Song Optimistic by Arcacy www.arcacy.com used by permission.
A day in the life in Saudi
Song Optimistic by Arcacy www.arcacy.com used by permission.
A day in the life in Saudi Arabia.
These photos and video were taken in January 2008 in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is one of the most misunderstood places in the world. Scenes include the National Museum, Prince Salman bin Sultan who is the Minister of Tourism, a regular city street, the park and the Four Seasons Hotel.
Photos of the economic cities are also included, these large projects include the creation of six economic cities.
Not much is seen in America about Saudi Arabia and Riyadh, the country has a rich heritage and culture.
The music is by Arcacy, thier song Optimistic from the album of the same name.
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Added: 3 months ago
Views: 11,273
The Global Competitiveness Forum ("GCF") is an annual meeting of top business executives,
The Global Competitiveness Forum ("GCF") is an annual meeting of top business executives, international political leaders, selected intellectuals, and academics who share an interest in global competitiveness. For the 2008 GCF, Saudi Arabia celebrated its new ranking in terms of "ease to do business" --rated as 23rd country worldwide and 1st in the Middle East and in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia has also greatly improved rankings by the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
In 2007, more than 500 of these key leaders participated in the first annual GCF which included a keynote address by Bill Gates of Microsoft.
The event is held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia right before the Davos Economic Forum.
In 2008 and under the patronage of H.M. King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, the forum gathered 1,000 internationally recognized leaders. The program is designed to create a discussion platform for experts, corporate leaders, political leaders, NGOs, academics and other stakeholders.
GCF Speakers included the following people:
Mohamed Ali Alabbar
Chairman of Emaar Properties PJSC
James (Jim) F. Albaugh
Executive Vice President, The Boeing Company
President and Chief Executive Officer
Integrated Defense Systems
H.E. Amr Al-Dabbagh
Governor & Chairman, SAGIA
Khalid Al Gosaibi
Minister of Economy and Planning, Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
HE Eng. Khalid Abdullah Almolhem
Director General, Saudi Airlines
HE Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel
President, King Abdullaziz City for Science and Technology
Henry Azzam
CEO Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) - Deutsche Bank
Mr. Alan L. Boeckmann
Chairman of the Board & CEO, Fluor Corporation
Dr. Werner Brandt
Member of the Executive Board & Chief Financial Officer, SAP AG
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland
former Prime Minister of Norway & former Director General of the World Health Organization. Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations
Prof. Herwig Brunner
Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, Professor at the University of Stuttgart
Mr. John T. Chambers
Chairman & CEO, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Mr Victor Chu
Chairman, First Eastern Investment Group
Mr. Dick Evans
President & CEO, Alcan Inc.
Mr. Bruce Fenton
Founder & Managing Director, Atlantic Financial Inc
Mr. Mark B. Fuller
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Monitor Group
Gail D. Fosler
President and Chief Economist The Conference Board
Prof. Stéphane Garelli
Professor at IMD and at the University of Lausanne, Director World Competitiveness Center
Mr. German Gref
RF Minister of Economic Development and Trade
Anant Gupta
Founding Partner and CEO, HCL
Mr. Jean-Michel Halfon
Area President Canada / Latin America / Africa / Middle-Est
Dr. Axel Claus Heitmann
Chairman of the Board of Management, LANXESS AG
HE Eng. Mohamed Jamil Ahmed Mulla
Minister of Information and Communication Technology
Mr. Tapani Järvinen
President & CEO, Outotec
Mr Lee Yi Shyan
Minister of State for Trade and Industry
Republic of SingaporeMr. Franklin Pitcher Johnson, JR.
Founding Partner Asset Management Company
Prof. Michio Kaku
Theoretical physicist, best-selling author & popularizer of science
Mr. Younghoon David Kim
Chairman, Daesung Group
Mr. Nemir A. Kirdar
President & CEO, Investcorp.
Mr. Mikael Mäkinen
President & CEO, Cargotec
Sir Terence Matthews
Chairman, Wesley Clover
Mr. Hartmut Mehdorn
Chairman of the Management Board & CEO, DB AG
Mr. Yasuyuki Nambu
Group CEO of Pasona Group is from Japan and its official site is original Japanese site http://www.pasona.co.jp
English site is also available http://www.pasona.co.jp/english
Mr. Aref Naqvi
Executive Vice Chairman & CEO, Abraaj Capital
Prof. Jane Nelson
Senior Fellow & Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Dr. Michael E. Porter
Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School
Azim Premji
Chairman, Wipro
Dr. John Quelch
Senior Associate Dean, Harvard Business School.
Dr. Hector de J. Ruiz
Chairman & CEO, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Mr. Frank John Sixt
Executive Director & Group Finance Director, Hutchison Whampoa Limited
Mr. Don Thornhill
Chairman, National Competitiveness Council of Ireland
Mr. Nigel Turner
CEO, BMI
Prof. Laura Tyson
Professor, Haas Business and Public Policy Group at the University of California Berkeley
Dr. Daniel Vasella, M.D.
Chairman & CEO, Novartis AG.
H.E. Dr. Hashim Yamani
Minister of Commerce and Industry
Philip Yeo
Special Advisor for Economic Development
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Added: 3 months ago
Views: 13,544
Migrant workers make up over 85% of the population of the UAE (United Arab Emirates).
Migrant workers make up over 85% of the population of the UAE (United Arab Emirates).
A booming construction area with dozens of large multi phase developments such in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other emirates include projects such as the Burj Dubai, Ski Dubai, Dubailand and the Mall of Arabia.
Migrant workers make up virtually every category of employee in the UAE from CEOs and engineers to cement mixers, drivers, accountants and janitors.
Highly skilled and educated workers from western nations come to the Middle East for tax free income and often increased wages and opportunity. Most attention to migrant workers focuses on the manual laborers.
Numbering over 300,000, manual laborers make up a large amount of the population. Attention has focused on these workers for their wages and working conditions which are generally poor by western standards.
Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and other wealth oil exporting nations also have large numbers of migrant workers who are mostly focused on building infrastructure and implementing the huge investments made by these countries. Workers come from all over the world in addition to the higher paid, educated and skilled workers from the UK, US, Ireland and throughout Europe and Asia, manual laborers come from Myanmar (Burma), India, Pakistan, Somalia or other countries. India and Pakistan also have a large number of highly skilled and highly paid workers.
Lack of unions and organized labor makes life for the construction workers very different from the US however most workers are very happy for the opportunity and the economics of wage equalization exist because of a very liberal work immigration policy and a robust economy.
Favorable taxes and opportunity make the region popular for guest workers.
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Added: 6 months ago
Views: 7,073
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This is from the National Museum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The museum is an excellent an
This is from the National Museum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The museum is an excellent and large new museum with exhibits covering ancient history through to modern times. This was filmed in Riyadh in January 2008. The Museum includes some of the oldest rocks in the world -- I believe 2 billion years old as well as dinosaur bones and other artifacts found in Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh is the capitol city of Saudi Arabia and the center for government for the country.
Contrary to most images of Saudi Arabia, this park is typical of the wholesome family atmosphere common in the country. It is very tranquil and relaxing.
The National Museum is run with support from the Supreme Tourism Commission (STC) and HRH Price Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Prince Sultan. He is an amazing person and was voted by a your Arab counsel as their most respected and admired figure. He is young and charismatic and was the first Arab, first Muslim and first Saudi astronaut. Prince Sultan bin Salman is a patron of the arts and very interested in archeology and science.
This quiet and simple video is about as basic as you can get: people enjoying time in a park with their families. It would be great if more people in the world saw more images like these of other cultures: especially those often misunderstood places like The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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Added: 4 months ago
Views: 5,250
I went to the Burj Dubai and filmed the construction and then again six months later.
6
I went to the Burj Dubai and filmed the construction and then again six months later.
66 to 124 floors in six months!
The Burj Dubai tower is designed to be the centerpiece of a large-scale, mixed-use development that will include 30,000 homes, nine hotels, 6 acres of parkland, 19+ residential towers, the Dubai Mall, and a large man-made lake. The complete 500 acre development will cost about $20 billion dollars (US). Once completed, the tower will cover a total of over 22 million square feet of development.
The official height of the Burj Dubai is kept secret because of international competition, but current estimates have it rising to a height in excess of 2,600 feet. Some estimate that it will be 189 floors or so - it is to be the tallest building in the world.
Recently, the construction site already surpassed height needed to make it (uncompeted) the second tallest building in the world.
The Burj Dubai is located in Dubai which is a city in the emirate of Dubai, part of the United arab Emirates in the Gulf region of the Middle East.
Comments by Bruce Fenton
Please note - the NASD is now known as FINRA
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 249,770
As seen on 60 Minutes Dubai Inc. reported by Steve Kroft.
The Biggest Story in the Wor
As seen on 60 Minutes Dubai Inc. reported by Steve Kroft.
The Biggest Story in the World --- Dubai - home of the world's largest construction site and one of the most amazing stories in our world today.
While millions flock to Dubai annually, from an American perspective it's "the Middle East we don't know".
Still surrounded in misunderstanding by so many in the US, the massively positive story of Dubai and Middle East 2.0 is the real story of change in the Gulf.
It is a story of peaceful, constructive excellence and the pursuit of dreams. A story very much in line with true American values.
Dubai is a city in the emirate of Dubai which is part of the United Arab Emirates or UAE in the Persian Gulf. The UAE is part of the GCC, Gulf Cooperative Council, an economic group of nations along the lines of the European Union (EU). The GCC includes the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The growth in Dubai is representative of the growth in the region. While many in America associate the Arab world, the Middle East, the Gulf or sadly Islam and Muslims with terror and terrorism, war and violence, the real story of the Middle East is what is going on with construction, commerce, art, development and millions of people making a better life for themselves.
There is clearly a big difference between the perceptions of Iraq or other areas in the region and reality. Some people tend to think that Iran, the UAE, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are all the same - the region is as varied as the Americas.
Richard Branson, Tiger Woods, Martha Stewart, Madonna and Donald Trump all have business ventures in Dubai. The area is known mostly for real estate but many other projects continue there daily.
Comments by Bruce Fenton
Please note - the NASD is now known as FINRA
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 165,399
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I had heard that You Tube was censored in Saudi Arabia - along with Craigslist, MySpace an
I had heard that You Tube was censored in Saudi Arabia - along with Craigslist, MySpace and any web site from Israel.
I tested this myself, first hand on a PC and web connection in Saudi Arabia and am happy to say it is a misconception. YouTube, Craigslist, MySpace and sites from Israel enjoy the same free speech in Saudi Arabia as they do in the USA.
From what I understand, there is some censorship of certain sites in Saudi Arabia such as adult, nudity and porn sites and I would guess that certain violent or hate speech sites might be censored but I didnt investigate this.
There are many misconceptions about this region of the world and many news media reports that are incorrect.
Saudi Arabia, China and many other countries have different standards of what speech is allowed compared to the US. In this, the United States is somehwat unusual - its important to remmember that in the US we have many banned and censored sites as well such as hate speech and illegal pornography for example.
Saudi Arabia is undergoing an amazing transformation of thier society. Oil wealth has given the nation the capital to launch many major development projects such as the creation of new economic cities and huge infrastructure investment.
Internet usage in Saudi Arabia is high and the speed is very fast. The cities are modern and have excelent shops and restaurants.
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Added: 4 months ago
Views: 5,787
Dubai, UAE is the world's fastest growing city. This video compares footage taken of Dubai
Dubai, UAE is the world's fastest growing city. This video compares footage taken of Dubai in Fall 2006 with footage taken in Spring 2007.
Dubai is part of the UAE, United Arab Emirates, a country in the Gulf region of the Middle East. The capital of the UAE is Abu Dhabi.
In a matter of months, new buildings appear in the perpetually changing Dubai City skyline. Various news articles state that tens of thousands of construction cranes are currently in Dubai, reportedly up to a third of all of the cranes in the world. It is quite amazing to see the speed at which they are working.
Dubai is an emirate of the United Arab Emirates. Wealth, education levels and growth equal or surpass the US. Economic progress in this city of the future is unprecedented. It is the Middle East that is not familiar to most Americans. The real change in the Middle East is not from the Iraq invasion, it is from construction and business and entertainment.
The speed of development in the region is mind boggling to most people.
Comments by Bruce Fenton
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 21,072
On the evening of July 24th 2007, the Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates officially
On the evening of July 24th 2007, the Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates officially became The World's Tallest Building
Dubai continues its amazing growth as an important factor in the transformation of the Middle East region, the Gulf and the Arab world. Numerous large projects continue in the region in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries.
Burj Dubai is the centerpeice in a $20 billion US dollar business park called Bussiness Bay - it will include residential, office space and retail and is designed to create a vibrant downtown district.
The building will include the first Georgio Armani Hotel and many shopping, business and entertainment landmarks.
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Added: 11 months ago
Views: 46,490
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