Economies in the Middle East and North Africa continue to atrophy as conflict in the region intensifies and oil prices sharply decrease. Read More »

International finance hub Abu Dhabi Global Market and the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on food safety measures. The measures will include new health standards and requirements for food establishments associated with hotels and independent businesses. Read More »

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Domain Names (TAG-Domains) will soon be able to offer .om domains after receiving its official accreditation from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Oman (TRAO). The .om sites are considered "top-level domains" of the Sultanate of Oman. Read More »

Kuwaiti mobile broadband users will soon be able to experience speeds of one gigabyte per second, thanks to Zain Kuwait's recent successful test of 4.5G mobile broadband service. Zain hopes its 4.5G resources will make the company an even more effective player in feeding the global demand for high-speed broadband services. Read More »

The financial advising firm Nexus Group recently issued a promising forecast for the Gulf region's insurance industry. A company representative said mandatory health insurance will drive industry growth in the year ahead, followed by pensions and individual savings plans. Read More »

The fifth Chief Audit Executive Conference recently honored Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) for its internal auditing practices. SIB was selected above six other finalists based on a proposal titled “Excellence and Creativity in the Internal Audit Department." Read More »

The fifth Chief Audit Executive Conference recently awarded all three of its internal audit award categories to the UAE Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The RTA earned the Fighting of Administrative Corruption Award, the Information Technology & Cyber Crimes Award and the Governance, Risk and Control Award. Read More »

Bahrain Polytechnic and OTAGO Polytechnic recently signed an agreement to share staff, students, academic information and materials. The agreement will allow the two institutions to trade faculty members and students in order to offer a wider selection of training courses to its students. Read More »

Mobile service provider Ooredoo Kuwait recently held an Executive Presence training for its directors and other executives at its headquarters in Kuwait City. The company decided to host the training after a review of its talent pool earlier in the year. Read More »

Oman Oil Marketing Co. officials have announced their intention to contribute major funding to four programs that assist families receiving benefits from the Oman Ministry of Social Development. Read More »

Telecommunications company VIVA Bahrain has partnered with the Shop Bahrain festival to provide a number of services and discounts. Shop Bahrain is a 30-day, family-friendly festival that celebrates Bahrani culture and hospitality by offering a unique shopping experience, deals and entertainment. Read More »

The Visa company recently honored Kuwait Finance House (KFH) with its Market Leader Award for Visa Prepaid Cards in Kuwait. KFH, one of Kuwait's largest banks in Kuwait, was previously recognized by Visa for activating over one million prepaid cards for Kuwaiti customers. Read More »

Oman Air was honored at the Dec. 8 North India Travel Awards as Best International Airline for 2015. Since commencing operations in 1993, Oman Air has provided international flights to destinations all over the world. Flights to and from India will be available daily or twice daily in the near future. Read More »

DEWA's dedication to streamlining administrative systems to provide better, more cost-effective services for its customers, employees and partners has led to the company being re-certified in integrated management systems by Bureau Veritas, a testing, inspection and certification firm. Read More »

InterContinental Regency Bahrain's sister luxury hotel, the InterContinental Al Khobar, was the site of a Dec. 20 corporate event that brought together corporate leaders and representatives from travel agencies throughout Saudi Arabia. Read More »

The first stage of the Etihad Rail Project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), was recently recognized by 'Construction Week' magazine as Infrastructure Project of the Year. Read More »

GE Oil & Gas has been awarded contracts to provide for the supplying, testing, installing and commissioning of Petroleum Development Oman's (PDO) electric motor driven centrifugal compressors, in addition to after-market support. Read More »

Nakilat, the shipping arm of Qatar’s national liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, has recently given its IT systems a major overhaul that consolidates the company’s networks into an efficient SAP cloud system. Nakilat worked with Japanese IT giant Fujitsu to integrate the German-designed SAP HANA cloud system to provide one cloud network capable of scaling with Nakilat’s needs. Read More »

Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) said last week it purchased a 51 percent share of Jordan Kuwait Bank (JKB) from its subsidiary Burgan Bank. The move is an effort by KIPCO as a parent company to both lighten and bolster the Burgan's balance sheet. "This transaction is a testament to the support that KIPCO provides to its core operations," KIPCO Vice Chairman Faisal Al Ayyar said. Read More »

Qatar Airways officials rang in the new year by celebrating a number of accomplishments in 2015. The company became the first airline to operate the entire line of Airbus planes and was also the first airline to top 10 million fans on Facebook. The company also grew its fleet by 20 percent. Moving forward, the airline will add flights to the U.S., Australia and the UAE. Read More »