EUROPE
GROWTH OF MUSLIMS SPURS CHANGES IN EUROPE
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It’s just before lunchtime and local women in body-covering garments are perusing a medley of markets filled with Halal foods. The surrounding streets are decorated with special lights – funded by the Leicester City Council – to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid. In all, there are more than 30 mosques nearby, as well as a public library with shelves of books in Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, along with newspapers from across Asia and the Middle East. The neighbourhood Islamic schools receive state funding, just as the Christian and Jewish ones do. This is Leicester, a former manufacturing city of 285,000 people in England’s heartland. It is home to large pockets of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims – indeed the latter makes up more than 15 per cent of the population. In at least one large Muslim neighbourhood, called Highfields, there’s not a single white English face to be found. For the 2011 census, Leicester is on track to be the first European city with a non-white majority. |SOURCE: EUROPENEWS.DK, 13 OCTOBER 2008
The Qatari Prime Minister announced a USD200 million investment in Cambodia’s agriculture sector, while Kuwait last month pledged USD546 million in soft loans to upgrade irrigation systems and roads throughout the kingdom. Minister of Tourism Thong Khon
CAMBODIA
CAMBODIA TO TARGET MIDEAST FOR TOURISM
A new government strategy hopes to make Cambodia a target destination for more Middle Eastern travellers, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon told the Post recently. The move comes amid efforts by Prime Minister Hun Sen to strengthen ties between Cambodia and the Gulf nations. The government last month signed a direct-flight agreement with Qatar, Thong Khon said, adding that a similar agreement with Kuwait is expected soon. The Qatari Prime Minister announced a USD200 million investment in Cambodia’s agriculture sector, while Kuwait last month pledged USD546 million in soft loans to upgrade irrigation systems and roads throughout the kingdom. Hun Sen is expected to pay a state visit to the Middle East in January next year, with stops in Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Cambodia has more than 300,000 ethnic Muslim Cham residents. Cham communities are currently marketed to Muslim tourists, said Ho Vandy, President of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents. The Phnom Penh airport and several hotels in the capital and Siem Reap are also equipped with Muslim prayer rooms. |SOURCE: PHNOMPENHPOST.COM, 23 SEPTEMBER 2008
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THAILAND
CHINA FALLOUT MAY HELP CPF
The tainted-milk crisis in China represents a potential windfall for Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) as consumers will be seeking safer sources of food, says CEO Adirek Sripratak. He said lack of confidence in Chinese food products and tighter regulation of any food products imported from China would help many Thai producers, who could expect increasing purchase orders from Japan, the US and Europe. Chinese authorities say as many as 22 milk producers may be implicated and its top food-quality official has been sacked. Adirek said CPF had received recognition for its food safety, traceability and verification under a number of international standards, including GMP, HACCP, ISO 9002 and 14001, TIS18001, ISO17025, Halal and Animal Welfare. He also noted that the business outlook was improving because the cost of raw materials and meat products was decreasing, while CPF was increasing output of processed food. CPF will soon open the world’s most modern farm and animal feed mill in Russia, one of the world’s largest pork consumers and importers. CPF shares closed yesterday on the SET at 4.08 baht, up eight satang, in trade worth 129.8 million baht. |SOURCE: BANGKOKPOST.COM, 25 SEPTEMBER 2008
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