its worry and insisted that concluding agreements with companies their governments participated in occupying Iraq is illegal.

The Governments of the European Union Seek to Decrease the Budget of 2008

A document published by Reuters showed that the governments of the European Union called for decreasing the budget of the group in 2008 to its lowest level in a whole decade.
The ambassadors of the member states of the European Union, comprising 27 countries supported a decrease of 2.1 billion Euros (2.86 billion US$) in the budget proposed by the European commission, the executive arm of the union, with a budget of 121.5 billion US$ budget.

A European Commissioner Criticizes the French Attitude towards Turkey

The European Commissioner for Expansion Affairs, Olli Rehn, has criticized France’s stand towards negotiations of Turkey’s joining the European Union. In an interview with the German newspaper (Financial Times Deutschland), Rein said that he who calls for a new discussions must think of the possible results of these discussions, in a bid to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who called for holding a discussion on the border of the union and the issue of expansion in the next European summit to be held in Portugal next February.

Companies Indexes

– Palestine Bank has opened the new branch in Dora City South of Hebron Al-Khalil governorate raising the number of its branches and offices to 30 branches in Palestine governorates.
– The International Oil Investment Company "Apec" said that it intends to enter the field of oil and gas exploration and production, adding that it looks for to double its investment package to reach 20 billion US$ in five years.

Small Indexes

– Official statements published on Friday showed that tourism revenues in Tunisia have increased by 9.62% during the first half of this year compared to the same period of last year.
– The British "The Mobile World" company carried out a survey which showed that the number of the users of mobile phones in the world will exceed 3.25 billion persons which equals half of the population of the world in 2007.

Bids & Contracts

– The Canadian government denied that it held negotiations to sell a big share of the Canadian Atomic Energy Company, according to a newspaper published in Torento.
– Officials in the Tunisian government said that Tunisia granted the Canadian "Rigo Oil Company" a concessions for oil and gas exploration south of the country.
– "Al-Omania" for Aviation Services said in a statement that it approved an immediate plan to buy Boeing 737-800 plane and another A-330-200 plan from Airbus.