Business and Finance

Bahrain becomes the 10th destination for Dubai's lowcost carrier Flydubai. The airline made the announcement at the Dubai Airshow, where Phil Blizzard spoke to Ghaith al Ghaith, CEO, Flydubai about their first 6 months in operation and what the fledgling airline has achieved.

The delivery of new aircraft in 2010 is previewed by Ghaith al Ghaith, CEO, Flydubai as he talks to Phil Blizzard at the Dubai Airshow. First, however, he talks about the two recent aircraft finance deals, worth $160 million, that the carrier has concluded - including their Islamic financing deal with Dubai Islamic Bank.

Selling second-hand business jets to oil rich clients in the Middle East might seem an anomaly. However, the pre-owned BAe 146/Avro RJ aircrafts look refreshingly new once completely renovated says Stewart Cordner, VP Business Development, BAE Systems, who also tells Phil Blizzard that the low purchase price, operating costs and other factors are proving to be very appealing.

The financial options of aircraft acquisition is looked at by Phil Blizzard in this interview with Colin Bolie, Executive VP, Head of Marketing, Macquire Air Finance. The advantages of leasing are explained and they also talk about the recent agreement with Dubai based low cost operatore FlyDubai and the market potential in this region.

Record sales growth across the MENA region in 2008, means that 2009 year end figures for Nissan will be stronger than many other manufacturers. Gilles Normand, Corporate VP, Nissan, talks to Phil Blizzard about their goals and the development of 'green' vehicles.

Max Taylor, Chairman, Mitsui-Sumitomo Insurance London Companies and Director, Qatarlyst talks to Phil Blizzard about the positioning of insurance with-in the financial services sector and dispite some 'big hits' earlier in the decade have come through the present crisis relatively unscathed.

Michael Ong, Professor of Finance, Stuart School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, and a quest speaker at the QFinance Conference, Qatar talks to Phil Blizzard about they way banks need to become more ethical and the lessons learnt from the financial crash.

The International Monetary Fund released its October report today on the regional economic outlook at the DIFC. The report highlights that although economic risks linger, Middle East countries have weathered the worst of the downturn. Although the IMF believes growth will be slightly lower this year, it is predicting higher growth of 5.2% in 2010. Dr Nasser Saidi, Chief Economist at the DIFC, tells Rob Jones why the economic outlook is improving, looks at some of the risks and explains why it is important to build strong government debt markets in the region

QFinance the ultimate finance is a joint venture by Bloomsbury Publishing and the Qatar Financial Centre. At the launch in Qatar the vice chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sir John Studdard, talks to Phil Blizzard about how the resource would have assisted him as a student, a UK Cabinet member, during his time as Lord Mayor of London and now in his present position.

Two years in production, over two million words from more than 300 financial experts covering key aspects of finance contribute to the worlds most comprehensive financial resource. Phil Blizzard was in Doha for the worldwide launch of QFinance and spoke with Nigel Newton, Founder & CEO, Bloomsbury Publishing.

Phil Blizzard continues his review of events, both globally and within the GCC, which took the world from the brink of financial disaster and into a phase of hopeful recovery. In the concluding part the time span is from January 2009 to the 1st anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse.

It has been referred to as an economic earthquake, a financial tsunami, but no matter what it is called the reverberations of the economic crash has impacted business across the globe. Phil Blizzard looks at events, both globally and within the GCC, from the time of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers through to the end of 2008.

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have seen a lot of attention in recent months around the Middle East. In the first of a regular series, Robert Broadwell, Regional Business Director, iShares, GCC, explains this investment option, clarifies some misconceptions and misinterpretations surrounding ETFs and lays the foundations of how ETFs relate to regional investors.

Phil Blizzard talks to Robin Colgan, MD, Jaguar Land Rover - ME & Africa, about the importance of the Middle East market, how this market fits into their global picture and how the are riding the worldwide economic downturn.

Need a meeting room for a few hours, a place to close a deal or secretarial support? The Ras al Khaimah Business Centres in Dubai offer state of the art serviced offices, as Phil Blizzard discovered whilst talking with Zainab Abbas Qambar, Acting Business Centre Manager.