The Egyptian Gas Flows into Israel

The Egyptian Gas Flows into Israel

Despite the public refusal, and the hot interrogation session at the Egyptian Parliament, the Egyptian natural gas has started to flow into Israel for the first time on Thursday.
Exporting gas to Israel came after signing an agreement between the Israeli Electricity company and The Middle East Gas company for exporting 1,7 billion cubic meter of gas to Israel annually for 20 years, in a deal that aroused a lot of criticism but in vain.
The first phase includes delivery gas to electricity generating stations in Tel Aviv and Ashdod, and this will enable the company to increase its production of electricity generated by natural gas with an average of 20% of the total production.
Egyptian Parliamentarians have called for disclosing the terms of the deal concluded with Israel, saying that the prices offered to Israel according to the deal are less than the world prices, but the Egyptian government refused to disclose the terms of the deal.
It is worth mentioning that The Middle East Gas company had laid an under water pipeline for exporting natural gas from Egypt to Israel. The pipeline and the company are run by investors who are investing in a joint project among them the Egyptian businessman Hussein Salem and the Israeli businessman Yousef Miman.

Washington Exercises Pressures on The Turkish "Turkcell" to Give Up Buying the Syrian "Syriatel" Company

Arab diplomats and bankers have said that the United States is exercising pressures on the Turkish Mobile Phones company "Turkcell" to give up a deal estimated at $ one billion for buying the Syrian Mobile Phones Company "Syriatel", adding that the American Treasury warns the American investors who are investing in the Turkish company "Turkcell", registered at two stock markets, against taking part in such a deal, but since "Turkcell" is a Turkish company, there will be no legal problem in buying " Syriatel" and there will be no impacts on the talks between the two companies.
For his part, the Executive Chairman of "Turkcell" has said that he excepts talks with "Syriatel" to be resumed in a month.

Profits of the Lebanese Bloom Bank Increases by 21% in the First Quarter

Bloom Bank, one of the two biggest banks in Lebanon said that its profits during the first quarter of this year have risen by 21% , reaching $ 56,5 compared to the same period of last year, adding in a statement that this performance has been achieved following adopting a successful policy for supporting the domestic and external growth.
The bank further added that the net profits of the interests have risen by 25% , reaching $ 89,6 million , and the net profits of the commissions have risen by 23,8 % reaching $ 17,9 million. The bank concluded by saying that its assets have risen by 18, 5%, reaching $ 17, 5 Billion.

Beirut Hosts the 16 Arab Economic Forum

The 16th Arab Economic Forum concludes its activities in Beirut today. The forum is organized by the "Arab Economy and Business Group" with the participation of about 1000 persons representing 17 countries.
The economic forum, held under the title:" the Arab World Amid the International Changes", and which started its activities yesterday, aims at discussing the economic situation in the Arab World, the impacts of the surge of oil prices, the consequences of the decline of the interest rates of the American Dollar on the Arab economy, and also working towards reaching means that would combat inflation and solving the problem of food in a number of the Arab countries.

Profits of " Al-Wataniya" Telecommunications Company Increases by 19,1%

The Kuwaiti "Al-Wataniya" Telecommunications Company has announced its financial results for the fist quarter of 2008. The profits of the company before cutting the interest , the taxes and other expenditure have reached 45,5 million Kuwaiti Dinar , with an increase of 91,1% compared to the profits of the first quarter of 2007 , estimated at 38,2 million Dinar.
It is worth mentioning that the number of the active clients has risen to 9902254 clients compared to 7252406 clients during the first quarto of 2007, with an increase estimated at 37%.

An Investment Conference for Activating Relations between Russia and the Islamic World

Head of the Press Office at Tatarstan government " Andreea Kosmin" has said that the Islamic Development bank and the government of Tatarstan will hold next June an international investment conference in " kazan". The conference, expected to be held between 9-12 of June aims at activating relations between Russia and the Islamic World , and it will be the first conference to be held in a country which is not a member at the Islamic Conference Organization. About 200 representatives of banks and businessmen from Saudi Arabia, the UEA, and other Islamic countries, in addition to representatives of a number of the Arab embassies are expected to take part in the conference.

Small Indexes

– Prices of the future dealings of the American crude oil have dropped slightly by more than $ 112 barrels per barrel on Friday, recording a decline for the 4th session consecutively after they reached $ 120 on Monday.
– The volume of the real estate dealings in Bahrain has risen by the end of the first quarter of this year by 56% compared to the same period of last year.

Companies Indexes

– The Arab Company for Construction " Arabtec" has said that it is expecting an increase of its revenues by 75 % this year , reaching $ 2 billion dollars due to the increase of its activities in Saudi Arabia.
– "L G" Electronics Company has launched its new mobile phone " Secret" , which is considered the slimmest of it kind and equipped with cameras of 5 Mega pixel.