(MENAFN) The Central Bank of Bahrain announced that the country is ready to issue a 10-year bond in order to raise $1 billion from the international market, Arab News reported. The bank's governor, Rasheed Al-Maraj, said that the money will be used to narrow the gap in the national budget. Al-Maraj pointed out that three banks have been already appointed to market the bond in the Far East, US and the European markets. Speaking about the Kingdom's previous $500 million bond, Al-Maraj said that despite the 50 percent oversubscription of the bond to $750 million the government decided to keep the $500 million at that time.

(MENAFN) UAE's national carrier, Etihad Airways, announced expanding its code-share agreement with Qantas, hence increasing the destinations available for passengers travelling to Australia. Under the deal, the Etihad two-letter EY code is now placed on flights from Sydney to Ayers Rock (Uluru), Alice Springs, Canberra, Hobart and Melbourne and flights from Brisbane to Cairns. Etihad Airways' Chief Executive, James Hogan, said that aside from the code-share expansion, Etihad recently secured 14 additional weekly flight frequencies from its Abu Dhabi home-base to Australia.

(MENAFN) Kuwait's Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) proposed merging state oil firms into only one entity, Al-Anbaa reported. Currently, Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) is the umbrella firm for several units handling different parts of the industry in the country. KPC said that it will study the proposal of by the Supreme Petroleum Council, which is the country's highest oil policy body. Under the proposal, the council will merge its KPC's 10 subsidiaries under one huge company called Kuwait Petroleum Company. The proposal would take between three and five years to be executed. The new firm is planned to include the four sectors of exploration, refineries, joint services, and transportation and marketing, the local newspaper said.

(MENAFN) Chief Executive of Emirates Airline assured that the carrier is on track to achieve its full-year earnings target of $544 million, Kahleej Times reported. He said that the airline has a good year, noting that its fiscal year ends on March 31. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), Emirates Airline has grown to be the world's 10th-largest airline by scheduled passenger-kilometers flown. Excluding domestic flights, it is the world's fourth-largest airline. He also pointed out that the carrier would decide soon on how many more planes to order, after having said in November that it was in talks with Boeing and Airbus to buy tens of planes.

(MENAFN) The Executive Chairperson at NDTV, which runs a bouquet of news and entertainment television channels in India, said that the company plans to establish a local television channel in the, Gulf News reported. He said in an interview that NDTV is in talks with potential local partners and their local UAE channel could eventually be based either in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Separately, he said due to India's economic growth in recent years, its media industry has been on a spectacular growth path. He said though it doesn't cost much to start a TV channel in India these days, it's difficult to commercially sustain the channel in a rapidly expanding local market if its credibility remains low with the viewers and the advertisers. He added that in India experience has shown that channels must have more local content in order to have a greater share of the viewership and advertising revenue.

(MENAFN) Gulf Daily News reported that Bahrain and Britain have signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation aimed at boosting financial and economic co-operation and joint investment. Bahraini Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa said that Bahrain is keen to promote co-operation with Britain in finance, economy and investment through negotiating and signing bilateral and multilateral agreements, which provide a legal framework to enhance competitiveness of its economy. He expressed happiness that the agreement would join Bahrain's 27 similar deals and hoped the number would soon go up to 38 as 11 more, concluded by ministry, are awaiting signing. This will be one of 16 avoidance of double taxation agreements signed by Bahrain, which comply with the standard for the exchange of tax information set by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and endorsed by the G20 at its summit in London last April.

(MENAFN) Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) said that it has inked six new contracts worth $852 million for projects in electricity and water sectors, TradeArabia reported. Dewa's Managing Director, Saeed Al Tayer, said that these contracts were signed at the Water Technology, Energy and Environment Exhibition (Wetex), and they aim at upgrading the infrastructure of the Dubai utility's facilities and boosting the efficiency of its networks, in order to meet the growing demand in the emirate. The authority awarded the first contract, worth of $68 million, to AAB Industries Dubai for supply, installation, testing and commissioning of three 132/11 KV substations in the emirate. Areva T&D SA Dubai got the second pact worth of $280 million for substations in various areas in Dubai including Dubai Investment Park, Jebel Ali Industries Area, Mutina and Kifaf. The third $70.8 million contract went to Ducab -Dubai for supply of 11 KV XLPE power cables. Ghantoot Gulf Contracting won the fourth contract, which is worth $223 million for Glass Reinforced Epoxy Water Transmission. The fifth was clinched by Saudi Modern Company (Riyadh cables) for a value of $81.68 million. While, Siemens got a $128 million order for supply, installation, testing and commissioning of Mamzer Beach 400/132 KV Substations.

(MENAFN) Arab countries have announced plans to reduce unemployment levels to seven percent across the region by 2020, Reuters reported. At the end of a three-day meeting in Manama organized by the Arab Labor Organization (ALO), ministers pledged to halve the rate of joblessness, which currently averages 14 percent. The other targets set are to increase productivity by 1 percent per year and to ease the mobility of the workforce in Arab countries. Two years ago, officials said that on top of the 17 million unemployed, the Arab world must create jobs for more than 4 million youths every year. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) at the time estimated unemployment among 15- to 24-year-old Arabs, numbering 66 million, to be as high as 40 per cent, and put average unemployment rates at more than 15 per cent. One third of the entire Arab population of more than 300 million people is under 14, the UNDP said.

(MENAFN) Bahrain's minister of oil and gas affairs Abdul-Hussain Bin Ali Mirza said that the kingdom will spend $15 billion over the next two decades to develop and boost oil and natural gas production in the Bahrain field, Asharq Al Awsat reported. Mirza, who is also chairman of his country's National Oil and Gas Authority, or NOGA, said that NOGA hopes that Bahrain will continue oil and gas production for at least 30 years. This didn't mean that oil will be depleted by that time but that NOGA will look for alternative energy sources mainly nuclear energy and renewable energy such as solar and wind energy, he added.

(MENAFN) The Kuwaiti government said that annual inflation in Kuwait has eased to 3.74 percent in July 2009 from 4.2 percent in the previous month, Reuters reported. Kuwait's consumer price index stood at 136 points at the end of July compared with 131.1 a year earlier, Kuwait's statistics office data showed. The office delayed inflation data releases last year. The global crisis slashed growth rates across the Gulf Arab oil producing region, reducing consumer price growth from 2008 record peaks, with some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, experiencing deflation in 2009. Housing prices held steady month-on-month in July, while food prices rose slightly by 0.7 percent. Transport prices fell 0.3 percent in July. On the month, consumer prices were flat in July for the second month in row after rising by just 0.22 percent in May from a month earlier.

(MENAFN) Emaar Industries & Investments Ltd (EII), a member of Emaar Properties PJSC, inaugurated a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant for low voltage and medium voltage switchboards of its subsidiary Dynergy Technologies in TechnoPark, Dubai, Gulf News reported. The first phase of the new facility, sprawling over 22,000 square meters, will create 300 jobs and has a capacity to produce 30,000 switchboard panels per year. Work on the second phase is being planned with a new extension for medium voltage panels and a new product line. Dynergy Technologies is specialized in the assembly and supply of low voltage and medium voltage electrical switchboards and focuses on facilitating energy solutions for local communities, hotels and construction projects. Emaar Industries & Investments, as a facilitator of the industrial and manufacturing sector, supports Dynergy in business development, marketing, establishing banking relations and implementing strong corporate governance measures. EII also secured a partnership with ABB Industries for Dynergy products thus bringing in advanced power and automation technology to the company.