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INTERVIEW
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 AUDIO.NAJ
France
in the
Mediterranean
MP3 Format (9MB)
The
above link is a 7 minute interview conducted by the BBC
on France's Med Union initiative. The interview took place
on October 13, 2007. It is copyright (c) of the BBC and
reproduced with its permission.
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| 202nd.
issue - October 17, 2007
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Managing
PR in North Africa
Avoiding
Crisis Management Mode
If you plan to conduct business in North Africa, do not
ignore the public relations and communications functions.
With the explosion in mass media, the proliferation of newspapers
and the generalization of the Internet, the public is increasingly
plugged into events affecting businesses, an activity that
used to be the domain of a very few but that is no longer
the case. Companies seeking to do business there must be
prepared to invest in a communication strategy that could
save them serious headache. The local press in particular
has been keen in identifying projects of "national interest"
and has been digging deep into the details to uncover potential
problems. After assessing the Guessi Touil gas project as
an "industrial fiasco" the Algerians are showing very little
appetite for projects that have been awarded to foreign
companies and which appear to be going nowhere. In the Guessi
Touil project, Sonatrach discontinued its contract with
the Spanish oil company Repsol given what Algeria considers
"poor execution and major delays."
Doing
Business in North Africa
StatoilHydro Faces Probe for Possible Corruption
in Libya Oil Venture
October is turning out to be a tough month for the Norwegian
oil giant StatOil. As it worked through the details of its
difficult and complicated merger with another Norwegian firm,
aluminum group Norsk Hydro, StatOil learned of an investigation
in early October 2007 regarding a possible corruption case
involving its business in Libya. [read
here]
Economy
Tunisia Wants to Use More Privatization Proceeds
to Lower Debt
Tunisia has been looking for new ways to speed up its foreign
debt reduction and bring it to much more manageable levels.
It has been using a small portion of its privatization proceeds
to lower its foreign debt, a trend that could expand going
forward. The latest of such operation occurred when the
government earmarked a portion of the Tunisie Telecom equity
sale last year for this purpose. To recall, Tunisia sold
a 35% stake of the nation's main telecom carrier to the
consortium of TECOM Investments and Dubai Investment Group
(TECOM-DIG), both members of Dubai Holding for $ 2.25 billion.
[read
here]
Economy
Algeria's Foreign Currency Reserves Hit New
Record High
Algeria's
financial fundamentals look healthy. Not only it managed to
boost its exports, but if government data are correct, the
country's economy expanded by a healthy 5% in the first half
of 2007. With the exception of inflationary pressure, Algeria's
macroeconomic data look relatively healthy, a trend expected
to sustain as oil prices head to the $90 level.[read
here]
Movers and Shakers:
Profile of Moussa Koussa
Head of Libya's Foreign Intelligence Services
Moussa
Koussa operates under the radar screen. Unknown from the public
given the nature of his work, he has been a key player in
Libya's contemporary history, negotiating such difficult events
as his country's renunciation of its weapons of mass destruction
program and the release of the Bulgarian medics. For more
than 20 years, Koussa has been the country's top intelligence
chief and a close aid to Kaddafi... [read
here]
1H07
Corporate Results and Outlook
ONA
BCP
Attijariwafa
Bank
Brasseries
Du Maroc
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IN
THIS ISSUE
CORPORATE
AFFAIRS
StatoilHydro
Faces Probe for Possible Corruption in Libya Oil Venture
French
Shipping Firm Spends €220 million to Acquires Comanav of Morocco
Algeria
to Lower Retirement Age
Movers
and Shakers: Moussa Koussa
Algeria's
Foreign Currency Reserves Hit New Record High
Tunisia
Wants to Use More Privatization Proceeds to Lower Debt
Harris
Corporation Awarded $15 Million Contract in Algeria
ENERGY/MINING
Sonatrach
and Repsol Negotiating a Compromise on Guessi Touil
RWE
Dea Makes Third Oil Discovery in Libya
PA
Resources Establishing Tunisian Drilling Program for 2008
Eni
Renews Development and Production License in Algeria
Woodside
Out of Mauritania
BBC
Interview of Arezki Daoud on France's Med Union Initiative
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