No.12, December 2006


Responsible Editor: Mrs Renate HUSSEINI, member of the Board and Coordinator.

Editorial

Dear member of SGBGJ,

This last Newsletter in the year 2006 gives us - i.e.the management of the Saudi German Business Group of Jeddah - the opportunity to wish you all a very happy and successful year 2007. Since the Eid al-Fitr break we have had a very busy season with lectures, a beautiful concert and a lot of socialising during the different events and we hope that you all have the feeling that it is worthwhile to be a member of this very active and dynamic group.
I am sorry to repeat myself but I have to appeal to you all once again asking for feedback concerning the Newsletters, suggestions for projects you might wish to be undertaken by the group or subjects you might wish to be treated in a lecture. We will then select the appropriate speaker and organize the function.
So hopefully in 2007 the activities of SGBG will meet your expectations and make you happy to be a member of the group. 

Future Events

Visit :

National Prawn Factory,  January or February 2007, exact date to be communicated in due time.

Saudi Arabia’s National Prawn Company has formally opened what’s claimed to be the world’s most advanced shrimp processing plant in the world.
Situated just south of Jeddah, the sophisticated factory has the capacity to process 80t of shrimp every 24 hours.
The factory has been built in the company’s shrimp form complex that covers 6 sq Km and comprises more than 10 forms, while the factory itself covers a production area of about 9,000 sq metres.
The National Prawn Company is a large vertically integrated shrimp farming operation producing black tiger and white (Penaeus indicus) shrimp.
Headquartered in Jeddah on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, the company offers a range of frozen shrimp and shrimp products to major international markets.
There are already plans for expansion as the Saudi Arabian government has given the company another 15 farms in a new large area.

Highlights of the Past

The lecture in the French Consulate General by Ambassador Hans Gnodtke on "The Cultural dialogue  with the Moslem World - a European Perspective" has given us a deep insight into the problems pertaining to such an undertaking. Sometimes it is difficult to reach a real dialogue which means that each party is actually listening to the other. He stressed the need for all citizens of Germany to respect the values of a modern democratic state.

Prof. Dr. R. Eichmann : Archeological finds in Tayma .... :The second  lecture in this term  showed the importance of human settlements in the Arabian Peninsula in ancient times and  made us all  wish to organize a visit to this historic site, a demand that Prof. Eichmann graciously accepted, suggesting that  the second half of March would be a good time to travel there.

Assuredly the most outstanding event in the last weeks was the concert of classical chamber music by two excellent musicians: Rudolf Döbler (flute) and  Hiroaki Nakane (piano) . This concert was graciously hosted by our chairman, Sheikh Khaled Juffali, in his home and proved to be a huge success.

Members' Corner:

The response to the flyer distributed during the latest functions and to the general e-mail introducing the new coordinator and giving all necessary information on how to become a member of SGBG,  has been very positive and we are happy to welcome as of today at least 12 members having already paid their membership fee for 2007 and some twenty odd other people having sent in their application form.
Important :  Please note that 2006 members wishing to continue their membership in 2007 do not need to send a new application form; they simply pay their new membership fee and eventually inform us about any change in their data (new phone number, new e-mail address, new company etc.)

Business News

Jeddah Economic Forum

JEF 2007 will study Privatisation as a tool to raise the efficiency of the economic system and increase its competitive posture in an interrelated world. And the role of the Individual, being the object of all reforms, will also be specifically emphasised.

In each Programme segment, our examination will include Local, Regional and Global perspectives. We will showcase stories of success and examine pitfalls and unintended consequences. Some of the stories that will be showcased will be at a national and international level, while others will cover Institutional Reform and explore the tools that help reshape the mindset and culture of those Institutions.

Saudi Arabia is currently riding the wave of the "second boom". This wave brings with it new opportunities but also invites reflection on what may have gone wrong during the first boom in the 1970s – and what now needs to be done to avoid the miscalculation and unintended consequences of past plans for economic development.

<>Duration: February 24, 2007 - February 27, 2007

Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Organized By: Jeddah Marketing Board - Jeddah Chamber of Commerce

Contacts:

Jeddah Marketing Board P.O.Box 1500 , Jeddah 21431, Saudi Arabia Tel. +966 - 2- 6570001, Fax +966-2-6571415 E-mail: jmb@jcci.org.sa

German Language Center

DEUTSCHE SPRACHKURSE            GERMAN LANGUAGE COURSES
 Sprechen Sie Deutsch?   
Highly qualified native German teachers only! Small classes provide intensive tuition!
Our students should be over 16 years old and have a reasonable knowledge of the English language to be able to follow the lessons.

Enrolment and information :  Please contact the office at the German International School  in Jeddah.
Phone : 02 691 35 84
E-mail : office@German-School-Jeddah.org

Office hours: Saturday to Wednesday from 8.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
 

Miscellaneous: Found on the Internet

We continue the series of Board members' company Websites with the

AMKEST GROUP :    http://www.amkest.com/

The Website has a beautiful and very professional layout, with a lot of moving pictures, flashing headings and a button "play" the use of which I couldn't really discover. It probably requires quite a fast Internet connection to be viewed comfortably.
The sections of the Website provide the usual but very useful information on Services, Partners, Clients, News, Contact etc. but this Website has a special feature in each section: the picture accompanied by detailed explanations of a classical navigation tool, like the Arabic Astrolabe, the Chinese Compass, Harrison's Chronometer or the Card Compass. I have to say that I was very pleased to discover these interesting descriptions and that they make the consultation of this Website much less fastidious than the ordinary Company Website.

Amr Khashoggi, a Saudi graduate of Yale University School of Management, founded Amkest Group in 1983 in Riyadh, with the intention of marketing US and European products and services in Saudi Arabia. The company began in the landscaping contracting, kiln-dried wooden playgrounds, and US sports systems and equipment. This business was discontinued after 5 years and a packaging plant was bought in Riyadh
Saudi Sachet Services offered packaging of food condiments, then the company expanded into the packaging business further by buying another packaging plant, Ruwayah Medical Products, which packages isopropyl alcohol soaked medical swabs (Meddab) and perfumed wet wipes (Rehana). Amkest packaging division has been supplying hospitals of all Ministries of Health in the GCC Countries successfully since 1989.
At the end of 1993, Amkest created a new transport division for hauling mostly building materials within the GCC Countries using a modern fleet of Volvo and Mercedes trucks.
The company recently purchased Moghrabi Décor Services, a marketing distributor for National Gypsum Company, United States Gypsum, Saudi Profile, Al-Rajhi Profile, and several other companies.
Amkest has in the mid 1990s established a new company, ArabWeb International. ArabWeb represents Condor Electronic Systems, a professional service and manufacturing company with focus on electronic warfare, command and control (C2) and aerospace defense engineering.