International Business Opportunities

Dubai-based Nakheel plans to scale back some of its projects because of the global economic slowdown, Bloomberg has reported. The state-owned developer said it will reassess its 'immediate business objectives to accommodate the current economic climate'. Nakheel did not provide details of the projects that are being reassessed, but the developer said it will not affect company's long-term business objectives and is a responsible approach in line with current global economic conditions.
full story

Abu Dhabi-based Hafilat Industries has commenced shipping its first export batch of European buses to Australia from their 15,000m2 factory in ICAD-1, Mussafah, which opened earlier this year. The shipment to Australia will be part of the company's contract to supply the city of Melbourne with 'Low Floor' city-buses on Mercedes Benz chassis. The UAE is the first country in the GCC to build European quality buses.
full story

UAE-based Hydra Properties has issued a statement denying news reports of an alleged formation of a partnership or joint venture with Wall Investment & Real Estate Development, a Qatar-based real estate investment firm. Hydra Properties CEO Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim met earlier with Dr. Nasser Shahir Homoud, the Qatari firm’s CEO and UN Ambassador of Goodwill, to discuss initiatives to support a number of United Nations humanitarian programs. However, the meeting revolved around the said corporate social responsibility scheme and no agreement or alliance pertaining to conducting business or seizing investment opportunities in the region was forged with Wall Investment, the statement said.
full story

A tightening of the terms and interest rates for home loans is depressing an already fragile Dubai real estate market this autumn.
full story

Canon Middle East has rolled out the Canon HD Camcorder HG20 and Canon HD Camcorder HG21: two new AVCHD High Definition (HD) camcorders that record movies to high-capacity internal Hard Disk Drives (HDD). Successor models to the HG10, the HG20 offers 60GB capacity - enough for over 22 hours of movies - while the HG21 doubles available space to 120GB. In addition, both camcorders feature a new MXP recording mode - offering a maximum data rate of 24Mbps, the highest possible under the AVCHD format - as well as Canon's Dual Recording system: the ability to record to internal hard drive or easy to share, removable SDHC card media.
full story