Poverty driving rural Zimbabweans to desperate measures Poverty driving rural Zimbabweans to desperate measures India, Saudi Arabia to improve economic cooperation -Islamic Trade Fair Sharjah - a step to increase OIC Trade by $8 billion

India, Saudi Arabia to improve economic cooperation

JEDDAH, 24 December 2002 - Business delegations from India and Saudi Arabia are visiting each other's country to explore business opportunities. A Saudi delegation led by Zaid B. Al-Bassam, head of the Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) section of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry has visited Bombay, Delhi and Hyderabad to study prospects of joint ventures in the Kingdom with the assistance of Indian partners in sectors like information technology, health care, media (animation related) and engineering. The delegation included Hani Saab, Mazen Batterjee,Mahmoud Batterjee, Alaa Samman, Saied Basmah, Abdullah Bin- laden, Aiman Abu Zaid, Waleed Fathei and Shoheb Kazi. The visit will enhance mutually beneficial cooperative endeavors between the two countries in developing the SMEs sector in the Kingdom.

According to V.K.V. Raman, consul at the Consulate General of India the Saudi delegation's visit to India comes at a time when bilateral economic relations are gathering momentum. An open invitation was extended by the Indian Small Scale Industries Minister Vasundhara Raje during her visit to Saudi Arabia in October 2002. Its objective is to get an on-the-spot experience of India's system of support to SMEs and interact with other participants at the two-day global summit on SMEs, which ended in Delhi on Saturday.

A 12-member Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) delegation led by Vice President N.K. Doshi, is on a tour of the Kingdom from yesterday to Dec. 30. The delegation includes representatives from Tata International, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Wipro Infotech, Simon India, Kirloskar Oil Engines, Thermax, Tata Consultancy Services and Larsen & Toubro. They will meet the local businessmen and chambers of trade and industry. (keralamonitor.com)

Nigeria : Unexploded ordnance threatens residents of southern town - rights group

LAGOS, 24 December (IRIN) - Unexploded ordnance continues to threaten
lives in the southern oil town of Odi, three years after it was flattened
by soldiers in a reprisal raid, a Nigerian human rights group said on
Monday.

Environmental Rights Action (ERA) said a 12-year-old boy was injured last
week when a rocket exploded while his family was clearing debris from
their old home, which had been destroyed during the November 1999 attack.
"Tinbebelakumo Agadah was hit in many places by shrapnel from a
rifle-propelled rocket which had lain for three years," ERA said in a
statement. The group said other residents were equally at risk and called
on the Nigerian authorities to clear the area urgently of all leftover
ordnance.

Troops had invaded Odi on the orders of President Olusegun Obasanjo after
armed militants there killed 12 policemen. The soldiers ransacked the
town, destroying every building except a church and a bank and killing
more than 200 people. Obasanjo said afterwards the soldiers "exceeded
their brief" but refused to apologise for the killings.

ERA has threatened to lodge complaints for war crimes at the UN
International Criminal court against Obasanjo and senior military officials over the Odi
invasion. The group also wants the Nigerian government to rebuild Odi and
pay compensation to the victims of the army raid.

In a report released last week, Amnesty International said the attack on
Odi was one of two incidents in which the Nigerian military acted with
impunity against civilians with the tacit approval of the government. The
other was in October 2001, when reprisal attacks were carried out on
villages in the central state of Benue for the killing of 19 soldiers. (keralamonitor.com)

Poverty driving rural Zimbabweans to desperate measures

JOHANNESBURG, 24 December (IRIN) - The poverty that has accompanied Zimbabwe's economic crisis has driven many desperate rural people to prostitution, robbery and gold panning to survive, the latest Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report said.

"Cross border trading with neighbours Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana is also on the increase as households try to find any way they can to make ends meet," the report said.

With maize and wheat being sold at eight times the government-set price, and oil, salt and rice prices escalating, income generating opportunities were diminishing for rural households, FEWS NET said. The demand for casual labour, which provided one of the few sources of cash, had declined in 90 percent of rural villages while 96 percent of villages reported a decrease in the flow of remittances from urban areas, researchers found.

As a result, 80 percent of rural households reported eating wild foods they did not normally consume, which increased the risk of poisoning. Preliminary results from a recent assessment trip by NGOs found that the government- controlled Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and food aid sources were supplying only about 40 percent of food needs in the rural areas, with the remainder being met through parallel markets, wild foods, gifts and bartering. Prospects were not much better in urban areas where workers battled inflation and many did not even receive their traditional Christmas bonus. The government's decision to provide relief by freezing the prices on a long list of commodities saw prices shoot up on the parallel markets due to shortages and demand.

The Zambia Post reported on Tuesday that the Zambian government had lifted an anti-dumping import ban on certain commodities that speculators with foreign currency were buying in Zimbabwe and selling cheaply in Zambia. A set of controls would prevent further "dumping", the newspaper reported. In addition to current food shortages, comparisons with previous planting patterns and harvests, combined with predicted rainfall patterns and a moderate El Nino, were causing concern over next year's food security situation.

The total area under cultivation for food crops was less than 50 percent of the 1990s average and for cash crops like tobacco, a vital foreign currency earner, it was less than 25 percent of the average, FEWS NET said. Over the past year, foreign exchange shortages have caused disruptions to fuel supplies and the import of fertilisers and agricultural chemicals.

Agricultural production was also adversely affected by a lack of seed and fertiliser, and a lack of energy among farmers too malnourished to plant effectively.The land redistribution exercise had also created an environment of uncertainty in the farming sector. "If things do not improve, food security will once again be of major concern in 2003-2004," FEWS NET said.It urged the government to review its grain distribution system and said the procurement and distribution of food aid needed to be stepped up urgently to address the unmet needs of rural households. (keralamonitor.com)

Islamic Trade Fair Sharjah - a step to increase OIC Trade by $8 billion

SHARJAH, 24rd December, UAE --- In a bid to boost connected trading
opportunities between members of the 57-strong Organisation of Islamic
Conference (OIC), Malaysian technology joint venture OICnetworks Sdn Bhd
today announced the launch of the ‘OICtrade’ trade facilitation platform.
The inauguration of the website-based trading and commercial facilitation
system by Abdulla bin Rashid Al-Kharji, Acting President of the Islamic
Chamber of Commerce and Industry took place at the 9th Islamic Trade Fair
2002 (ITF 2002) in Sharjah.

“The need for a technology-driven model is imperative to compete globally
for a greater share. OIC member nations can benefit if they are relevant
with the international trading systems adopted by the world,” said Dr
Ishkandar Baharin, President and CEO of OICnetworks. The total world trade volume of USD12.6 trillion. According to a 2001 World Bank report, current trade levels among
OIC member countries in 2000 stand at USD813 billion representing a far cry
of only 6.4 per cent of OICnetworks aims to strengthen OIC trade volumes
among member countries by USD8 billion by 2005 through the inculcation and
effective use of its Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
infrastructure ‘OICtrade’ (www.OICtrade.com).

Incorporated in Kuala Lumpur through a joint venture between the Islamic
Development Bank of Jeddah and MIMOS Berhad a Malaysian government-owned ICT
company, OICnetworks offers value-added facilities to ensure the success of
its trade platform.

In his paper presented at a conference held in conjunction with the Islamic
Trade Fair 2002, Dr. Ishkandar said, “The OICtrade platform offers modules
in trade information, promotion, transaction, implementation, trade closure,
system accessibility and operational support – all managed on-line on the
internet in conformance with international standards with an ease for buyers
and sellers.”

Dr Ishkandar’s paper ‘OICtrade – The Premier Trade Facilitation Platform –
Now or Never’ presented jointly with the Islamic Development Bank, attracted
the attention of 500 international delegates from 57 OIC countries that
included Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Iran, Egypt,
Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Pakistan and Turkey, as well as Indonesia and
Malaysia.

The paper outlined how OICtrade built around the concept of trading enabled
by ICT and facilitated by trusted parties, would speed up trade volume
growth through technology and synergies in a methodical and relevant
fashion.

He said, “OICtrade helps companies penetrate the OIC market by leveraging on
the reputation, experience and networks of the Islamic Development Bank and
the Islamic Chambers of Commerce and Industry of OIC member countries.”
The OIC market is estimated at a population of 1.3 billion in the 57 member
countries.

According to the trade facilitator, OICtrade modules are packaged for the
seller or buyer, and offered as starter packs or premium packs.

“While the trade modules focus on online trade activities between buyers and
sellers, these are also facilitated and monitored by OICtrade country
representatives physically located in the country of these buyers and
sellers to offer greater business intelligence and advantage,” explained Dr
Ishkandar.

Earlier in October of this year, OICnetworks had entered into an agreement
with the ICCI to strengthen business intelligence, networking, trade volumes
and to undertake a joint business pilot programme leveraging on ICCI’s
database.

More than 30,000 trade visitors from both OIC and non-OIC states are
attending the trade fair from 21 – 26 December where the OICtrade platform
is being shown for the first time in the Middle East.

Also participating at the 9th Islamic Trade Fair 2002 is the delegation from
MATRADE, the external trade promotion arm of Malaysia's Ministry of
International Trade and Industry.