Qatar Daily News

Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli will travel to Doha in a near future, an Interior Ministry official said on Saturday.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran seeks expansion of multilateral ties between Tehran and Doha”, said Ahmad Hosseini, the Interior Ministry director for international affairs.

Talking to the Qatari Interior Ministry director for international cooperation Saud Abdollah Zaid al Mahmoud, Hosseini said that the Iranian interior minister’s travel to Qatar will help expand relation between two countries.

Pointing to the negotiations on the security convention draft between Iran and Qatar, Hosseini said the countries have finalized the draft.
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German carmaker Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) said Friday it would raise EUR4 billion in capital to acquire a stake in the operative business of Porsche (PAH3.XE), filling in details of a deal that will also see the highly indebted luxury sportscar maker sell a 10% stake in its holding company and its VW stock options to Qatar.

Volkswagen plans to acquire a 42% stake in Porsche AG, the carmaking arm and 100% subsidiary of holding company Porsche Automobil Holding SE, for EUR3.3 billion by the end of 2009.

The takeover of Porsche will result in total synergies of around EUR3 billion, Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch said Friday.

In a separate statement Friday, Porsche said that Qatar Holding LLC will acquire 10% of the ordinary shares of the Porsche holding company from the family owners and the majority of Porsche’s cash settled options on Volkswagen shares, freeing up more than EUR1 billion for Porsche that is currently serving as collateral for the options structure.
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Boeing delivered the Middle East’s first C-17 Globemaster III airlifter to the Qatar Emiri Air Force during a ceremony at the company’s facility in Long Beach Monday.

“With this C-17, and the one that will be delivered later this year, the Qatar Emiri Air Force now has unequaled tactical and strategic airlift capabilities — including high reliability and operational flexibility — that enhance our ability to transport troops and equipment and to support humanitarian operations throughout the Middle East and South Asia,” said Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Malki, head of Qatar’s airlift selection committee, according to a news release.

Qatar signed an agreement on July 21, 2008 to buy the two planes and associated equipment and services. There are currently 205 C-17s in service worldwide, including 16 with international armed forces of countries such as Qatar, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. The United Arab Emirates announced Feb. 24 that it also would acquire four C-17s.
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Italy’s Adriatic LNG re-gasification terminal, the world’s first offshore gravity-based structure, has received the first cargo from Qatar.
The first commissioning cargo of 102,000 tonnes of LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Qatar arrived at Italy’s new off-shore LNG import terminal Terminale GNL Adriatico (Adriatic LNG), which is owned by Qatar Terminal (45%), a Qatar Petroleum subsidiary, ExxonMobil Italiana Gas (45%) and Edison (10%).
“The arrival of the first LNG cargo marks a significant milestone in Qatar’s world-leading LNG business and reflects our successful collaboration with ExxonMobil,” said Saad al-Kaabi, director, Oil & Gas Ventures for Qatar Petroleum and chairman of Adriatic LNG.
The commissioning cargo will be used to cool the terminal to prepare it for commercial operations while the arrival of commercial stage cargoes was yet to be determined, Reuter’s news agency said, quoting an unnamed company source.
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The Egyptian unit of Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate BRES.QA will begin building a $9 billion Cairo project in the first quarter of 2010 to tap strong demand for residential property in the north African country.

Real estate and construction firms in the Gulf Arab region, especially in the United Arab Emirates, are increasingly looking at opportunities in the most populous Arab country, to help weather a downturn in their home markets.

“Work will start in the first quarter of 2010, and the project will be finished in 10 to 12 years,” Tarek Bahaa, head of sales and marketing for Barwa New Cairo told Reuters from Cairo on Tuesday.

The firm is studying all options for financing the investment, including Islamic bonds and loans, he added.
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