The Middle East

The release of the European Commission progress report this month on the status of reform in Turkey pointed up agriculture as an area in which the country will have to dig particularly deep as it drives towards full membership.

While widely regarded as one of the chief casualties of Turkey's 2000-2001 economic crisis, Turkey's construction sector is nowadays showing increasing signs of a turnaround.

With the release this week of a European Commission progress report advising the beginning of membership negotiations with Turkey, there is a decidedly sunny aspect to market watchers these days.

With only two years to go to the opening of the 15th Asian games in the Qatari capital of Doha, the government is working hard to promote both the event and the country itself as a venue for sporting events.

Fixed in the crosshairs of militant Islamist groups, this month saw Turkish lorry drivers and businessmen subject to a fresh series of kidnappings and murders in neighbouring Iraq.

While Qatar's real estate and construction boom continues at breakneck pace, the perennial problem of shortages in building materials was given another airing this week, as building-sector leaders and the government tried to deal with a dwindling amount of cement, steel and gravel. At the same time though, analysts were generally unanimous in predicting a rosy future for real estate in the country, despite complaints from many residents over rocketing rents and prices.