Knowledge support RECENTLY the World Bank and the Institut de la Mediterrannée opened the Middle East and North Africa Knowledge Hub (MKH). The knowledge hub, which was inaugurated on 15 March, was followed by the second annual Knowledge for Development Conference in Marseilles, Mona El Fiqi reports. The aim of the knowledge hub is to boost capacity for knowledge sharing and learning in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, which is currently facing unprecedented social and economic challenges. According to a recent World Bank report, the region needs to double its current number of employment opportunities by 2020, creating 100 million additional jobs. An increasingly young, educated and restless population is entering already strained labour markets where unemployment rates average around 15 per cent. with the unemployment rate of women in the labour force 50 per cent higher than that of men. MKH will work on four main regional issues, namely: knowledge for development, education and employment, urban management, and governance and transparency. The hub will act as a knowledge broker, matching regional demands with the global supply of knowledge services. The modern video- conference technologies of the Global Development Learning Network will provide interactive access to more than 60 countries. Moreover, MENA institutions such as training centres, professional networks and universities will in turn play a lead role as knowledge connectors and providers. The two-day Knowledge for Development Conference was a good chance for development experts in MENA countries to benefit from being online networks as well as face to face knowledge exchanges. On its first day, the Knowledge for Development Conference engaged a diverse group of participants from the private sector and government agencies in MENA and European countries as well as World Bank officials in dialogue on how to take advantage of knowledge-based economies as the region moves toward greater integration with global economy. Vice-President for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank Christian Poortman said the conference "offers an important opportunity for MENA countries to share each other's experiences in harnessing the information and knowledge revolution to spur trade and growth -- and ultimately meet the region's employment challenge". According to a World Bank press release, the MENA region remains poorly integrated with the rest of the world. Trade represents 12 per cent of its GDP (compared to almost 50 per cent in East Asia) and the region has five per cent of the world's population, but only 0.7 per cent of its Internet connections. British buy out Barclays THE BRITISH bank Barclays has become the sole owner of Cairo Barclays after buying out the 40 per cent stake held by the Egyptian state- owned Banque du Caire. While the value of the deal has not yet been announced, it was hailed by bankers as a long- awaited step towards divesting the government's holdings in joint venture banks. Other joint venture banks include Commercial International Bank, Egyptian American Bank and National Societé Generale Bank. Barclays has been working in Egypt for 25 years and currently has seven Cairo Barclays branches in Egypt, five of which are in Cairo, while the other two are in Alexandria. OCI's piece of the pie ORASCOM Construction Industries (OCI) has revealed that its share of a construction contract in Iraq awarded by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) could be worth up to $162.5 million. OCI and its partially owned subsidiary Contrack International Inc (CII) between them share 50 per cent of the $325 million construction contract awarded by the US Department of Defense last week to design, rehabilitate and build aviation facilities, ports, highways and bridges in Iraq. Other partners in the deal are the American International Contractors Inc (AICI) and Archirodon. The contract is one of the initial 10 major construction contracts issued by the US-led CPA in Iraq to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure, devastated by three wars and over a decade of economic sanctions. BP to check Egypt's oil EGYPT recently signed three new gas and petroleum exploration deals worth a total of at least $91.5 million.Two petroleum exploration and exploitation agreements were with British Petroleum (BP), which committed to spend $75.5 million. BP will undertake surveys and start drilling wells to look for oil and gas offshore, both in the East Warda Block located in the Gulf of Suez and in Blocks 12 and 13 in the northern Red Sea. The third agreement was for petroleum and gas exploration in the Western Desert with Croatian state-owned INA and German energy giant RWE, covering some 1,358 square kilometres with an outlay of $16 million and the construction of seven wells. Hydrocarbon exports are one of Egypt's main foreign currency earners along with tourism, Suez Canal revenues and remittances from Egyptians working abroad. Egypt has proven gas reserves of 62 trillion cubic feet, a natural gas pipeline to Jordan opened in July and international firms are currently building two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants for export on the Mediterranean coast. Same plan, new shares MISR International Bank (MIB) will increase its issued and paid-in capital from LE140.625 million to LE281.250 million, a decision that was approved by the bank's general assembly meeting earlier this week. The increase will take place through doubling the value of MIB's shares to LE10 each. The capital increase will be financed from the bank's general reserves. Furthermore, the bank approved the increase of the authorised capital from LE170 million to LE1 billion. The second largest private bank in Egypt, MIB is 25.6 per cent owned by Banque Misr. After a senior management change in mid-2000, MIB started a restructuring plan.
