and certainly this is affected the middle east region among others. creating what is the new divide in the world which is no longer east-west north or south communist capitalist but the developer is between a world of disorder and world of order. that is my macro for the things and if i could call on mr. i'll start on the line and if you could give us a sense of what you see is the forces that is a challenging stability in the region and what do you think are the best pathways forward? >> i agree with what you said in the beginning and you have a great setup. the challenges we have in the sectarianism extremism and inefficient government and unaccountable government and government that is not transparent and looking backwards and forwards as i think the solution to that is making government more efficient and more accountable and more transparent in providing opportunities for our youth so they can realize their hopes and dreams and ambitions and you do that by opening up the society and you do that by opening up areas for investment and as well as for

the middle east will need help from the larger international community to success. to succeed in such a mission. i ask all nations and the middle east to accept an invitation to participate in such a holistic security agreement i urge all nations to continue putting diplomatic pressure on my region to get this done. we must start with a regional security agreement before the middle east can put the turmoil in the past. with the greater good in mind we remain hopeful for a future where to security. both for the state and for the individual is establish for all nations thank you very much. the emir of cancer they're talking about shared security based on a common interest which hasn't really happened across the region he's saying that a lot of the problems are caused by people losing faith in the idea of accountability and that leads to suffering and injustice across the broader region which in itself in cold kates an atmosphere of extremism and allows extremism to flourish she also said the certain countries across the region do not meet the basic needs of their peop

a brief description of the middle east as it looks right now i call it the red in the black like the french novel by stand up well the red is isis. the radical sunni is the black is iran and its offshoots the radical shiites as the red compresses as the red compresses. and it will be wiped out very soon from the map of the middle east iran is moving in and we have fought both types of militant islam. israel contributed mightily to. the battle against the battle against isis by giving unmatched militant military intelligence that has prevented dozens of terrorist attacks in dozens of countries and we are absolutely determined to prevent iran from creating a new base in the west i call it isis west obviously egypt is fighting it as well to prevent isis from shifting its base from. iraq and syria into the sinai or into somalia and to africa and other places this is one battle that we are fighting successfully the unfortunate thing is that as iran as isis compresses and iran moves in it's trying to establish this continuous amp are surrounding the middle east from the south. in yemen but

china remains committed to facilitating the middle east .eace process with support it supports an independent palestinian state under the 19 six to seven borders with east jerusalem as its capital. in july of last year, the chinese president put forward a oint proposal on this question calling for new momentum on the basis of the two state solution, adherence to the philosophy of shared comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, greater coordination of international efforts to maximize unity for -- holisticn host approach to peace. we are in full swing to implement the proposal. december last year, china successfully hosted a symposium of palestinian and israeli pro-peace initiatives and will continue to push for a political settlement to the question in a constructive fashion. mr. president, the question of jerusalem is complex and delicate. all parties should respect historic relevancy and uphold justice in implementing international justice and drive for its peaceful existence. to reach asolutions solution that accommodates all parties interests. palestine and israel should resp

guest: his middle east policy is brilliant.n a very short period of time he has taken on one of the most difficult historic paths ever. we all know that there is no arab world -- the middle east is a culmination of tribes and flags and a very competent manner.icated but, i think what president has done with rex tillerson and jared kushner is trying to expedite what has to happen in the region, which is a real development of a diverse economy, to give hope, faith and confidence to a growing young population, without which we will have a real problems. in this day and age, the country is coming together, and the president of the united states showing up -- it is a return to the elegance of what it should be. not a defiance of radicals, but a realignment of how great countries like the emirates, saudi arabia, now with israel, and align -- can align and bring a more powerful balance to the region. tracy: what about u.s. politics? we have republicans and democrats still hashing it out over immigration. president trump saying things

resign as one of our middle east analysts. the munich security conference is one of the showpiece security events of the year binyamin netanyahu the israeli prime minister he's not at the stage yet what you expect from his speech well you were mentioning iran are trival from that and now it's a personal crusade for many years we're going to hear iran iran and iran against especially for take into consideration where we were last week this time the weekend we were seeing you rainy and and i mean clashes in syria over even. travelling to israel and being you know it was. exactly but for israel there was a clear provocation and clear. test of you know trying to. the borders of israel they were setting very keyboards being very aggressive but also. taking a very deep communication having an f. sixteen jet being full and you know taken down by anti anti by syrian forces that's something that we haven't seen in israel since one thousand nine hundred two so that was a big blow for israeli security and for that more all you know for t

now the middle east is completely different.ntry in the middle east, now it is ruled by a dictator, a military dictator. until the closing hours of the election, one hour before that, he managed to find an opponent for the elections. making the point that for democracy elections are necessary but not sufficient in themselves. he is looking for a scarecrow. the reaction among the people is very muted. you cannot see a very aggressive reaction. why? 40% of the people in the middle east are under the poverty line. less than $2 per day. people are looking for food. seven years ago we witnessed an arab spring for democracy. now we are actually on the edge of a hunger spring. people will revolt for food. the entire area, everything seems to be going really badly wrong. there are a number of interlocked and interconnected crises which are going to degenerate in the years to come. that is why it is very very urgent in my view, and it is a subject of a film i have spent some time on for the past two years, to pay more attention to the gl

we see it in the middle east with rising temperatures and rising water issues among others. we are in the middle of a change of climate of globalization. we are going from a world that was interconnected to a world that is hyperconnected to a world that is now interdependent. an interdependent world is a different world from an american point of view. in an interdependent world, your friends can kill you faster than your enemies, so if some big european banking systems were to go bankrupt tomorrow, that would affect me in america very much. in europe, they are allies, yet your friends can kill you faster than your enemies in an interdependent world. and secondly, you get a geopolitical inversion in an interdependent world where your rival's falling become more dangerous than your rival's rising. in america, china takes six more islands in the south china sea. i cannot care less. if china loses 6% growth, my goodness, this room will be basically empty. that is a climate change and you move from an interconnected world into an interdependent world. lastly, we are seeing a chang

ma lad november of the presence on the middle east. the long suffering region of the middle east is torn by bitter conflicts in syria, yemen and libya and each of them is a very severe one. but a it would be a mistake to think that the palestinian issue is something that is now the brown. it would be an even greater mistake to intentionally try to push it into the background. because it remains today at the center of the chronic instability in the middle east. this situation there recently has become more acute and in the absence of fully fledged political negotiations between the palestinians and the israelis, the decisions on jerusalem, not just raised the level of emotions and pushed to the situation into yet once again destabling cycle, while they also increased desperation. in the west bank,' and in gaza, we saw proficients is, we saw harsh statements made by the palestinian leadership and the capital of of the acrab muslim world, and all of us on the confirm how sensitive and important is the issue of jerusalem, the cradle of thr

was to create a quarter of across the middle east so he was planning to divide the middle east between france and britain. and create a belt of english controlled country that stretched across from the mediterranean coast to the mountains on the iranian from and back to the century as a as a affront to britain could control and keep other people away from the red sea and the persian gulf. that was rejected by the bunch i wish the older wiser heads said you know that why work your. way into line one nine hundred fifteen the debunks in committee recommended dividing the ottoman empire into several provinces over which britain would seek influence rather than exercise direct control. but when sykes was sent to the middle east and india he began to revert to his original idea of a british cordon from the mediterranean to iraq. so so mark from your knowledge of the other question. where would you say that a legion slot. between us and the french. practically all arabs approach. not exactly anti french but frightened of financial exploitation and they are frightened of french colonial method

that is our executive editor for the middle east and africa.et's bring in a founding partner at franklin templeton middle east. welcome back to the program. news, your reaction first off. it is another phase of this anticorruption purge, which is agenda,a structured which has been very encouraging, very well received by the markets, and was designed to be able to attract money into the country. structured reform initiative carries some risks in the way it is carried out, i think we have to categorize this as something broadly positive and i suspect this will continue be inforward, and it will general very conducive to attract money to the kingdom. yousef: i look at what is happening with equity markets, and we put this up on a charge for help saudi stocks have performed since the beginning of the corruption. in early november, we highlighted where it all began. the saudi stock market has rallied 7.5% since the beginning of the perch. the question is, how much value in certai -- in fixed income is locked down? for a lot of the key figures, avoid

this is one of the largest companies in middle east. -- in the middle east.ously rated buys, oncets, seven out. previously won your performance. short of their 10%. also, other news to keep in mind, name holding, getting and it did -- an ejection regulator to list on the dubai financial market. the company has been keen to push that on but also the liquidity on the markets are drug get more details over the coming days and weeks. in terms of corporate and economic events, euro area and italy. wehave the bank of england, will get more clues about the projection for rate hikes. euro area finance ministers will be meeting in brussels. they will be issuing the world oral exports and output data. let's get you a quick check about some of these equity markets. continues to trade higher, 9/10 of 1%. driven mostly by the nikkei. index stillllar relatively flat. the energy complex as a whole marching on. that is a we have for this edition of "bloomberg markets: middle east." we have all the top stories from around the world. coming up, bloomberg technology is next. th

yousef: welcome back to "best of bloomberg markets: middle east."id al futtaim, the region's leading shopping mall, retail, and leisure company, released their 2017 earnings this week. group revenue increased 8% to $32.2 billion. the company describes a challenging business environment. i spoke to group ceo alain bejjani. alain: i think the question is what has not been challenging? [laughter] alain: we were very happy with the performance in 2017. we have seen very good growth in our top line. we have seen very good resilience. 2017 has been a year of volatility, as we know. i think one of the most important things has witnessed the valuations. especially the impact of the valuation in egypt. we have grown around 40% off-line and 8% online. when you look at the performance, we are actually doing very well. but we have to take in the impact of the valuations. yousef: what kind of growth do you expect for the next year or two? are you making adjustments? do you forecast because of the challenges that do exist in the regions you operate in? alain: wha

policy in the middle east. cia agent jeffrey sterling who was sentenced under the espionage act for talking to a new york times reporter has been released from prison. in one day worldwide news headlines live from moscow this is r.t. international a very warm welcome to. a former cia director has admitted the u.s. has interfered in other countries elections and domestic affairs when it was quote for a good cause. looks at whether double standards are at play no one likes a spoiler. interference especially when it comes to american elections. and spoiled and unsightly or they were before the russians got to them they say but judge not lest ye be judged especially when you have a fetish for getting your fingers into foreign elections when we don't mess around other people. i am only for a very good didn't do a vine video on a former cia for a very good cause. said the former director of the cia it's funny because and when america does it when someone else's even suspected of doing it no no no no bad bad did the r

presentation on the middle east settlement the long suffering region of the middle east is torn by bitter conflicts in syria and yemen and libya and each of them in itself is a very severe one but it would be a mistake to think that the palestinian issue is something that is now in the background. it would be an even greater mistake to intentionally try to push it into the background. because it remains today at the center of the chronic instability in the middle east and this situation of their recently has become more acute and in the absence of fully fledged political negotiations between the palestinians and the israelis the decisions on jerusalem not just raise the level of emotions and push to the situation into yet once again destabilizing cycle but they also increased desperation. in the west bank and in the gaza we saw protests which so harsh statements made by the palestinian leadership and from the capitals of the arab and muslim world and all of us only confirms the sensitive as an important is the issue of jerusalem the cradle of three monotheistic religions but we also note

session for security in the middle east. the regional and short-term danger of aggression is happening before our eyes. along-- along a spectrum of devastation. the world-wide and long-term danger of aggression will eventually reach countries around the globe. they will stop at nothing. intentional international destabilization of the energy and financial markets, and laying the groundwork for the next generation of terrorism. terrorism flourishes in oppressive closed regimes where the needs and rights of the citizens are not met. why many reckless leaders are surrounding us double down on hidden and oppressive means of government, qatar and many other nations in the middle east hope to keep developing into a nation that can provide justice and security to its citizens. as i told secretary tillerson and mattis, qatar sees the u.s. as a critical part of that vision. ending the turmoil in the middle east will take further leadership. joint cooperation from all countries in the middle east is necessary to restoring lasting secu

coming up a former foreign minister of palestine is the guest on scifi and co talking about the middle east peace process. welcome to soviet shevardnadze america's backing of jerusalem ousted israel the capital has thrown the palestinian peace process into disarray already we go from here my guest today's good weather former foreign minister of palestine and palestine as a bastard to the united nations. for decades to a result question of palestinian independence has been weighing heavy on the neck of the middle east now with new settlements across the west bank appearing in renewed u.s. support for israel and the palestinian quest for sovereignty beholds what can make peace rallies and restart an earnest process towards peace and more fresh ways can be found in the process out of the dative. nasser all could well former palestinian foreign minister and you want to ask that or welcome to the show it's really great to have you. with us now master of palestinians don't trust a u.s. peace efforts anymore and want to establish a multilateral format of peace negotiations talking about moscow hos

policy in the middle east. it's two o'clock here in moscow and you're watching r t international with me and welcome to the program syrian pro-government forces are expected to help kurdish militia defend the city of a friend that's according to syrian state media it follows an alleged deal between damascus and the kurds under the agreement troops will help kurdish fighters to repel turkey's offensive in the region of video agency ruptly is film some of their preparations. and middle east correspondent joins me live with more details paula what else do we know. well we are hearing from some and state t.v. that the militias that i lie and with the damascus government are due to enter the athlon region in northern syria in the coming hours now they will assess the kurdish militias as they continue the air to fight against the turkish forces now this is a fight that has been ongoing for at least a month and has seen casualties on both sides last month we did see and launched the so-called olive branch operation ag

chief christine lagarde about how the economic model is changing here in the middle east can ireland break regs it find out how the emerald isle is caught in the middle of a big round between the u.k. and the e.u. plus the year of the dog in china counting the cost at this time. the middle east is at the brink. it's time to bring it back the mirror of contact calls for collective action in the middle east on security and says the boycott of his country is a futile exercise. out of there i'm joined al this is al jazeera live from london also coming up. we recognize the legitimate right of turkey to secure its borders. turkey and the united states agreed to normalize relations despite tensions over syria. south africa's new president prepares to make his first state of the nation address. and the fangs surely masters clearing homes of ill fortune as the chinese new year gets underway. we begin in munich where world leaders have gathered for a three day high profile security conference aimed at discussing global and regional security challenges the emyr of qatar has addressed the confere

policy in the middle east.

i got more from the managing director for middle east and africa.angir: the thing you can look at for the last 18 monhts is the cartel is still the cartel. the opec has demonstrated it is able to work together. i think there was concern they were not working together. i think over the last 12 months, they have demonstrated the ability to be cohesive, to head in the right direction. can they respond in a similar way? but the interesting story on oil at the moment is everyone is getting excited because global growth is looking good. it is a demand story that you could argue will continue to drive commodities. not just oil, but commodities broadly up. which creates the inflation risks we see coming this year. yousef: you are not worried about more supply coming out of the united states? jahangir: no. for the moment, we all sort of anticipated after what happened the last three or four years that shale would come back. i think you see a lot of those, particularly if you look at the high-yield market that our team looks at all the time. you see that the

tracy: even from middle east investors?l: they will more than their hearts and -- by hearts th an minds when it comes to investment. seeing a lot of family offices facing higher yields in the region, looking at office buildings, hotel investments, .nd industrials distribution warehouses in the united kingdom are offering total returns of about 20%, one of the best asset classes for yield at the moment. yousef: has frankfurt become a prime destination for uncertainty around the u.k.? what else is on the agenda for investors in this part of the world? we have had a few family offices from dubai buying distribution warehouses of amazon in germany. in london, we have carried out a study with a university of college-london to try and figure -- no destination hot spots. 60% of households are choosing to rent, offering to forgo homeownership for a time. one of the hotspots we identified for the future is home to the board's cricket ground. it is on the doorstep to the west end of london and has had over two hundred percent house p

influencing diffused church of millions of people in the middle east. hello there he's got a summer in melbourne and in adelaide it's still there in the middle of australia clad wise a few passing showers late they do develop in southern queens in new south wales and the rather more of a mass of cloud or induced through south australia that's indication he's gone to some degree said he too in perth but it's a much cooler twenty two in melbourne and even onshore breeze bit disappointing i think twenty four adelaide probably feels a bit better to be a bit more humid in the temps actually going up again to the middle to high twenty's in this part of the study so twenty five in sydney be about the same in canberra as well and they're all that many showers around whereas in contrast it's been raining incessantly so easy and particularly focusing i think on all nelson but as you can see clouds going by which means the right must have gone out it's gone the full cost to but there is an onshore breeze nice out of the tropics for north island which means you go

and they could make mischief in the middle east. the third arena where the white house has talked and acted tough without any follow-on strategy is pakistan. the administration has publicly branded that country a terrorist haven and suspended military aid on those grounds. this is entirely understandable. the pakistani military has in fact been supporting terrorists and militants who operate in afghanistan, even against american troops. and then those terrorists withdraw to their sanctuaries across the border in pakistan. but being right is not the same thing as being smart. most experts predicted that pakistan would respond to the american action in two ways. first, by pursuing closer relations with china, which would easily replace the aid. second, the pakistanis military would rachet up the violence in afghanistan, demonstrating that it has the capacity to destabilize the pro-american government in kabul and throw the country into chaos. that is precisely what has happened. thomas shelling once remarked that two things are very e

predicts a result question of palestinian independence has been weighing heavy on the neck of the middle east now with new settlements across the west bank appearing in renewed u.s. support for israel and the palestinian quest for sovereignty beholds what can make peace rallies and restarting turn this process towards peace and what fresh ways can be found and the process out of the. nasser could well former palestinian foreign minister and he want to bassett or welcome to the show it's really great to have you with us now master of palestinians don't trust us let peace efforts anymore and want to establish a multilateral format off his negotiations talking about moscow hosting the future talks but israel's that it would only call parade if the americans leave if the americans that the peace process so how do you expect your multilateral format to work if israel isn't part of it. well we don't think that it should work without without israel but we think that it's the duty of the international community to push the israelis to accept certain things including its will to establish a multilater

policy in the middle east. it's three o'clock here in moscow and you're watching r t international line with me and welcome to the program investigators are not ruling out terrorism as a possible motive for sunday's atrocity in southern russia a gunman killed five people attacking christian church goes in russia's republic of dagestan he was seen on the c.c.t.v. cameras later carrying a rifle and entering the church grounds well to get more on this story but across live. what's been written is it revealed about the attack. well the investigative committee at this stage is looking into all possibilities and ever officially confirmed today that terrorism is also one of the leads they are looking into the attack took place in the town of kids here in the southern russian province of dagestan on sunday the attacker was identified as. twenty two year old resident by the local authorities he targeted christian church goers leaving an orthodox christian ceremony marking the beginning of a fast of a christian festival

tensions in the middle east have taken center stage at the munich security conference with israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu describing regional rival iran as the world's greatest threat in a speech to the conference natanya who warned that his country would act against tehran if needed he also accused the iranian foreign minister of quote lying with eloquence to drive home his point and tania who held up a piece of what he said was an iranian drone shot down in israeli air space iran also denies that it committed america of aggression against israel last week that it sent a drone into our airspace to threaten our people. well. here's a piece of that iranian drone or what's left of it after we shot it donald i brought it here so you can see it for yourself mr zarif. do you recognize this. you should it's george you can take back with you a message to the tyrants of terror and. do not trust israel's resolve. that was the israeli prime minister benyamin netanyahu addressing the munich security conference earlier speaking just a few hours after natanya who iran's foreign minister mo

yousef: welcome back to the "best of bloomberg markets middle east." arabia this week announced that they had beat on full-year net income and the ceo believes that the carrier can fly even higher in 2018, thanks to oil prices and growing demand for travel. speaking exclusively to bloomberg, he told me about his predictions for growth. adel: we have budgeted for 7% of growth. and that growth is easily achievable in terms of passenger numbers. obviously, one extremely difficult to predict exactly the bottom line for the airline in 2018, because we are still in month two. but overall there is no reason for us to believe that that will not be as good, if it is not better than 2017. yousef: what are some of the bright spots that you are looking forward to in 2018 when it comes to markets? is it size of scope and scale like saudi arabia, for example? adel: i think that the saudi distribution is extremely low and we offer it at 12 airports and we have seen the whole economy is changing. obviously again, i go back to the improvement in oil price, increasing t

chief christine like god about how the economic model is changing here in the middle east can ireland break regs it find out how the emerald isle is caught in the middle of a big round between the u.k. and the e.u. plus the year of the dog in china counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera. hello i'm don and here's a quick look at the top stories on al-jazeera as prime minister is delivered a theatrical flourish and weathering attack on iran at the end of a major security conference in munich in return iran's foreign minister for back accusing benjamin netanyahu of delusional thinking they were trying to report from munich. he's ready prime minister benjamin netanyahu went straight into attack mode against iran as he took to the podium and beauty issuing a direct threat to iran israel iran is regime to put a noose of terror around order. we will act without hesitation to defend ourselves and we will act if necessary not just against iran's proxies that are attacking us but against iran itself he followed up with a dramatic flourish that caught all the delegates by surprise brandish

hello and welcome my name is christopher spring a good to have you with us tensions in the middle east have taken center stage at the munich security conference with israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu describing regional rival iran as the world's greatest threat in a speech to the conference and it on yahoo warned that his country would act directly against tehran if needed he also accused the iranian foreign minister of quote lying with eloquence to drive home his point it on yahoo held up a piece of what he said was in a rainy and drone shot down in israeli aspace iran also denies that it committed an act of aggression against israel last week that it sent to drone unsure sprays to threaten our people well. here's a piece of that iranian drone or what's left of it after we shot it girl. i brought it here so you can see for yourself. mr zarif. do you recognize this. you should it's yours you can take back with you a message to the tyrants of her own. do not test israel's resolve. the iranian foreign minister mohammad javad zarif wasn't in the room during netanyahu remarks but h

we spent $7 trillion in the middle east. it's ridiculous. the american people expect all of us to work together to serve their needs. this is an issue where i really believe we can find common ground between republicans and democrats. it's the infrastructure issue. it's something great for our country. it's something that our country needs. and again, we have democrats here. we have republicans here. we've had other meetings. we will have meetings in the future, including new meetings with this group. this is a very capable group of people. i think we're going to come up ultimately with a solution to the infrastructure of our country, which is in very poor condition. we're extremely happy with the bill that was passed because we had to take care of our military. our military was in bad shape. now we've had the big e spending ever, and our military will be stronger than it's ever been before. we needed that. i want to cut costs, but we needed that. now i want to spend that money on the military wisely. i want to see if we can get twice the pl

foreign policy especially pertaining to the middle east as he admitted himself the peace plan that he talks about and it's only he have seen it he have seen points of it and that these are his words so in other words the secretary of state has no idea what he's talking about. also on other side we know that how the donald trump runs his white house there was that like a corporation and he is the only one with the ideas he's on i want to take credit for everything but he will push fairly on everybody else and i believe that to listen to his involvement at this point that just in case something goes bust which things are going that way in that direction in the middle east this really comes to the peace process or the nonexistent peace process i think tillerson is here just to get the blame later on that's all. reports that the american led coalition in syria has killed dozens of russian mercenaries have led to headlines raising the specter of direct u.s. russia confrontation moscow has now responded to those claims. russian citizens might be in syria but they don't belong to russia's ar

middle east dictatorships are classic examples of this. whenever they push the muslim brotherhood underground, they come back and recap it. touched onhave not china yet. -- when thent chinese president gets up and speaks, he is not giving a speech on how they are going to dominate the world, he is declaring that they have already done that. when we talk about the greatest threat to america, the chinese think they have already won. : i think that our for right now is radical islamic ideology as opposed to a nationstate. primarily because an ideology can go through several iterations. when you think it may have been stomped down in one region of the world, it can regrow cells, it can spread, it transcends borders and it does not require a lot of funding. you can use all sorts of platforms that do not require any sort of real monetary backing. it makes messages accessible. for instance, one of the greatest issues they are having -- the connection between isis and europe for quite a bit of time was russia. videos,e a bit of isis propaganda and

presentation on the middle east settlement the long suffering region of the middle east is torn by bitter conflicts in syria and yemen and libya and each of them in itself is a very severe one but it would be a mistake to think that the palestinian issue is something that is now in the background. it would be an even greater mistake to intentionally try to push it into the background. because it remains today at the center of the chronic instability in the middle. easton the situation over there recently has become more acute and in the absence of fully fledged political negotiations between the palestinians and the israelis the decisions on jerusalem not just raise the level of emotions and push to the situation and to yet once again destabilizing cycle but they also increased desperation. in the west bank and in the gaza we saw protests which so harsh statements made by the palestinian leadership and from the capitals of the arab and muslim world and all of us only confirms the sensitive as an important is the issue of jerusalem the cradle of three monotheistic religions but we also not

the middle east is at the brink. it's time to bring it back. all of us here especially those who enjoy it more power and wealth have a responsibility to solve the conflict. the middle east will need help from the larger international community to success to succeed in such a mission i ask all nations in the middle east to accept an invitation to participate in such a holistic security agreement i urge all nations to continue putting diplomatic pressure on my region to get this done we must start with a regional security agreement before the middle east camp of the turmoil in the past. with the greater good in mind we remain hopeful for a future where true security. both for the state and for the individual is establish for all nations thank you very much if. there was talk of time name out the time the address and the munich security conference this is an. international security policy conference that's taking place inside nine hundred sixty three d. w. is providing full and exclusive coverage to the world's largest gathering of its kind attend

growing economically, europe is growing, japan is growing, china, india, latin america is -- the middle easte area where there isn't that much optimism. are you optimistic or pessimistic about the pooemiddl east? >> again, i think that the middle east went through a very important crossroads several years ago, arab spring. this was started by young people who wanted dynamic change in our region. hijacked, unfortunately, by organized religious organization with an extremist agenda. but it is a crossroads that whe where, i think, we're still getting through. i said to my arab colleagues for many years, i said, you know, a lot of the middle east was looking -- always looked down on africa. and i used to say, listen, you know, the africans are talking to each other. they have profit trade with each other, they have military alliances that are working together, they're combatting terrorism together. and as i see today, africa has moved beyond where we are in the middle east. now, is it that we're still overcoming the arab spring? but we need to get our act together and start to talk to each other

♪ yousef: welcome to the "best of bloomberg markets middle east." i am yousef gamal el din.ere are some of the major stories driving headlines from the region this week. crude comeback. oil recovers ground following its worst week in more than a year. the iea says the global surplus has almost been cleared. as uae property giants report earnings, we hear exclusively from industry cfo's. and the sky is no limit for air arabia as it beats on full-year income. the ceo lays out the carrier's ambitions for 2018 in our exclusive interview. hundreds of global political and , political, and business leaders gathered in dubai this week for the world government summit. the event brought together officials, policymakers, thought leaders, and private sector trail blazers to explore the future of government in the face of a changing world. on sunday, tracy alloway spoke with the secretary-general of the oecd, Ángel gurrÍa, and began by asking for his take on the recent market volatility. Ángel: the experts say it was a correction, but i think it is a warning. i think it is very important

♪ yousef: welcome to the "best of bloomberg markets: middle east"" on yousef gamal el-din.ere are the major stories driving headlines this week. going for broke, the latest steps in a drive to attract foreign investment. south africa's tax scandal. the new president hikes the first time since the end of the apartheid. butries to stabilize debt, could there be a voter backlash? we begin with interest rate cuts in nature. -- cuts in egypt. this is an easing cycle after record high borrowing, it attracted $20 billion of local currency debt. tracy alloway and i got more on the chief economist. >> i was expecting a bigger cut, i know that seems like a lot in the context of emerging markets. remember, rates were raised 700 basis points from the time of the devaluation up until last week. this is the first step of a very long journey to go. to be perfectly honest, i don't look too deeply into the monetary policy statements out of the central bank of egypt these days. when it comes to insight that it can provide on the future course of policy, i found them somewhat lacking. tracy: