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The Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park in Dubai is the largest single-site concentrated solar power project in the world. Reuters
Costs of Technologies reshaping Energy-related Investment
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Mistakes to avoid when investing in MENA
In a Special Report, FT Future 25: Middle East, Opinion Entrepreneurship, allowed Sabah al-Binali, an investor and entrepreneur with a record of financing, building and growing companies in the MENA region to enlighten us on Mistakes to avoid when investing in MENA (Middle East and North Africa).
Ignoring Silicon Valley ‘myths’ key to success in region undeserving of hefty risk premium.
The Middle East moves towards a Smart Cities Future
In a Press Release, CommScope Reveals Connectivity Trends During GITEX. GITEX is one of the largest regional IT exhibitions and conferences in the MENA and South Asia region that takes place annually in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates at the Dubai World Trade Centre. It was held that the Middle East moves toward a smart cities future.
One of the Four Corners of the Arabian Peninsula
Despite or in spite of the far from peaceful happenings in one of the four corners of the Arabian peninsula, life carries on unperturbed elsewhere and the following is about what is happening in the opposite corner, i.e.: Energy ‘transition’ the buzzword, but a fossil future for the Gulf.
Why traditional Persian Music should be known to the World
As a Friday essay: why traditional Persian music should be known to the world, Darius Sepehri, of University of Sydney goes through all aspects of why today’s Iran cultural heritage should be appreciated.
The author confronting life in today’s world recalls the Traditional Persian Music through remembering his personal origin rooted in the world’s first superpower that is the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.
MENA region’s Countries in the World Economy
The point of this article dated September 5, 2019, published by World Economic Forum in collaboration with Visual Capitalist and elaborated by Jeff Desjardins, Editor-in-Chief, Visual Capitalist, is to possibly enlighten us on the actual world situation. We could also get a clear picture of the actual position of the MENA region’s countries in the world economy at 5th as ranked by the World Bank.
UN urges organic carbon conservation
Global warming or climate change is threatening the fate of oases in the Sahara Desert as affected by the noticeable advancing sands along the edges of all habitable spaces in the MENA region. With almost 90 per cent of its lands being arid and/or semi-arid, the region’s countries must be following the 14th edition of the COP on the fight against desertification. This being held in New Delhi, India, from 2 September through to 13 September, the UN urges soil organic carbon conservation to fight desertification whereby UNCCD’s member countries must proactively prevent land degradation reports Ranjit Devraj in this article below.
A New Approach to Stalled State Transformations in Iraq and Yemen
Chatham House in this research paper titled Between Order and Chaos: A New Approach to Stalled State Transformations in Iraq and Yemen, Dr Renad Mansour, Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House (@renadmansour) and Peter Salisbury, Senior Consulting Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme (@peterjsalisbury) say that International policymakers have failed to stabilize states such as Iraq and Yemen, partially because of the assumed binary distinction between state failure and success. This paper advocates for a ‘middle–out’ approach that aims to strengthen the connectivity between the bureaucracy and de facto authorities.
Construction sites of the future ‘will be people-free’
Construction to date stands as one of the largest industries in the world and the MENA region is no exception. Many governments especially of its most affluent petrol-exporting countries struggled and still are due to a shortage of skilled workers, weak productivity growth, and waste. Construction sites of the future ‘will be people-free’ were already thought about back in 2014, when experts in construction processes were advancing ideas on developments being foreseeable soon through BIM-based Automated Construction.
The Right Place To Locate Your MENA Business
Setting up a business is exciting, but it requires level-headed planning. To be successful you need to consider the logistics performance of the country in question, along with its reputation, ease of company setup process, simplicity of doing business, and opportunities for future growth. So, when you’re looking at where to locate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, it’s important to weigh up the pros and cons of the different regions.
Oman is the most improved nation in MENA
Oman is the most improved nation in MENA, moving up eight places to 58th, in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2019 prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Conducted biennially, the survey found that Oman is MENA’s safest country and overall third in the world. Oman ranks third in safety and security due to lower homicides rates (19th in the world), a reliable police force (5th), and low costs of terrorism (7th) and crime (3rd).
A globalised solar-powered future is wholly unrealistic
Over the past two centuries, millions of dedicated people – revolutionaries, activists, politicians, and theorists – have been unable to curb the disastrous and increasingly globalised trajectory of economic polarisation and ecological degradation. This is perhaps because we are utterly trapped in flawed ways of thinking about technology and economy – as the current discourse on climate change shows.
Bahrain tops region for expat living
The MENA’s Gulf area is home, though temporarily to numerous people from around the world, with nationals being a minority for decades now. All the neighbouring countries to Bahrain rely heavily on this imported manpower to not only get things done but mainly to keep the respective economies going. Life and above all its quality aspect, therefore of the various expat communities in the different countries does, unlike in the recent past, account for much in the socio-political stratosphere of the various work environments. And, Bahrain tops region for expat living.
However, while the populations in the area are recently noticed to be somewhat slowing, especially if compared to the boom years that started around the early 2000s, there are varying differences in the communities’ growths. But that’s a different story.