Dubai officials are appealing to the Government for guidance about trading with Iran as exports to one of the emirate's biggest markets shrink.
Export of goods from Dubai to Iran were falling "day by day," said Hamad Buamim, the director general of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"Iran is a major market for Dubai businesses. A quarter of total volumes of exports and re-exports go to Iran," he said. "But with the further measures taken during 2011 and early this year, this share is shrinking down day by day."
For years, Dubai has been a gateway to Iran for goods including grain and cars.
But tightening UN, US and EU sanctions against Iran are strangling the flow of goods.
One of the biggest challenges for Dubai traders has been obtaining letters of credit or other financing to pay for shipments. Reuters reported this month that the UAE Central Bank had told lenders to stop financing trade with Iran.
Mr Buamim said the chamber was appealing to the UAE Government on its members' behalf about the problems they faced.
"We are saying [to the Government] how difficult the situation is for companies," he said. "The biggest challenge is that foreign companies can export to Iran. This is what nobody really understands, but there is a mechanism with certifications. We don't have access to that."
The chamber is still encouraging its members to trade with Iran as long as they do not breach international sanctions, he said. But the variety of sanctions and measures imposed since last year meant there was a lack of understanding about business dealings with Iran, he said.
"The problem with the sanctions is that they are not very clear," he said. "Initially they related to the nuclear sector, but recently the sanctions have widened to the whole of the financial services."
The UAE has come under increasing pressure to close its links to Iran's financial system after the US in November ruled the entire Iranian banking system including the central bank as a "primary money-laundering concern". As a result of the action, financing trade with Iran was "almost impossible if you are Iranian", Morteza Masoumzadeh, a member of the executive committee of the Iranian Business Council in Dubai and the chairman of Jumbo Line Shipping Agency, said last month.
As many as 8,000 Iranian traders and trading firms are registered in Dubai.
In the first half of last year, re-exports from the UAE to Iran rose by 36 per cent from the same period a year earlier to Dh19.5 billion (US$5.3bn), according to the latest data from the UAE Customs Authority.
Data that tracks the more recent volume of exports from Dubai is not yet available.
The total value of Dubai chamber members' global exports and re-exports rose by 4.7 per cent last month compared with January last year. But the percentage rise is smaller than the 15 per cent rise in members' exports for all of last year.
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
The UN General Assembly President in quotes:
YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”
PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”
OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”
REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”
Pupils to learn coding and other vocational skills from Grade 6
Exams to test critical thinking and application of knowledge
A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis for Holistic Development) will form the standard for schools
Schools to implement online system to encouraging transparency and accountability
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE) Where: Allianz Arena, Munich Live: BeIN Sports HD Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
