We are looking for sales & marketing representatives in different countries. Apply now!

Short Takes:
Following his visit to Damascus, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz arrived for a 24-hour visit in Amman, where he was welcomed at the airport by King Abdullah Bin Hussein. A Jordanian official source said the two leaders will hold talks on bilateral relations and means of adopting a united Arab position concerning the Middle East peace process following the Israeli elections. Go

Mahmud Abd El-Aziz, the head of the Egyptian bank union's and member of the board of directors of the Egyptian National Bank, opposed the idea of increasing the number of banks in Egypt, saying that the banking sector, comprised of 64 banks fulfills all Egyptian banking needs. Abd El-Aziz told ArabicNews.com yesterday, "The goal is not increasing the banks' number, but the safety of these banks," referring to the importance of decreasing the number of banks and taking serious steps toward combining some of Egypt's small and medium-sized banks into large entities. Go

The Arab Organization for Industrial Development has begun executive steps to establish an Arab union for medium and small industries, regarding the role played by these industries in Arab economy. The organization's secretary general Talat Ben Zafer told ArabicNews.com that small industries topped the discussions of the Arab organization's eighth conference, held in Damascus last year, where they reached to the recommendation that calls for the founding of the union and establishing the first Arab gathering for small and medium industries organized by the organization in Cairo at the end of last year. Go

Imam al-Azhar Sheikh Muhammad Sayed Tantawi and the patriarch of the Orthodox church in Egypt Shenouda III have reiterated their support and their congratulations to the formal approval made by the Egyptian Parliament of the nomination President Hosni Mubarak for a fourth six-year constitutional term. Shenouda said President Mubarak is a man who loves honesty,"adding "national unity between Muslims and Copts is not born today or yesterday. It is rather a solid base since they have lived together all over 14 centuries." Go

Kuwait on Tuesday opened a telephone line with the Palestinian self-rule areas via Jordan. The Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas said on Wednesday that this measure has come in implementation of the decision taken by the Kuwaiti minister of communications in mid-May. Go

The French daily Liberation has described King Abdullah Bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who recently visited Paris, as "Charm of the Middle East." The paper was quoted by Monte Carlo radio on Wednesday as saying, "The young king has stamped his policy with Arab traits. He mended his relations with Saudi Arabia and eliminated the freeze between Syria and Jordan and took his country out of its Arab isolation." Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry said yesterday that King Abdullah's talks with French President Jacques Chirac dealt with the Middle East peace process, Iraq, Kosovo, and the Jordanian economy. Go

Syrian deputy commander in chief, deputy premier, and defense minister, Lt General Mustafa Tlass on Thursday met with the delegation representing the Pakistani National Defense Academy, led by director Muhammad Saeed Sharif. Talks dealt with friendship and cooperation relations between the armies of the two countries and means of supporting them in the interests of Syria and Pakistan. Go

Egyptian Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagi said Egypt will organize for the first time an international tourism stock market, which is an exhibition for Mediterranean tourism which will be held at the Cairo International Conference Center in the first week of March, 2000. Go

Mayor of the Iraqi Capital city of Baghdad, Kacem Jassem Aouad, arrived on Thursday here for a work visit to Morocco. Jassem Aouad told the press upon arrival that his visit is part of the exchange of expertise between the city council of Baghdad and the Urban community of Rabat. Go

Moroccan communication minister, Larbi Messari, has represented King Hassan II in the swearing-in ceremony of the new El-Salvador president, Francisco Guillermo Flores Perez. Go

A Euro-Mediterranean conference on renewable energies is currently held in Tunis with the participation of experts from 30 countries. The conference, also attended by delegates of the world solar commission, the European commission and the U.N development program, is debating policies to promote renewable energies and consequently save energy and encourage the use of renewable energies in industry, rural development and water desalination. Go

The Human rights organization in Bahrain has called on the ruler of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa al-Khaleifa to release all political prisoners in the country, to stop torture and not to expel the opposition members. The organization's secretary general Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja called in a message he sent to the ruler of Bahrain for "releasing non-sentenced prisoners especially those under 18; those who were tried before the state's security court or to try them within the international conditions for just trials and under the supervision of human rights organizations." Go

Morocco decided Thursday to suspend all imports of Belgian poultry products after the discovery of the cancer-causing chemical dioxin in animal feed. Moroccan health authorities said that they made the decision to protect the consumers and that all European poultry products, feed and derivatives will be submitted to tight control measures.Following the outbreak of dioxin-contaminated chicken scandal, several countries around the world including those of the European union started to withdraw Belgian chickens, eggs, porks... from their markets. Go

An agreement for cooperation was endorsed yesterday, at Abu Dhabi, between the latter and Queensland province in Australia. The agreement aims at upgrading the volume of economic exchange between the two parties through upgrading fields including agriculture, manufacturing food stuffs, tourist services, communications and transport, trade, industry, investment, education, services and transporting information technology. Go