Middle East

On Monday a department of World Bank said that it would assign nearly $1 billion for insurance coverage for countries in the Middle East and North Africa to encourage foreign direct investment.

Underwriters of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA, visited Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia for discussions with the private sector, regional agencies and state-owned enterprises.

During Thursday trades gold prices stayed firm supported by continuing turmoil in the Middle East and talk of extended loose U.S. monetary policy after lackluster home sales data.

Continued fighting in Libya, where western forces have failed to dislodge Muammar Gaddafi's armour, calls for the ouster of Yemen's president and Palestinian rocket strikes on Israel have heightened geopolitical risks in the region.

Gold gained steady pace on Wednesday on rising unrest in the Middle East and North Africa while rebounding dollar may have its effect.

The troubles in the Middle East turned increasingly violent with Syrian troops opening fire on protesters and Yemen's president warning that the country would slip into civil war if he was forced to quit.

"Gold is still taking its cue from the situation in the Middle East," said Ong Yi Ling, an analyst at Phillip Futures, adding that it could increase safe-haven flows into the precious metal.

Gold prices increased in spite of weak oil prices. The bullion was supported by reports about a major earthquake in northeast Japan and continuing unrest in the Middle East.

But spot gold remained on track for its biggest weekly decline since late January, down more than $20 from a lifetime high hit at the start of the week.

Gold prices increased on Tuesday on escalating unrest in Libya and the Middle East while holdings in the biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund fell to the lowest level in more than nine months.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were massed near the Tunisian border on Tuesday, as the United States said it was moving warships and aircraft closer to Libya, heightening tension in the volatile region.

We are to consider today Internet and e-commerce industry of one of the Arabic countries, located in Western Asia, Iraq. This Muslim country is spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert. Iraq is bordered by Jordan to the west, Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. The economy of the country is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings.

Syria is a Middle East country bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. Syria represents a middle-income country, with an economy mainly based on agriculture, oil, industry, and tourism.

ReadiMinds is pleased to announce the results of its second annual Middle East online security survey titled "State of Online Security in Financial Institutions in Middle East - 2009". Survey respondents represented a cross section of Middle East's major banks. The survey primarily focused on the issues pertaining to transaction security, online financial fraud prevention and real-time risk mitigation.

 The United Arab Emirates is considered to be one of the richest countries throughout the world being one of the largest oil exporters that has the world's sixth largest oil reserves. This Muslim country has one of the most developed economies in the Middle East, ranking the thirty-sixth largest by nominal GDP. The UAE consists of seven states, termed emirates, which are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah.

[img_assist|nid=10991|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=27]One of the significant players on the e-commerce market First Data has announced the extension of the activity area and the opening of a new office in Pakistan. Pakistan is a developing country the market of which lacks the qualitative e-commerce solutions and facilities.