Tag Archives: Q&A

Q&A: Egyptian trader and 20-year China veteran

I recently met with Mohammed, an Egyptian trader and a 20-year veteran of China. He studied Chinese in Ein Shams University in the early 1980s, before finally settling in China permanently. It was that or become a policeman. Mohammed made a few comments that are worth noting.

First, trade between China and the Middle East has yet to seriously recover from the economic crisis.

Second, Arab traders haven’t suffered from visa restrictions. This is an important point. The fact Arab traders have been able to apply successfully for visas to China, in contrast to Europe and the United States, is one reason why China’s trade with the Middle East has grown so rapidly.

Q&A: Ameen Talib on Singapore’s Hadrami community

I spoke with Ameen Talib in Singapore recently. Ameen is Singaporean, but also an ethnic-Hadrami. The Hadramis originate from Yemen, on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and rank among the world’s great traders. I first encountered Hadrami traders in China buying goods for export to Saudi Arabia. Ameen is a fascinating individual and a major figure in Singapore’s Hadrami community. He is also responsible for the revitalization of the city’s Arab quarter having opened a number of Arabic restaurants in the Sultan Mosque area. We met at his first restaurant Café Le Caire and talked about Singapore’s Hadrami community and the importance of ethnic networks.

Q&A: Eckart Woertz on the Gulf’s agricultural investments

The Gulf’s purchases of foreign agricultural land have grabbed media headlines. And rightly so. The Middle East is the world’s largest regional importer of food. (It’s a little known fact that Egypt imports more wheat than China every year). Eckart Woertz is head of the economics department at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai, a fellow at Princeton, and produced one of the first comprehensive reports on the issue. He recently attended a conference in New York to speak on the Gulf’s agricultural investments. I was keen to hear his post-conference views.

Silk Road Gallery

Canton Trade Fair
August 12th, 2010

Editorials & Articles

“China cheat sheet helps investors survive”, Bloomberg, September 1, 2010

“No more silver bullets for Beijing”, Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2010

“China’s historic return to the Gulf”, Foreign Policy, April 2, 2010

Speaking Events

International Monetary Fund, Washington, October 10, 2010

SuperReturn Asia, Hong Kong, September 29, 2010

The Global Pricing Forum, Hong Kong, September 14, 2010