UAE

Arabs diversifying overseas investment
- Dawn
- 23 June 2008
Globalisation has taken yet another twist with some Middle Eastern countries deciding to grow their crops in other countries.
UAE ‘should invest in foreign farms’
- The National
- 21 June 2008
The UAE and its food-importing neighbours are “particularly vulnerable” to spiralling costs and should make significant investments in “contract farming” in Africa and Asia, says the UN’s Gulf food chief, Dr Kayan Jaff.
Gulf eyes oil-for-food pacts
- Inter Press Service
- 20 June 2008
Recent attempts by Persian Gulf countries to invest in farmlands abroad to counter soaring inflation and guarantee long-term food security could prove to be a win-win situation in the short term for both the oil-rich region and its investment-hungry neighbors, but continued high oil prices may neutralize the gains in the long-run, say experts.
Middle East economy: Food outsourcing
- Economist Intelligence Unit
- 18 June 2008
The Saudi government announced that it would co-ordinate with local private-sector companies and invest in strategic agricultural interests in key producer countries such as Brazil, Ukraine, Thailand and India, guaranteeing for itself supplies of cereals, meat and vegetables. It is already in advanced negotiations with Thai investors and a deal on rice farms in Thailand is likely before the end of the year.
Terres de Sodea-Sogeta?: la phase de présélection est achevée
- FLD Hebdo
- 17 June 2008
La société de développement agricole du Maroc (Sodea) et la Société de gestion des terres agricoles (Sogeta) viennent d’achever la deuxième phase de présélection des candidats pour l’exploitation sous forme de partenariat public-privé de 38?731 ha de terres agricoles, dont 5?800 ha sont déjà plantés.
Sodea - Sogeta. Rush des soumissionnaires
- TelQuel Magazine
- 13 June 2008
Même le groupe émirati Al Qudra (plutôt spécialisé dans l’immobilier) a soumissionné pour une exploitation dans la région d’El Hajeb.
Countries Are Renting Farmland Abroad
- US News and World Report
- 12 June 2008
As food crisis worsens, some nations are desperate for arable land
UAE may invest US$500m in Pakistan farms
- The National
- 08 June 2008
The Government is considering the purchase of farmland worth US$500 million (Dh1.8 billion) in Pakistan as part of a strategy to lower food import costs.
High food prices make oil sheikhs turn to farming
- Economic Times
- 02 June 2008
To break the runaway inflation that is fuelled by high food costs, Gulf rulers have a new strategy: they are buying unused agricultural land in poor countries like Pakistan, Thailand and Sudan, and becoming large-scale farmers.
Food crisis may divide Middle East's oil haves, have-nots
- Bloomberg
- 17 May 2008
“Buying farms is not a bad thing,” Panos Konandreas, acting director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Geneva, said in a telephone interview. “If you are like Saudi Arabia and have all the resources in the world, you can help farms optimize their strategies and there will be more production.”
Pakistani farm talks are murky
- The National
- 13 May 2008
Talks aimed at acquiring large agricultural plots of land in Pakistan were not expected to yield results any time soon, a senior Pakistani government official has said.
UAE needs to invest in Egypt farm sector
- Emirates Business 24/7
- 13 May 2008
UAE wants to boost investment in Egypt’s agricultural sector in the light of the current rise in prices of commodities worldwide.