STANDPOINT by Atique Naqvi

Syria War: Not a Game Changer By Atique Naqvi  |  Dubai, UAE  |  Uploaded on the blog recently** The US says it will take military action against Syria The spooky noise from war drums continues as the US-led attack on Syria is postponed from ‘within days’ to ‘within weeks’. Political and defense pundits across the world are brainstorming and airing their views in media about the possible scale and outcome of such strikes against Syrian President Bashar Al Asaad’s regime. The intention of planned limited strikes on Syrian regime’s military installations is not to remove Al Assad, but to rather degrade his hold on power and upgrade the rebels’ capabilities. Political scientist and president of Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, said the Syrian military campaign would act as “an amplifier, not necessarily a game-changer”. In Arabian Gulf, however, there is a strong support for the Syrian rebels. The reasons behind the support have several shades – from geopoliti...

New Strategy: Merge, Acquire & Grow By Atique Naqvi  |  Dubai, UAE  |  Uploaded on the blog recently** Qatar has acquired assets in Europe. After three years of consecutive decline, the activity in the mergers and acquisitions market picked up in 2012 and will continue to improve this year. While stagnant capital is dead capital, the lifeline of assets and cash is movement perfectly demonstrated by mergers and acquisitions. Increased activity in the Middle East and North Africa’s M&A sector last year has helped boost business confidence. Firms in the region are gearing up for big transactions in 2013 indicating the end of deal drought caused by financial meltdown in 2008. Even during the years when most economies were cash-strapped, liquidity was not a major issue in the region. However, low risk appetite resulted in regional investors holding back from loosening pockets. The collapse of credit market in the United States and Arab Spring-led ...

Low Cost Power And it's Renewable Too By Atique Naqvi  |  Dubai, UAE  |  Uploaded on the blog recently** Solar panels have gradually become cheaper. Cut-throat competition among manufacturers of solar panels has brought down costs of harnessing energy from the sun. In today’s world, electricity denied is development denied. Sustainable natural resources such as solar and wind had a solution in store for rising electricity demand for years, but high costs of realizing the optimum potential of natural resources held back public and private investments. However, the situation is changing, and its changing very fast. In the past 24 months, accessibility and deployment of solar technology has become cheaper by more than 60 per cent. With energy demand rising with each passing day, governments and stakeholders are looking to find cost-effective ways to meet that demand. Even oil-rich countries, such as the nations in the Arabian Gulf, are diversifying their ene...

Carbon Credit in the Arabian Gulf Countries By Atique Naqvi  |  Dubai, UAE  |  Uploaded on the blog recently** Ivano Iannelli The private public partnership in the green energy sector bodes well for the future of the carbon credit market, says Ivano Iannelli, CEO of Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence. How do you view the increased green energy efforts in the Arabian Gulf region? The GCC is late entrant in the sustainability scene, however it carries an important ability in its modus operandi: private sector participation. Traditionally, all global developmental models were structured using a multiplier approach whereas ODA (official development assistance) would only fund activities that would start/ pilot/initiate industrial sector and services. In essence ODA would fund the proof of concept and the private sector would follow. In the GCC, sustainability has now been embraced in the organizational structure and is a synonym of corporate resource effici...

Tapping the Luxury Potential By Atique Naqvi  |  Dubai, UAE  |  Uploaded on the blog recently** Philippe Leopold-Metzger CEO of Piaget, Philippe Leopold-Metzger, speaks with TRENDS on the luxury brand’s expansion plans in the Middle East and growth opportunities in the region. Please tell us about the current state of Piaget outlets? There are a lot of newborns, especially at airports. I do not really know the birth rate, but I think that we are about 88 stores today. We would be 91 by the end of March 2013. In the Middle East region we’ll have 10 stores by March 2013. We are planning to open our first store in Jeddah, which will be our first store in Saudi Arabia. The Jeddah store will be a bit different than the others because this is the first time we open a store internally to have a direct relationship with end consumers. Until now we have been working with retailers. It is very important for our brand to have a mixed network. We have had stores in ...

Is the Healthcare Sector in Good Health? By Atique Naqvi  |  Dubai, UAE  |  Uploaded on the blog recently** 131 million working hours are lost due to sick labor force. Overhauling the regulatory framework, increasing state spending and public-private partnerships will help improve healthcare services in the Arabian Gulf. The health of people directly affects businesses and economies, and a study conducted recently revealed 131 million working days were lost due to sickness across the world. Though healthcare sector is deemed one of the defensive sectors not greatly affected by economic troubles, but it is one of the most vital sectors. Investment in health services, which slowed after 2008, is being boosted by new pharmaceutical regulations and government plans to spend more toward creating a healthy nation. In the GCC, healthcare investment is growing at an average annual rate of 11 per cent and the market will be close to $43.9 billion in 2015 from $...

The Changing Face of Media By Atique Naqvi  |  Dubai, UAE  |  Uploaded on the blog recently** Credible information is the victim of the digital age.  New technologies are enabling information to reach wider audience, but media and entertainment companies must overhaul business strategies to remain relevant in the digital age. Recently on Facebook two news items were shared frantically – one announced the death of Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman and the other talked about the death of Indian-British nurse sucked into the British Royal Family prank pulled off by two Australian radio jockeys. The former turned out to be a hoax, while the latter was breaking news, indeed. The information channels have not only changed their mediums in today’s world, but the generators of information and content have changed as well. Amateur writers, filmmakers, musicians and citizen journalists are aplenty on the world wide Web, and for the past few years they have...