No.6, February 2005


Responsible Editor: Mrs Renate HUSSEINI, member of the board.

For all questions and information requests, please contact our Coordinator:

Mrs. Najwa Malik, najwa-sgbg@eajb.com.sa
Tel. 667 2222 ext. 1119

Editorial

Dear member of SGBGJ,

Fortunately in this unpredictable world, the events announced in our previous Newsletter have mostly taken place even if they partly underwent some changes, except the Lecture Evening with Dr. Mulack which is postponed for some time. The mid-January week-end trip finally went to the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea near the city of Jizan. Unfortunately in the last moment our geological friends from SGS had to cancel their participation, so it was quite a small party which assembled at the Jeddah Airport in the early morning hours. (See details under "Highlights of the Past"). We hope that you will enjoy discovering the impressing calendar of upcoming events which - do I need to remind you - are for 2005 members only, so do not delay any more the renewal of your SGBGJ membership.


Future Events



Week-end trip  (destination not yet decided)  in cooperation with the Saudi Geological Survey : 24/25th of February 2005
After the huge success of the guided tour to Northern Harrat Rahat  and the most interesting trip to the Farasan Islands in January (see report below),  we plan a second guided tour with the SGS towards the end of February but the final destination is not yet decided. We plan to have a two days' excursion not too far from Jeddah, with one night spent in the desert. All necessary details will be provided as soon as possible.




Lecture evening with Ambassador Dr. Mulack : Second half of April
The visit of Dr. Mulack, originally planned for February 2005 had to be postponed for various reasons. But we will have the chance to meet him again in April, and you will be informed about the exact date as soon as it will be available.
Dr. Mulack is in charge for Dialogue with Islam at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and those between us who attended his lecture last year surely remember his very profound and knowledgeable speech on how a dialogue between Western and Islamic countries could be instaured to the greater benefit of both sides.

Highlights of the Past

3 Days' visit to the Farasan Islands : 13th - 15th of January 2005

The Farasan Islands are located off the coast (about 1 hour by boat) of the Southern Red Sea near the city of Jizan.  They are "One of the areas with a high priority for conservation in the Arabian Red Sea.  These islands, numbering more than 120, are fringed by beautiful coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves. The waters are inhabited by important and endangered species such as turtles, whales, dolphins and dugong. Most of the reefs are pristine and rarely visited by outsiders. The beaches are used as nesting grounds by turtles, and some are recognized as internationally and regionally important sites for waterbirds." ( Quotation from :Rebuilding Coral Reefs by W. Gladstone and R. Khuzaiym;  (http://www.arabianwildlife.com/archive/vol3.1/reef.htm ). 
Quite a small group of SGBGJ members set out in the very early morning hours, first by plane to Jizan, then by boat to Farasan Al-Kebir, the biggest and most populated island of the Archipelago. Here we spent the day, walking on a beautiful and very long sandy beach, where we found lots of stranded starfish and observed different birds, then having a simple but very tasty lunch and a good nap to recover from our short night. The weather was quite stormy and already on the boat we had  a  rainshower which should have prepared us for the events to come..... The hotel is quite new, only two years old, the rooms were clean and nicely furnished, so everything seemed allright until 3 o'clock in the morning, when we all woke up by the sound of raindrops, unfortunately not only on the roof, which would have been considered normal, but falling right onto our beds, luggage, heads or arms!  It was pouring outside and the hotel staff was trying desperately to chase the accumulated water down from the leaking roof, but some of it found its way right into our rooms. So for the second night our sleep was quite disturbed until everybody had managed to find a dry corner for his bed.
The second day, the very rough sea did not deter our organisators to take us out by boat to several small islands, for some snorkeling, walking on untouched beaches or just lying in the sun, which on this day fortunately was nicely shining. Back to the hotel, the food for our dinner was excellent including delicious fresh fish and the night dry and quiet.
A second snorkeling tour the following morning by a much quieter sea was crowned  by the pleasure of observing a school of dolphins accompanying our boat for a long time on our way back to the port.
In the afternoon, before taking the boat back to Jizan, we were shown some old houses from the Ottoman period with beautiful stucco decor in the town of Farasan.
So all in all it was a very successful trip and for more information, please refer to Roger Harrison's Article in last Thursday's (03.02.2005) Review part of Arab News,
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=21&section=0&article=58561&d=8&m=2&y=2005

 by

Members' Corner: membership card and discounts

Reminder : The below mentioned discount offers are strictly limited to SGBGJ members, holders of a valid membership card, this means now the 2005 membership card.

<>New:
Tell Communication is very proud to introduce special rates for SGBG members with all new models of Siemens Mobile.
Contact :

 

Same list as in the previous Newsletter for memory :

Mövenpick Resort Al Nawras Jeddah
Special Corporate rate offer for members of SGBGJ. The offer extends for the moment to the end of the year 2004. The resort consists of 35 Two Bedroom Suites and 56 One Bedroom Suites, luxuriously equipped with a private swimming pool. These facilities might be rented for the week or only a weekend. Several restaurants overlooking the Red Sea complete the offer. For all details, please refer to our Coordinator, Mrs. Najwa Malik

Al Bilad Hotel (Golden Tulip)
One of the most popular hotels in Jeddah, Al Bilad is offering SGBGJ members very substantial discount rates (about 40%) for rooms with or without breakfast. This offer runs up to the end of 2005. Please ask our Coordinator, Mrs. Najwa Malik, for detailed information.

Linked to our planned visit to the facility:
Eed Clinic for Plastic Surgery (near Erfan & Bagedo Hospital)
This very well renowned clinic offers one free consultation and 50% discount on all services including operations. Our contact is Dr. Mamdouh A. Aziz Ashy, who will give us a lecture on 10th of October and guide us through the visit of the clinic. (For appointments and information please call : 639 88 58 62).

Soleil d'Or SPA
15% on all services for SGBGJ lady members. Contact : Mrs. Fatin Salah, General Manager. Tel. +966 2 283 22 33, Fax .+966 2 284 07 30;   
mobile  +966-50-5348015, e-mail  sibiedist@awalnet.net.sa


Discounts by different units of Juffali Group :

Juffali Automotive Company (JACO), Mercedes Benz :
Vehicles 6% discount, excluding periodical special offers; Spare parts and service : 10% discount

Juffali Auto Parts Company (JAPCO) :
 20 % Discount on all purchases throughout the Kingdom

JAHACO (Air conditioning, refrigeration, home appliances etc.) :
Special discount for SGBGJ members, the discount rate varies from 14.5% up to 25%, depending on the purchased product. Jeddah Showroom on Madina Road Kilo 7, contact person in the showroom : Mr. Mohammed Abdul Fattah (Tel. 669 38 81). For any enquiry or clarification about products, SGBGJ members might contact the Marketing Manager Mr. Sharif al-Nahas on 667 22 22, ext. 1252 or mobile 050 463 42 95.

	National Company or gifts and Sweets, shop "Le Bonheur", Prince Abdullah Street, Jeddah . 25 % on porcelaine, crystal, silverware.... 10 % on chocolates and sweets
	Lufthansa 10 % on Business Class and 5% on Economy Class flights
	Saudi Business Forms, Industrial City Phase 3 Street, No 401 10 % on all printing jobs
	Jeddah Marriott Hotel Special Corporate Rates 2004; Special meeting packages
	Erfan & Bagedo Hospitals Substantial discounts (50% and 25%) on all medical examens, surgeries etc. Please ask our Coordinator, Mrs. Najwa Malik for details.

Saudi German Business News



German Language Center
The February / March session of German language courses is about to begin, and we will inform you about the following session as soon as timing and venue are decided.
We regret to be obliged to announce the upcoming departure of Mrs. Fasser who will leave Jeddah during summer 2005. Fortunately, a successor as coordinator of the German Language Centre has been found  in Ms Gabi Sattelmair-Wixey who will be introduced to the SGBGJ members during the next Social Gathering.

Contact:

Ms. Fasser (Coordinator German language courses):
Tel.:      0508 61 01 74           
e-mail:  sgbg_germancourses@hotmail.com

Assistant
Mrs. Kamuran                    sgbg_kamuran@yahoo.ie
phone 691 0828 x 4317
consultation                        Tue – Wed 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.


Miscellaneous: Found on the Internet

Top 100 of Saudi Companies
http://www.arabnews.com/top100/top.html

Arab News, the well known English language Newspaper publishes the Top 100 of Saudi companies with the following information :

• Rank in 2003 and 2004
• Company name
• Revenues in 2003 and 2004
• Assets in 2003
• Capital in 2003
• Profits in 2003
• Employees in 2003
• Number of shares (30.11.2004)
• Price of share (30.11.2004)
• Market Capital (30.11.2004)
• Sector
• Telephone
• Website

The non insider as myself when reading this list finds himself with a lot of questions, like how come that Saudi Aramco, the biggest employer in the Kingdom after the Government is not in the list, neither we find the National Commercial Bank, biggest bank of the Kingdom in terms of assets, nor the Saudi Bin Laden Group?  I concluded that there must be a criterion of choice for this list which eludes my understanding.......

Arab decision : The most comprehensive Database in the Arab World

http://www.arabdecision.org

This database seems to be one of quite a few attempts to give political, economical and business information on the countries of the so called "Arab World". The database points to information about 19 countries,  of which only Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan and Morocco are presently available. The data on the other countries will be implemented progressively. Quite astonishing and contrary to my expectations knowing that there is no such thing as a political party in the Kingdom, under the heading "Political Parties" in Saudi Arabia, you will find the "Islamic Reform Movement". So much the better! The Database having been launched in 2002 seems to be still "going strong", because you find a lot of pages very recently updated, which is always a good sign.
The database has the ambition to give the names of the directors of Government services or the top managers of private companies. This is a field of information which must be continuously updated and it is therefore very difficult to have it all up to date. In numerous cases the Database gives biographical information on the cited top managers and sometimes we even find a photo. I had no time to check in detail the accuracy or obsolescence of the cited persons in a particular position.

A link on the name of a company (I checked with the "National Commercial Bank") leads you to a page displaying contact information (Postal address, contact email address and Website), together with some details on the sector of activity of the company and the main shareholders.

Please find below part of the press release for the launch of "Arab Decision Database":

http://www.mafhoum.com/en/en_index.htm
"A Concept", the editor of www.mafhoum.com web site is pleased to announce the launch of its “Arab Decision Makers” project: www.arabdecision.org. This project describes government, civil society, economic and educative institutions of the Arab countries. It clarifies the interactions between such institutions, and shows their key managers (Decision Makers) and ways to contact them.

The site is first targeted towards citizens providing greater transparency into the workings of government and society at all levels. It is also of interest to all those, whether Arabs or non-Arabs, wishing to interact, trade, invest in or simply understand the Arab world.

Originally funded by our company, ‘A Concept’, it has since received support from the Ford Foundation, with the participation of UNESCO, ESCWA and UNDP.

The site describes: political institutions (head of state, legislative, government, judiciary), local institutions (governmental and representations), civil society (political parties, unions, job creators groups and social organizations), the economic system (regulation authorities, public and private large companies), the financial system (central banks, banks and insurance companies), and the system of graduate education and research centers.

Our overall aim is to follow and keep track of the careers of Arab decision-makers and of the institutions with which they are connected, in close connection with Arab national governments, international institutions, the Arab press and various social groups. The present activities of the project teams target to extend the database to a further 10 Arab countries. "