Experts to bring Euro perspective to Gulf

Two senior figures involved in the European Union's currency union are to discuss what lessons can be applied in the move towards a GCC single currency.

Erwin Nierop, a lawyer by training, was involved in the establishment of three international financial institutions: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Monetary Institute and the European Central Bank.

Most recently, he was head project manager for technical assistance to the Gulf Cooperation Council, helping to prepare a blueprint for Gulf monetary union.

Russell Krueger, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has extensive experience working on the statistical preparations of the European Monetary Union and has carried out research on union-building and regional financial integration projects in the Gulf, Africa and East Asia. He is currently on a one-year sabbatical leave for research on technical preparations for currency unions, with an emphasis on the lessons other regions can take from the European experience.

Both Nierop and Krueger will be speaking at the GCC Currency Forum 08, to be held on June 15 at the Monarch Hotel in Dubai.

Dr Armen Papazian, senior vice president responsible for development and innovation at Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), will be delivering the keynote address.

The event is organised by ITP Events and Conferences, in association with Arabian Banking & Finance magazine. Gulf Custody Company is associate sponsor and Mayfair Pacific Asset Management is the exhibitor partner.

The event is also supported by Gulf Research Centre, the Emirates Securities and Commodities Assocation and the UAE Financial Markets Association.

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GCC Currency Forum 2008
Posted by Ivo Cerckel, Siquijor, Philippines on Monday 5 May 2008 at 05:21 UAE time

Once the world will be allowed to know that the past three decades of cheap Arabian oil have been made possible by the flow of cheap gold to the Saudi Arabia oil-central bank then most will start to understand what the GOLD EURO really means.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that Venezuela will not abandon the US dollar as a currency for oil sales, despite the Opec member’s trend toward asking for payments in euros for certain contracts (1) and that whereas in the past Iranian officials have said that oil remained priced in the US dollar but with actual payments carried out in other currencies, an Iranian official was now quoted as saying that Iran is conducting ALL its crude trading in euros and yen, instead of the US dollar. (2)

Oil and gas for euro simply because the euro is evolving into a GOLD EURO, through the European Central Bank marking its gold reserves to market.

Time is up for those interventionists who think that by calling for intervention in the currency markets, if the dollar continues to drop, it, the dollar, could recover.

The problem is that Friday’s joint intervention by the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to pump an extra $82bn into the banking system (3) shows that those interventionists also exist within the European Central Bank.

It is to be hoped that the GCC Currency Forum 2008 will
argue for an end to this confusion, by condemning intervention in currency markets, so that oil can be priced in euro now.

Ivo Cerckel
ivocerckel AT siquijor DOT ws

NOTES

(1)
UPDATE 2-Venezuela says will not abandon dlr in oil sales
http://www.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUSN3053405620080430
SNIP CARACAS, April 30 (Reuters) - Venezuela will not abandon the dollar as a currency for oil sales, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Wednesday, despite the Opec member’s trend toward asking for payments in euros for certain contracts.

(2) Iran conducts all crude trade in euro, yen -agency
Reuters - USA http://www.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUSBLA02024820080430
SNIPS TEHRAN, April 30 (Reuters) - Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, is conducting all its crude trading in euro and yen, instead of the U.S. dollar, an Iranian official was quoted as saying
+
In the past, Iranian officials have said that oil remained priced in the U.S. dollar but with actual payments carried out in other currencies.

(3) From The Times, May 3, 2008, US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank pump an extra $82bn into banking system, Gary Duncan, Economics Editor
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3864287.ece?Submitted=true
SNIP The US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank united yesterday to open a new front in their battle to quell the persistent money market strains that are fuelling the global credit crunch

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