Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced today that Venamore is expected to take up her appointment next month.

Venamore will replace Glenn White, who has been Ambassador since January 2009.

Currently Australia has a partnership with Jordan that includes trade, agriculture, investment, education, defence and cultural cooperation, including archaeological research, over 50 years.

Recent new areas of bilateral cooperation include law enforcement and customs cooperation. Bilateral merchandise trade stood at $189 million for  the year 2010 – 11.

As a strategically significant country in the Middle East, Australia has welcomed Jordan’s efforts to promote peace talks in the region.

Previously Venamore was serving as counsellor at the Australia High Commission in London.

Egyptian businessman Magdy El Ashram has lodged a development application with Port Pirie Regional Council for a $15 million slaughterhouse and meat processing plant, which he says will cater to international demand. “Camel is a popular food in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and Australia has the resources to provide meat to people who like it,” Ashram said.

Licensed musterers would deliver camels to the plant from the feral population plaguing remote parts of Australia. Feral camels cost an estimated $10 million annually in damage to infrastructure, property, and environment, including the cost of existing culling and management projects.

Jane Ferguson, managing director of Ninti One Limited which runs the Australian Feral Camel Managing Project, stressed the importance of a holistic approach. “Commercial camel operations need to be driven by economic considerations and need to address the animal welfare issues associated with mustering and transporting wild camels over large distances,” she said.

Ashram, who owns frozen-meat importer Magdiens Australia, said the plant would process 100,000 camels each year and create up to 300 new jobs. The site would also process goat and donkey meat for export to the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

Port Pirie Mayor Brenton Vanstone is a strong supporter of the proposal. “Obviously it’s a good environmental solution and it will bring important employment alternatives to the area,” he said.

“We may be coming out of one crisis—the financial and economic crisis—but we are facing new risks and wrenching challenges,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

The impacts of surging food prices on political stability in developing countries cannot be underestimated, Zoellick stressed. “We are one shock away from a full-blown crisis. The financial crisis taught us that prevention is better than cure. We cannot afford to forget that lesson.”

The World Bank also warned worsening conditions in the Middle East and North Africa could easily “derail” global growth. “If oil prices were to rise sharply and durably—either because of increased uncertainty or due to a significant disruption to oil supply—global growth could slow by between 0.3 and 1.2 percentage points in 2011 and 2012, respectively.”

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn concurred, saying that good figures at the growth level did not mean the growth was sustainable, “just because of the political problems behind it.” He added the IMF stood ready to offer technical and financial assistance to struggling economies.

Strauss-Kahn said advanced economies still posted alarming levels of joblessness and “a lot of repair is still needed” in the finance sectors of developed countries. He warned emerging economies were at risk of overheating as growth sped up, driving inflation and an exponential rise in the basic costs of living. “Growth is not enough, because the old pattern, following which if you had growth, the rest would follow, doesn’t work any more,” he said.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, chairman of the IMF’s monetary and financial committee, said there was a sense around the table that the world was still in a fairly fragile situation following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. “We have to be extremely watchful, but we also need to develop the capabilities … to anticipate scenarios that could turn out to be ugly, and require that countries, including especially systemically significant countries take actions early to prevent another crisis.”

MLA’s 2011 Sheep Industry Projections reports the drought in Western Australia has reduced lamb numbers, causing prices inflated by demand to remain steady for the first few months of this year.

Sylvia Athas, senior economist of Meat and Livestock Australia, predicts prices will ease mid-year as supplies increase. “The Australian flock is expected to grow by 2 percent as the favourable seasonal conditions in the Eastern states produce exceptional lambing rates and continue to stimulate strong restocker demand and ewe retention.”

Domestic and international sales are projected to increase by 7 percent in 2011. Demand is rising in the Middle East as well as in South East Asia as lamb consumption increases in popularity.

Athas is concerned local supplies may not be adequate to meet growing demand for live sheep, potentially causing the export market to drop.

“The drought depleted supplies in WA and the lack of suitable cull wethers as a result of the reduced merino flock could see exports fall 6 percent to 2.8 million,” she said. “Mutton exports are forecast to recover slightly, increasing 12 percent.”

Lamb farmers must balance cashing in on current high prices against maintaining stock levels to rebuild depleted flocks.

The industry and the Australian Government invested almost $1 million in three projects with Australia’s key livestock export partners in the Middle East and South East Asia, aimed at achieving better animal welfare outcomes in the handling, transport and processing of live animals in importing countries.

The infrastructure of abattoirs in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Indonesia was improved and animal handlers underwent training to help reduce stress on animals. Point of arrival discharge ramps were constructed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, abattoir facilities for the slaughter of Australian goats upgraded and training provided.

“The reports showed there had been improvements to animal welfare in these countries as a result of government and industry investment in the partnership,” Executive Manager, Trade and Market Access Jo Evans said. “[They] also show that further work can be done to improve animal welfare practices in these markets.”

The LTAWP is investing $3.2 million over three years to further improve animal welfare in overseas markets, with the livestock export industry, which was valued at more than $1 billion in 2009-10, matching the government’s contribution to funding.

With agents in Paris, Milan and the USA, Franks’ flamboyant leisurewear is carried in boutiques in some of the world’s most exclusive hotels and on cruise ships that travel the globe.

Franks began her career as a stage actress in exotic roles such as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Finding costume integral to creating character, she started to design her own. “I’d waft off stage wearing this fabulous costume and people would ask me where I got it from,” she laughs. “All of a sudden no one paid any attention to the acting and the label was born.”

Before long, she was making pieces on demand for fashion socialites, including Hermés Australia’s managing director Karin Upton Baker, and took the next step of designing a range to showcase in a pop-up stand at Mercedes Fashion Week, which was the start of a “rollercoaster ride” for her fledgling label.

Some United Arab Emirates buyers picked up her label and before long Franks had an agent in Milan selling direct into that market. “Dubai really chose me. What I make is perfect for their culture,” she says.

When British luxury department store Harvey Nichols launched in Dubai in 2006 Franks was invited to close its inaugural fashion parade. “It was sort of a domino effect. You get placed in the right stores over there and then the other stores want you. Word of mouth!”

Global growth

The next year, Franks opened a flagship store in North Bondi, which instantly became a destination for overseas celebrity visitors. With other Sydney stores in Mosman and Woollahra, as well as floor space in David Jones, the Camilla label is also available overseas in fashion showrooms in Milan, Paris, the USA, Greece and Japan.

“The real buyers travel to a lot of these showrooms,” she says. “When they see you in all these different locations it just drills into their heads that I’m an established label.”

Continuing with the travel theme, she deliberately targeted high profile cruise liners and successfully lobbied The World for an invitation to showcase her range aboard the cruise ship, winning further exposure to the international set. She leveraged her entry into the luxury travel market to access other niche markets, starting with the Huvafen Fushi six-star resort in Dubai.

“We contacted them and they loved the collection. That was fantastic because they’re a chain.” Franks staged a fashion parade at Huvafen Fushi’s Maldives resort and, for VIP guests, customised kaftans with Swarovski crystals as part of a cross-promotion with the established brand.

“We’re very proactive, so I might be reading Condé Nast or Vogue Traveller and I’ll see a resort that has a similar synergy to us.” Franks and her team then turn on the charm, sending out look books and press kits, making phone calls, holding Skype conferences and exploring cross-promotional ideas.

“We have to come up with interesting ways to get them excited. When we dealt with Qualia [a Hamilton Island resort] we designed an exclusive print for them; with Huvafen Fushi in the Maldives we built a catwalk over the water.”

Beef exports surged in November, adding to increased annual demand from South East Asia, including Korea (9 percent), and developing markets the Philippines (12 percent), Malaysia (21 percent) and Taiwan (25 percent), but Russia has emerged as Australia’s fourth largest market for beef, buying an unprecedented 48,032 tonnes this year, a 234 percent increase on 2009.

While these markets are primarily responsible for a 26 percent increase in beef exports this year, sales to the United States have decreased 26 percent, in spite of reduced supply from former beef production powerhouse Argentina, which is driving demand for Australian beef in other markets.

Argentina’s decreased exports are due to a combination of drought conditions and restrictive government policy intended to make beef more affordable to the domestic market.

Australian beef exports to the Middle East increased by 33 percent from last year but the real growth for this market is in lamb, up by 50 percent on last year’s exports to the region.

“The forecast in the Gulf Cooperation Council (which incorporates Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) is they will import… US$49 billion [of produce] by 2020,” Meat and Livestock Australia’s Middle East and North Africa manager Lachlan Bowtell said.

This year, the country will double its LNG exports to 77 million tons, thrusting it to the top of the global per capita rich list. The International Monetary Fund has forecast growth of 16.5 percent in 2010, making it one of the fastest growth markets in the world and number one in the Middle East, far outpacing its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) neighbours. In such an environment, opportunities for canny exporters are plentiful and diverse.

Qatar may be small, but this cash-rich new kid on the block is determined to make its mark. That means spending strategically for sustainable growth. Outside the emirate, the growing presence of Qatari capital on the international scene is attracting much attention.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country’s $75 billion sovereign wealth fund, weathered the recession with relatively few shocks, using the break to reassess and refocus. As the dust settles on the slowdown, the QIA, Qatari financial institutions and an abundance of private capital are all looking for interesting partnerships.

But spending at home is the key for potential exporters. The QIA is only one of many funds that benefit from vast budgetary surpluses. Other state investment vehicles dedicated to healthcare, education and stabilisation are also on the finance ministry’s pay list. The message from the ministry is to diversify this desert economy and to develop enterprise and society.

The government’s National Vision for 2030 focuses on human, economic, social and environmental development and is dependent on the continued influx of thousands of foreign workers, from unskilled labourers to experienced executives.

Much of the country’s estimated $35 billion in revenues for 2010 has already been earmarked for massive infrastructure projects that belie the recession elsewhere. Qatar is playing catch-up with more developed states in the region and has the growing LPG receipts to fund a vision in concrete and steel.

Development projects include the $14 billion Doha International Airport, which will have a capacity for 24 million passengers annually.

Add to this a massive port relocation project, new rail networks and the construction of entire new cities at The Pearl and Lusail, and the extent of the government’s infrastructure investment program becomes apparent.

Many Australian firms have already made their mark in Qatar’s construction boom. Last year, Victoria-based WWW Projects announced it would project manage the first phase of a $74 million deal to design, integrate and install the telecommunications and IT infrastructure for Ras Laffan Port, slated to be one of the world’s largest when complete.

The company is delivering cutting edge communications and security infrastructure for this key departure point for the emirate’s LNG-laden tankers.

Foreign expertise remains crucial to Qatar’s growth. “The country’s population has doubled over the last five years, mainly due to the arrival of skilled and unskilled expats,” says Kym Hewett, Austrade’s senior trade commissioner responsible for Qatar. “Today, around 80 percent of the population of 1.7 million is foreign.” The Government is keen to ‘Qatarise’ the workplace and young people are being trained to take the reins from foreigners in the future.

For the moment, however, there are simply not enough locals to manage and staff enterprises in this fast diversifying economy. Training and management skills will continue to command a premium in the years to come.

The Directory of Major Construction Developers in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) indicates that design and construction companies are set to benefit from growing opportunities as countries in the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council rebound from the effects of the global economic downturn.

The findings show that according to the World Bank, the GDP of GCC countries is projected to grow by 3.7 percent in 2010 and 4.4 percent in 2011, in conjunction with large national population growth and a massive housing shortfall. Furthermore, a number of governments have the funding for urban development, capitalising on their oil and gas revenue surpluses.

“The construction industry in the GCC is not a secondary industry but key and will play a vital role in the region’s future. Nowhere else on earth have governments placed their hopes so unreservedly in the construction industry’s hands,” according to the report, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE continuing as the hub of the construction sector in the region.

Download the report at the Export Connections website www.export.vic.gov.au.

Animals Australia presented the petition to the Senate this week in the wake of the annual Eid Al Adha ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ in the Middle East.

Animals Australia executive director Glenys Oogjes said: “Australian sheep and cattle are currently being yarded in the Middle East to be sold and killed during Eid al Adha. This three-day slaughter represents the peak time for animal suffering in the Middle East.

“Our investigators have documented terrified Australian sheep being dragged by their horns, tied up and shoved into car boots in extreme heat before having their throats cut while fully conscious. Despite this extreme cruelty, the government allows the supply of many hundreds of thousands of sheep specifically for this festival each year.

“That Australia continues to value the profits of a small number of live exporters over our international reputation as a caring society is a national disgrace,” she concluded.