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3 March 2010Gulf oil producers have abandoned long-standing nationalistic policies of achieving food self-sufficiency and switched to a more realistic approach of using their strong financial muscle to invest in farm projects in fertile countries.
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26 January 2010The urgency among Gulf states to pursue farmland acquisitions has diminished as food prices have gone down and controversy has gone up. Still, Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with its plans.
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![From the Bosphorus: Straight – A proposal to be stewed, roasted, baked or boiled]( "From the Bosphorus: Straight – A proposal to be stewed, roasted, baked or boiled")
4 January 2010This proposal smacks of the 18th and 19th century capitalizations of the Ottoman government that made Turkey a vassal of European powers. Thanks Mr. Korkmaz. But no thanks.
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17 December 2009What do the Berlin Wall and the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) have in common?
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15 December 2009Sudan's minister of state for investment said yesterday he expects investments of $6-7 billion in the country in 2010, adding that Africa's largest nation is seeing increased interest in its agricultural sector.
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12 December 2009Baghdad has suggested that Gulf Cooperation Council countries invest in Iraq farms to help revive its agriculture and ensure the Gulf's food security locally.
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![When wise investing leads to full stomachs]( "When wise investing leads to full stomachs")
16 November 2009Why produce a low-value crop such as wheat using expensive water when the FAO says the global wheat harvest will this year be second only to last year’s record?
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23 September 2009Bangkok was wary of GCC efforts to ensure its food supplies by purchasing rice growing lands, and now political instability is chilling the investment climate. Tom Spender reports
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7 September 2009Agricultural experts have called for a halt to moves by Gulf investors to snap up foreign land, amid claims that poor nations are losing much-needed farmland in a calculated land grab.
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18 August 2009Thailand is poised to establish joint ventures with Gulf states to secure rice, processed agricultural products and food supplies for the oil-rich countries. But the government has reiterated that foreigners will not be allowed to invest in farming and livestock businesses in Thailand.
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11 August 2009The Gulf countries remain 'highly vulnerable' to commodity price volatility on international markets, as the recent surge in sugar prices shows.
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31 July 2009Southeast Asian countries took big steps towards formalizing food-for-oil deals with Gulf states at a June meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
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30 July 2009In a new study, the Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development says that Gulf States' projects to grow food abroad are not large enough to slash the Arab farm import bill.
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29 July 2009Many governments in the region have been trying to address the food security concern by investing in farmlands overseas such as Sudan and Malaysia. John W Power, president, LSC International, feels this is unlikely to solve the problem in the long term, especially if the indigenous population is short of food.
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18 July 2009While Oman has yet to indicate it will follow the course, it is in this make-or-break moment for a new, more stable capitalist system that the Gulf – and perhaps Oman in the future – are forging a rather novel form of global venture, that is, government-funded offshore farming.
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15 July 2009Rothschild has recently formed a co-operation agreement with Rabobank, a leading global food and agricultural bank. The agreement covers co-operation for mergers and acquisitions and the equity capital market across a number of sectors including farm inputs and equipment, farm-based commodities, primary food processing, food processing and beverages.
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7 July 2009L'appel est quasiment passé inaperçu la semaine dernière. Mais les six pays du Conseil de coopération du Golfe ont proposé, à Bahreïn, aux dix membres de l'Asean un partenariat dans le domaine alimentaire : des terres agricoles contre du pétrole.
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30 June 2009Asian nations want to secure their energy needs, while Gulf Arab states are targeting investments in farmland to secure their food supply.
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25 June 2009Amid fears of land-grabbing foreigners, Thailand's Democrat government is all set to give local landlords a big bonanza.
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24 June 2009"According to our laws and our policy, foreigners or foreign companies are not allowed to rent or buy land to grow rice or any kind of food, including raising livestock, in Thailand," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.