GCC countries

Over the years Middle East has emerged as a prime destination for the world's migrants. In 2010 around 19 million migrants were present in this region which includes 6.1 percent of the total population of the region. So immigrant density in ME is twice of that in the world. Three percent of worlds’ population includes international migrants. But there is no doubt that among Middle East countries we see 6 Arab countries member in Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (includes KSA, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain) which have accepted  enormous rate of migrant from various parts of the world. Estimates of the World Bank shows that in 2010 around 15 million foreigners have lived and worked in these states that was 40 percent of the population of GCC.

The global economic crisis has caused many drastic changes in operation of the global banking system. However, Islamic banking considered to be an emerging force presenting stability and growth. Purpose of this study are the measurement of stability and comparison of Islamic and conventional banks in Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) and the Middle East & North Africa’s (MENA) countries. New evidence about determinants of performance and risk of Islamic banks vs. conventional banks exists. The research is based on financial data of 144 banks from 16 countries where Islamic and conventional banking institutions operate, for the time period 2003 – 2012, which is divided into two sub-periods: pre- crisis (2003-2007) and post- crisis (2008-2012) in order to investigate the effect of the economic crisis on the stability of Islamic banking institutions.

It has become more and more important to study the interconnections across the cultural and security sector and imagine how changes in one sector can disrupt operations in the other one. This paper is trying to chart the evolution of cultural influences over state security, arguing that security interests are defined by leaders who respond to cultural factors.
Also, by analyzing the basic cultural dimensions, we will be able to see in what measure citizens coming from different states, with a different history, values, ideology, politics, religion, can influence the security policy and strategy of the state where they are relocating.

The global economic crisis has caused many drastic changes in operation of the global banking system. However, Islamic banking considered to be an emerging force presenting stability and growth. Purpose of this study are the measurement of stability and comparison of Islamic and conventional banks in Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) and the Middle East & North Africa’s (MENA) countries. New evidence about determinants of performance and risk of Islamic banks vs. conventional banks exists. The research is based on financial data of 144 banks from 16 countries where Islamic and conventional banking institutions operate, for the time period 2003 – 2012, which is divided into two sub-periods: pre- crisis (2003-2007) and post- crisis (2008-2012) in order to investigate the effect of the economic crisis on the stability of Islamic banking institutions.

Abu Dhabi is suddenly prioritising the need to improve relations with Ankara, but it has long way to go in convincing Turkey that it's serious.

https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/the-uae-wants-to-normalise-relations-with-turkey-is-it-genuine-43251

Background: In recent years, there is an emerging increase in the prevalence of oral and oropharyngeal cancers (O-OPCs) across the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Consequently, this review aimed to explore the epidemiology and possible risk fac- tors of O-OPCs in GCC countries.
Methods: Data published after 2008 related to O-OPCs in GCC countries were obtained through electronic searches in Medline/ PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE and Google Scholar. Keywords related to the association between O-OPCs metrics (epide- miology and risk factors) and GCC countries were used for electronic searches.
Results: The overall prevalence of OPCs increased significantly over time (40-51%) in some countries (Saudi Arabia and Arab Emigrat- ed) of the Gulf regions. The pooled risk factor was 3.4 (2.5 - 4.7).Among the risk factors, human papillomavirus and the use of smoke and smokeless tobacco revealed odds ratio (OR) 3.31 (3.13 - 4.5) and 0.60 (0.45 - 0.80) at 95% confidence interval (CI).
Conclusion: A positive correlation between factors like age, diet, hy- giene, genetics, viral and bacterial infection, consumption of alcohol and tobacco products with OPC-MFC is suggested.
Keywords: Oral cancer; GCC countries; Oropharyngeal cancer; HPV; Tobacco

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Japan have been important economic partners for several decades, chiefly in the energy sector. While the oil and gas sectors are still very important, especially after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan is diversifying its bilateral relationship keeping in mind two factors – one, reviving its own economy; and two, the economic diversification programmes in the Gulf countries.

Though the share of non-oil trade in the overall trade volume is small at present, it not only occupies an important place in the current scheme of things, but is also expected to increase in the future.

Some of the non-oil sectors of collaboration include trade, investment, renewable energy, infrastructure, healthcare, culture, tourism and education, among others. There are also attempts to build partnerships in more ambitious sectors such as space technology, artificial intelligence, blockchain, fintech and other applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Japan has identified these new areas of cooperation as part of the ‘Comprehensive Partnership Towards 21st Century’. This includes the ‘Saudi-Japan Cooperation Agenda,’ which may help the Kingdom’s ‘Vision 2030’ plan.

As a value-added component, this improving nonoil ties, both in the public and private sectors, have the potential to impact markets beyond the Gulf region, especially in Iraq, Egypt and African countries.

Interestingly, since the safety of the energy and economic supply chain is important, even security and defence cooperation is now becoming part of the diversified relations.

Under the banner of economic diplomacy, this Insight tracks developments and opportunities in the non-oil sector, especially with regard to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

It also identifies certain challenges – domestic economic problems; tension and instability in the Middle East; and competition from other Asian countries – that require attention to ensure that Gulf-Japan interdependence remains robust in the future.

Finally, one of its recommendations includes encouraging GCC countries to develop bilateral and multilateral partnerships with Japan by joining the Freedom Corridor project (in which India is also involved) and promoting infrastructure investment in Africa (and in other parts of the world too).

Museums that have recently been completed in the Gulf present a recurrent strategy. The emphasis is often on the container rather than the content. In this framework, architecture is the language that, through visual metaphors alluding to local traditions, generates a contextual linkage and a sense of place. Therefore, none of these latest museums is designed as a building. Instead, it is a desert rose, a falcon’s feather, a sail, or any other reference to Gulf iconography. The present text analyses the meaning of symbolic language in architecture by comparing a series of case studies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), culminating with Jean Nouvel’s antipodal proposals for the National Museum in Qatar and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The paper argues that the validation of buildings through visual allusions to locality is a recurrent feature of recent Gulf museums, as a response to a fluid context in constant adjustment on the tradition-modernity axis.

The digital revolution has impacted all aspects of our lives. For governments agencies ICT can improve inter-department business, as well as deepen relationships with businesses and citizens. It can do this by enhancing and streamlining service delivery, creating a more informed and active citizenry and making government more accountable, transparent and effective. This paper explores how the six countries in the Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) have responded to this opportunity and challenges, and how they will need to react to emerging technological trends if they are to maintain the momentum and potential afforded by e-Government. Given the pace of technology-related changes, this chapter encompasses academic literature, industry perspectives, and news reports to tell this emerging story.

The present study aims to identify the differences in the entrepreneurial ecosystems of GCC and India. Special attention is given to certain attributes and components within the ecosystems that make the individual ecosystems work. To compare the ecosystems of GCC and India, different databases were used to understand of the two regions and their entrepreneur ecosystems. The results indicate that the best feature of the GCC entrepreneurial ecosystem is its connection with the oil-based market, where GCC entrepreneurs benefit from numerous potentials and help the government. GCC Governments support entrepreneurs and initiate financing to explore business in foreign market. However, the best feature in their ecosystem is the physical and service infrastructure. In addition, cultural support for entrepreneurship is high in India. Nevertheless, the present research proposes proposing that this measurement is not representation for the actual situation. This analogy reflects an indication of both regions support to entrepreneurship and thereby providing an environment for ecosystems. The study recommends that future research should address the effect of cultural and political differences on measurement scores.

The study assessed the role employee shared factors play in the practice of Management in the gulf cooperation council countries. It adopted a descriptive research design. A pilot study of 25 Managers who had worked in several of these countries but currently working in the United Arab Emirates was conducted. Its sample was 150 individuals in different cities of the United Arab Emirates, working for different organizations. A semi structured questionnaire was used. Demographic profiles were analyzed using descriptive statistics. For further analysis of the data, meaning was inferred by ascertaining the relationships of the variables of the study through correlation and regression analysis. The findings affirmed that employee shared factors affect the practice of management. The study took 90 days to be completed.

The global economic crisis has caused many drastic changes in operation of the global banking system. However, Islamic banking considered to be an emerging force presenting stability and growth. Purpose of this study are the measurement of stability and comparison of Islamic and conventional banks in Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) and the Middle East & North Africa's (MENA) countries. New evidence about determinants of performance and risk of Islamic banks vs. conventional banks exists. The research is based on financial data of 144 banks from 16 countries where Islamic and conventional banking institutions operate, for the time period 2003-2012, which is divided into two sub-periods: pre-crisis (2003-2007) and post-crisis (2008-2012) in order to investigate the effect of the economic crisis on the stability of Islamic banking institutions.

Paradoxical as it may appear, it is now widely accepted that the major oil producing countries of the Gulf face their own energy crisis. is is not due to imminent exhaustion of hydrocarbon reserves, as some had predicted or feared in the past decade. e threat of peak oil has dramatically receded in the past five years, thanks to the rapid increase of production from so-called non-conventional oil and gas reserves – primarily in the United States, but also in the rest of the world. Indeed, it is increasingly clear that those resources are not confined to the United States or North America, but found in many other parts of the world, including the Arabian Peninsula. Neither is the crisis due to universal acceptance of targets for the effective reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) in order to contain global warming within 2 degrees centigrade, which science suggests is the maximum that we can afford before catastrophic consequences emerge. It is rather due to the very rapid increase in domestic energy consumption, which threatens to outpace the growth in hydrocarbon production; and the growing awareness of the fact that an energy system exclusively reliant on hydrocarbon sources is not sufficiently flexible and does not provide an adequate platform for economic diversification and sustainability of the Gulf economies and societies.

ملخص
يعالج هذا البحث موضوع (الملكية الفكرية في المشروعات الصغيرة والمتوسطة). حيث يتناول في المبحث الأول مفهوم تلك المشروعات الصغيرة والمتوسطة وخصائصها، ثم مفهوم "ريادة الأعمال" والإبداع والابتكار فيها، وفق منظور الفكر الاقتصادي والقانوني.
ثم ينتقل إلى المبحث الثاني لتوضيح الدور الذي تلعبه الملكية الفكرية في المشروعات الصغيرة والمتوسطة، سواء تعلق بدور حقوق الملكية الأدبية والفنية كحق المؤلف والحقوق المجاورة أم تعلق الأمر بدور حقوق الملكية الصناعية والتجارية كالعلامات التجارية والرسوم والنماذج الصناعية وبراءات الاختراع، فضلاً عن دور المعارف التقنية.
ثم يتطرق المبحث الثالث لتناول الحماية القانونية للمشروعات الصغيرة والمتوسطة الذي يفرق بين مبدأ "التلقائية" الذي ينطبق على الحقوق الأدبية والفنية فيتم اكتسابها بمجرد ابتكارها والتعبير عنها بأي شكل من الأشكال، ومبدأ "الإقليمية" الذي ينطبق على حقوق الملكية التجارية والصناعية وما يستوجبه ذلك من إجراء شكلي يتمثل في التسجيل، ويبين كيفية إجراء هذه الحماية وطنياً ودولياً. قد اختُتِم البحث بأهم النتائج والتوصيات التي توصل إليها الباحث.
كلمات مفتاحية: الملكية الفكرية، المشروعات الصغيرة والمتوسطة.



Summary
This research deals with the subject of (Intellectual property in small and medium enterprises “SMEs”). where the first section talks about the concept of small and medium enterprises and their characteristics, then the concept of "entrepreneurship" with the view of its creativity and innovation, according to perspective of the economic and legal thought.
In the second section, we clarify the role of intellectual property in the small and medium enterprises, whether related to literary and artistic property rights such as copyrights and other neighboring, or related the rights of industrial and commercial property such as trademarks, industrial designs, patents, as well as technical knowledge.
The Third section addresses the legal protection for small and medium enterprises, which distinguishes between the principle of "spontaneity", which applies to literary and artistic rights that is earned once invented or expressed in any form, and the principle of "territoriality"  that applies to commercial and industrial property rights which required by a registration formality, the section shows how this protection is talked nationally and internationally. In conclusion we highlight the key findings and recommendations of the research.
Keywords: Intellectual property, the small and medium enterprises “SMEs”.

Dr. Ali Alsidiqi
journal of Law, Bahrain, edition (10) number (1), 2018

E-government construction requires technical development and implementation solutions from private sector in the country. Both sectors, tourism and government are facing obstacles and challenges generated by the advance and improvement in the use of ICTs by consumers and citizens. Ksenia et al. (2014) illustrated that there are 21 dimensions of tourist satisfaction toward aesthetic judgment and effects in behavioral intention to visit and revisit. This report presents the Uniqueness dimension's overview from the 21 dimensions to be visited and discussed using a case study of GCC interviews in order to conduct conclusion and recommendations to the GCC nations.

Rada Współpracy Państw Zatoki to ugrupowanie integracyjne rozwijające się znacznie szybciej niż inne kraje o wysokim dochodzie oraz większość krajów o dochodzie niższym lub średnim. Jest to związane z dużym wydobyciem i eksportem surowców energetycznych, ale także dużymi inwestycjami mającymi na celu dywersyfikację gospodarki. Najważniejszymi szansami na dalszy, dynamiczny rozwój tego regionu są: - jedne z największych na świecie rezerwy surowców energetycznych, które mogą być z powodzeniem eksportowane jeszcze przez wiele lat, - inwestycje infrastrukturalne, szybko rozwijające się budownictwo oraz inne inwestycje mające na celu szybką modernizację oraz dywersyfikację gospodarki GCC, tak aby nie była ona zależna od eksportu surowców. - wspólne działania oraz odpowiedzialna polityka wewnętrzna i zagraniczna, mające na celu podtrzymanie stabilizacji politycznej w regionie, - dynamiczny wzrost populacji regionu i napływ taniej siły roboczej z uboższych państw sąsiadujących, który daje możliwość taniej realizacji projektów infrastrukturalnych i budowlanych oraz stanowi ważny element popytu krajowego przyczyniając się do wzrostu PKB. - bardzo dobra sytuacja sektora finansów publicznych oraz odpowiedzialna polityka budżetowa sprzyjająca rozwojowi gospodarczemu i dająca szansę na interwencje w czasie kryzysu gospodarczego bez narażenia się na utratę płynności finansów publicznych. Z drugiej strony Rada Współpracy Państw Zatoki będzie musiała stawić czoła wielu zagrożeniom dla dalszego rozwoju gospodarki. Najważniejszymi z nich są: - w dalszym ciągu zbyt duże uzależnienie od eksportu surowców energetycznych, - niestabilna sytuacja polityczna w otoczeniu państw Rady, ryzyko związane z terroryzmem oraz nieprzewidywalna polityka państw sąsiadujących takich jak Iran oraz pogrążony w wieloletniej wojnie Irak. - problem wielkiego zróżnicowania społecznego, szczególnie pomiędzy bardzo bogatą ludnością rdzenną oraz biednymi imigrantami przybywającymi do GCC "za chlebem". - pozostałe problemy wynikające z potrzeby asymilacji wielkiej liczby imigrantów, która w niektórych krajach przewyższyła już liczbę rodzimych mieszkańców tych terenów. - ryzyko niepowodzenia wielkich inwestycji w szczególności jeśli chodzi o budownictwo, które boleśnie odczuło skutki kryzysu na rynku nieruchomości. Podsumowując analizę najważniejszych szans i zagrożeń dla państw GCC, można stwierdzić, że kraje te dzięki dobrze prowadzonej polityce oraz wielkim zasobom naturalnym są w stanie przezwyciężyć trudności i zagrożenia jakie w kolejnych latach mogą przyczynić się do ograniczenia wzrostu zagranicznego. Nie będzie to niestety zadaniem łatwym a wiele trudnych do przewidzenia czynników zewnętrznych może zaszkodzić w budowaniu potęgi gospodarczej ugrupowania.

The Arab States of the Gulf region have vast reserves of petroleum. The reduction in oil prices since the summer of 2014, and their volatility pose strong challenges to the six economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In the present contribution, we argue that, in the long-run, diversified economies perform better than mono-sector economies. Also, innovation and entrepreneurship are key drivers for the diversification and growth of GCC economies. More specifically, in this article we analyze the innovation performance of the GCC economies and we consider their innovation strategies. In addition, we provide an overview of entrepreneurship in the GCC countries to grasp its current state, aiming at identifying the conditions to foster entrepreneurship in order to develop the non-oil private sector. Finally, we discuss the policies that would be required to boost innovation and stimulate entrepreneurship in the Arab States of the Gulf with the aim of diversifying their economies...

本稿は、石油依存経済から脱却し経済の多角化を長年の課題とするGCC 諸国が、中国との経済連携をどのように強めてきたかについて、労働移動と貿易取引、企業による投資活動に焦点を当てて概観を行った。GCC 諸国と中国との経済関係は、石油・天然ガス貿易を基盤としながらも、両地域のビジネスマンのネットワークを活用した消費財貿易の拡大など新たな動きも無視できない規模になりつつある。
　さらにGCC 諸国は、2019 年以降に中国の「一帯一路」構想に積極的に参画することで中国資金や技術の取り込みを図っているが、米中対立の進展や「一帯一路」構想自体の変容、そして国際的な脱炭素化の潮流を考慮すると、GCC 諸国政府や企業が中国経済にどれだけコミットし続けるかについては不透明である。GCC 諸国の中でも対中国依存の姿勢には濃淡があり、GCC 諸国内での対中姿勢の相違が、今後、GCC 諸国内での協調行動や合意形成にどう影響するかについて、今後も注視し続ける必要があろう。

The present study aims to identify the differences in the entrepreneurial ecosystems of GCC and India. Special attention is given to certain attributes and components within the ecosystems that make the individual ecosystems work. To compare the ecosystems of GCC and India, different databases were used to understand of the two regions and their entrepreneur ecosystems. The results indicate that the best feature of the GCC entrepreneurial ecosystem is its connection with the oil-based market, where GCC entrepreneurs benefit from numerous potentials and help the government. GCC Governments support entrepreneurs and initiate financing to explore business in foreign market. However, the best feature in their ecosystem is the physical and service infrastructure. In addition, cultural support for entrepreneurship is high in India. Nevertheless, the present research proposes proposing that this measurement is not representation for the actual situation. This analogy reflects an indication of both regions support to entrepreneurship and thereby providing an environment for ecosystems. The study recommends that future research should address the effect of cultural and political differences on measurement scores.

The study provides an empirical evidence of the relationship between macroeconomic variables and bank stock returns in the context of GCC countries using a panel data approach. The data for this study is retrieved from the DataStream World Bank Data archive. The data of 66 banks for the period 2005-2014 was examined using GLS estimation for the analysis. The findings revealed that there is a statistically positive relationship between macroeconomic variables and Islamic bank returns. The positive relationship implies that most banks in the GCC countries engage in numerous off-balance sheet transactions and implement efficient and effective methods of risk management, which reduces their exposure to changes in macroeconomic variables.

The expected increase in the world's population from 2000 to 2020 was about 50% in Africa, 25% in Asia, 14% in the United States, and À2% in Europe (Dore, 2005). This increase is coupled with an increase in water demand. However, industrial and domestic water demand increased twice compared to the rate of population increase. This, of course, is adding pressure on the already limited freshwater resources. On earth, about 3% of the total 1360 million km 3 of water present is fresh water. Out of this, only 1% of water is within human reach and only 0.3% is considered renewable (Dore, 2005). With this limited available freshwater resource and due to variation in its distribution, one out of four persons on earth is suffering from an inadequate supply of fresh water. The United Nations predicted that "about 7 billion people in 48 countries will face water stress or conditions of scarcity by the middle of the century" (Hameeteman, 2013). Scarcity in water resources is amplified given that the available natural water resources are increasingly exposed to pollution. Pollution could be induced in the form of saltwater intrusion due to overexploitation of groundwater reserves, discharge of untreated wastewater into water bodies, lack of proper sewage collection, excessive use of pesticides, leakage of oil pipelines, or degradation of the quality of rainfall due to air pollution or many other forms of induced pollutants in the environment. "The quality of water is as important as its quantity" (Mohamed et al., 2005). The salinity (a measure of the level of total dissolved solids [TDS]) of water available on earth is up to 10,000 mgL À1 , whereas salinity of seawater is in the range of 35,000e45,000 mgL À1 (Eltawil et al., 2009). However, the World Health Organization sets a standard of permissible limits of salinity in drinking water that ranges between 500 and 1000 mgL À1 (WHO, 2004). Given that freshwater resources are almost exhausted in many countries, a study by Clarke (2013) points to the scarcity of water and its degraded quality in several European countries,

Seiring peran politik internasional China tumbuh dari peran regional menjadi kekuatan global, hubungannya dengan negara-negara di luar lingkup kepentingan nasionalnya berkembang. Pasokan energi seperti minyak dan gas alam China yang terbatas memainkan peran penting dalam memperluas kepentingan China diluar kawasan Asia Timur. China merupakan negara yang haus akan energi, untuk mengamankan ketersediaan energi domestiknya China menjalin kerjasama dengan Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, volume perdagangan  energi antara China dan enam negara GCC telah meningkat secara substansial, dan dengan hubungan komersial ini, China telah menjadi mitra ekonomi utama bagi GCC.  Dalam makalah ini penulis menggunakan teori liberalism dengan konsep kerjasama internasional dan interdependensi. Dari hasil analisis penulis melihat hubungan kerjasama ini menimbulkan saling ketergantungan antara China dan GCC menjangkau berbagai macam bidang terutama energi.

The study provides an empirical evidence of the relationship between macroeconomic variables and bank stock returns in the context of GCC countries using a panel data approach. The data for this study is retrieved from the DataStream World Bank Data archive. The data of 66 banks for the period 2005-2014 was examined using GLS estimation for the analysis. The findings revealed that there is a statistically positive relationship between macroeconomic variables and Islamic bank returns. The positive relationship implies that most banks in the GCC countries engage in numerous off-balance sheet transactions and implement efficient and effective methods of risk management, which reduces their exposure to changes in macroeconomic variables.

This research aims to evaluate the Websites of companies in the (Gulf Council Cooperation Countries).
Methods: A total of 129 websites from companies in these countries (except Oman) were evaluated against guidelines
related to HCI and informational features and to globalization and personalization issues. Findings: The results are not
positive when assessing the interest to implement the features related to the aforementioned issues features. Applications/
Improvements: A lot more training and awareness is necessary to ensure website quality and to be successful in following
their companies’ strategies and offer their potential digital customers a convenient and productive navigation experience.

This volume is a key text for understanding the major regional international organizations of the Middle East. Analysing the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Arab-Maghreb Union in a concise and accessible format, it explores their successes and failures across their full range of activities (economic, social, and political), while contextualising the reasons why many consider that these organizations have stalled.

The book:

- assesses the reasons why IOs in the Middle East are under-developed relative to neighbouring regional organizations;

- explores their history, evolution, and structure, while considering the successes and failures of each IO;

- analyses the reasons for the specific difficulties faced by each organization through the context of intra-regional relations;

- develops a new framework for analysing the forces that have shaped these bodies and challenges the existing narrative that largely ignores the achievements and prospects of the organizations;

- considers the likely impact of the Arab Spring upon the future development of these frequently overlooked regional international organizations.