Doing Business in the Middle East:Â It is obvious that political stability is essential for the development of Arab countries and those in the Middle East. Instability affects all strata of daily life; not does it threaten personal security, it also impacts upon the economic, social and even cultural life of a country. To try to shed some light on what’s happening around the region and how this instability impacts upon all inhabitants, not just those in Syria, we’ve covered the economic situation in Lebanon and the impact regional conflict is having on the day-to-day lives of its closest neighbours.
On more than one occasion we’ve highlighted just how important it is for a country to be able to exploit their natural resources as a way out of poverty. By doing so, this helps the country and its inhabitants reach their full potential as a developed nation. Yemen is a clear example of a rich country with a desperately poor population. A beautiful land, rich in resources such as agate and coffee, it has an excellent climate and abundant quantities of rain and natural springs. Yet it is threatened by many factors that stop it from blossoming – including, yet again, regional security.
Women’s issues remain at the very heart of our magazine so we’ve have taken it upon ourselves to provide a clear message: rather than just ’empowering women’, we are convinced that a woman’s economic independence is at the core of the future growth of society. In this issue we took an opportunity to meet with three female ministers from Tunisia, Jordan and Palestine to discuss this most pertinent of subjects.
As Middle East Business News and Magazine appears regularly across the region, we are partnering with many more local, regional, and international events. Our mission remains to offer a new type of economic media, a voice of change that promotes the region and its myriad perspectives. To complement this role, we recently signed a strategic partnership with ‘Introducing Leaders’, holding regular high level roundtable meetings. The first of these strategic roundtables took place in April 2014, with a follow-up scheduled for October (in Greece) to discuss investments in the Middle East.
We feel it is therefore an opportune time to take a quick look at the aviation industry in the Middle East as an important tool that connects us with the rest of the world. Being able to access the region by air impacts not only upon tourism, but also upon the ability to trade with local and international partners.
Recently, I was honoured to be featured on MBC’s ‘Kalam Nawaem’ programme. As Editor-in-Chief and founder of Middle East Business News and Magazine, I was invited to appear after winning ‘Best Woman Entrepreneur in Middle East and North Africa’. During the interview I talked about the challenges economic media faces in the region and discussed the challenges for women working in the business world – especially those with growing families.
To enable us to cope with the challenges brought about by digital media, right from day one we wanted to embrace both the print and digital versions of our magazine. Our website is regularly updated with articles, views and analysis and there are videos to accompany many of our articles, easily accessed via our You Tube channel. To accompany our eNewsletter, you can also access a ‘flipping’ version of our previous issue as soon as the new print issue is available (i.e. this issue available in July). Our LinkedIn Group, Middle East Business Professionals, comprises a large number of professional members who regularly interact and provide feedback and opinions on various economic and socio-economic issues – which certainly makes for lively reading! We’d also like to have your feedback, as all opinions matter to our editorial team, by visiting our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/MiddleEastBusinessNews
Many thanks for your continued support,
Amal Daraghmeh Masri Editor in Chief
CEO & Founder
Middle East Business
