What began as a mentor-protege relationship between UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has now evolved into a broader contest over influence, strategy, and leadership in the Middle East, points out Asif Ullah Khan.
By all available indications, the White House drafted a face-saving note and handed it, ready-made, to Islamabad. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was supposed to then post it in the guise of a plea urging Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks 'to allow diplomacy to run its course'. Trump would then graciously accept Pakistan's 'request' and declare a ceasefire. Sharif dutifully posted the message on X. Except that he, or whoever was handling the account, forgot to delete the tell-tale first line visible in the edit history: 'Draft - Pakistan's PM Message on X'. Prem Panicker's must read blog on the Iran War.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have 10 Indian billionaires.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to continue targeting Iranian leaders, claiming recent successes in eliminating key figures. He asserted that Israel, with US support, aims to undermine the Iranian regime and empower the Iranian people.
Some of these nations are India's biggest export market. India is also dependent on these countries to meet its energy needs.
'Despite the large number of missiles and drones we have already launched, we still possess reserves and missile cities whose doors have not yet been opened,' says Iran's Consul-General Saeid Reza Mosayeb Motlagh.
The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have decided to enhance cooperation in the economic, commercial, investment, educational, cultural and media fields.
The four million expatriate Indians in the six Gulf Cooperation Council states remit an incredible $5 billion annually, a study shows.
In a move which could pave the way for a Free Trade Agreement between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council, both the partners have concluded negotiations for a Framework Agreement expected to be inked soon.
India is vigorously pursuing for a free trade agreement with Gulf countries, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
Professional expatriates, including Indians, would be able to hold dual residency in the Gulf nations under a move recommended by top immigration officials of the six nations. According to him, GCC residents looking for new jobs would also be allowed to enter other Gulf states on visiting visas, before securing employment.
GCC consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.
Gulf nations have postponed the six-year residency cap on foreign unskilled workers.
Software major Wipro has tied up with Sun Microsystems to widen its reach within the Gulf Cooperation Council countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia.As part of the deal, Wipro would resell and integrate the entire suite of Sun systems, storage, software, and services to serve Sun's customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.
The unemployment rate in the GCC reached 8.8 per cent in 2009 and is expected to increase to 10.5 per cent this year, said the report titled 'GCC Unemployment: Sustainable Economies'.
Hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare's plans to sell its Gulf business may run into rough weather with voting advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) raising concerns over the transaction. Recommending an 'against' vote on the resolution, IiAS has said there is no clarity on how Aster DM will utilise the proceeds that it will obtain by selling the unit, which contributes to bulk of its revenues. In November, Aster DM had announced its plans to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary Affinity Holdings, which conducts business in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, to Alpha GCC for $1 billion.
Qatar will lead growth in the region with around 8.7 per cent, while growth will be about six per cent each in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, 4.5 per cent in the United Arab Emirates, 4.2 per cent in Oman and 3.1 per cent in Bahrain, the report by Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Company said.
The Gulf Cooperation Council will consider a proposal to define a time-frame ceiling for residency of the workers in member states. The proposal says after the expiry of the six year-contract, the worker will go back home to his original country.
During the discussions attended by Simon Williams, Chief Economist at HSBC, Chirag Shah, Head of Strategy and Corporate Planning at DIFC Authority, and Yousef Bazian, Head of Corporate Finance at PwC in the Middle East, a consensus emerged that the Gulf region has achieved considerable non-oil economic growth.
'When global politics has some intervention on the core software one uses, and if you are cut off from your own data in critical workflows, sovereignty is no longer optional. It becomes a necessity.'
A survey by the Arabian Business weekly magazine shows that Landmark boss, Mr Micky Jagtiani, now has close to $1.5 billion more than his nearest rival in the wealth stakes, New Medical Centre Group boss, B R Shetty, who was second with a $1.72 billion fortune.
'Saudi-Pak defence pact is to anchor the defence and security of Saudi Arabia and not Pakistan, per se, with Islamabad being the junior partner.'
The era where nations thrived through rigid alignments is giving way to an age where the connective State defines power. For India, that era has arrived, points out Dr Nishakant Ojha.
Investments from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to India remain negligible relative to trade flows and represent just a small percentage of total FDI from the region to the world, says a report.
Lulu Retail announced on Wednesday that its initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed 25 times across all tranches, excluding cornerstone investors, generating demand exceeding $37 billion-a record for a private sector IPO in the United Arab Emirates. The company is controlled by Kerala-based business tycoon MA Yusuff Ali. The final offer price for Lulu shares was set at AED 2.04 per share, raising a total of $1.72 billion (AED 6.32 billion), making it the largest IPO in the UAE in 2024 to date.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has secured a 13-day custodial remand for Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, chairperson of the Al Falah group, accused of generating over Rs 415 crore dishonestly from students. The ED claims Siddiqui has incentives to flee India as his family is settled in the Gulf.
With US President Donald Trump "temporarily suspending" country-specific reciprocal tariffs until July 9, India sees the three-month window as an opportunity to renew its push for a proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US and expedite finalisation of the first tranche of the trade deal.
The Indian arm of the Norwegian investment company Orkla ASA, which owns spice brands like MTR and Eastern, is exploring the possibility of launching an initial public offering (IPO) in 2025, said a top company executive. "The ASA board just cleared the proposal. "We had done a pre-IPO study last year to understand what we need to do and based on that the board said, 'okay, let's go ahead and explore capital markets'," Sanjay Sharma, CEO, Orkla India, told Business Standard.
US President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's King Salman amid the Arab world's biggest diplomatic crisis in years over Qatar's alleged support to extremists, reports Lalit K Jha.
In a condolence message sent to the families of the victims of the fire incident in Mangaf, the Emir expressed his sincere sorrow and deep sympathy to the families of the victims and wished a fast recovery to the injured.
Exports of high-quality basmati rice from India grew by 22 per cent to $5.2 billion during April 2023-February 2024, amid robust demand, primarily from West Asia. According to data compiled by the commerce department, exports of basmati rice increased to 4.68 million metric tonnes (MMT) in April-February, from 4.1 MMT during the same period a year ago, registering a growth of 14 per cent.
India is expected to be the top recipient of remittances in 2023 as inflows increase 12.4 per cent to $125 billion, said a World Bank report on Tuesday. Mexico will come next by receiving $67 billion and China will follow it at $50 billion. The key drivers for remittance growth in 2023 are a tight labour market in the United States, high employment growth in Europe reflecting extensive leveraging of worker retention programs, and a dampening of inflation in high-income countries. India's growth in remittances is expected to halve to 12.4 per cent in 2023 from a historic peak of 24.4 per cent in 2022.
Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Monday launched I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
The Gulf Cooperation Council countries -- Bharain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates -- present a lot of trade opportunities for India, he said. The Assocham has been promoting India as an investment destination for infrastructure, biotechnology, power, roads, IT and allied sectors. It has also created an Andhra Pradesh Investment Cell to attract investments to the state.
'Christians, for example, make up 2 per cent of India's population but an estimated 16 per cent of those who were born in India now reside elsewhere,' said Pew.
Condemning human rights violations and the excessive use of force by the Yemeni authorities against peaceful protesters in the country's eight-month uprising, the Security Council said all sides should quickly implement a regional plan for an orderly transition of power.
He is also likely to meet his counterparts from key countries like Russia, China and Israel.
Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday rejected a plan for his exit mooted by Gulf states. Plunging his strife-torn nation into a new crisis, Saleh told a pro-regime rally in capital Saana that the exit plan mooted by Gulf Cooperation Council states is "blatant interference in Yemeni affairs". A defiant Saleh said, "We reject any coup against democracy, the constitution and our freedom."
The government allowed qualified foreign investors (QFIs) from six member-countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and 27 countries of the European Commission (EC) to invest in the Indian capital market to enhance foreign capital inflows.
