JEDDAH, 16 May 2008 — Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) recently signed with Gulf One Investment Bank to launch a major new center of economics research excellence. Research in the center will focus on economics and finance in the Middle East and North Africa region, and specifically energy, infrastructure and Islamic banking. The center, which will also offer training and consultancy to business, is being funded by Gulf One via its CEO and Lancaster alumna Dr. Nahed Taher.

Taher, who completed her MSc in international business and PhD in Economics at LUMS during the 1990s, said Gulf One had chosen Lancaster to set up a joint research center because “it is one of the top universities in the UK and Europe”. The partnership would support Gulf One’s strategic positioning as a knowledge-led financial institution, she explained. “I know at first hand that Lancaster provides a great quality education. It also has extensive experience in advising private sector companies and this will help to support the vision of Gulf One. With LUMS we want to achieve high-level research for infrastructure banking products and, specifically, the challenges facing Islamic banking of privatization deals in the Middle East and the world as a whole,” Dr Taher said.

Gulf One CEO said: “The bank’s partnership would benefit the business community by providing valuable economic and financial insights into the Gulf region. “The center will complement the research activities of Gulf One, thereby strengthening the knowledge-based functions of its business units. “As well as research, the center will be a training hub for those working in the financial sector in the Gulf and other emerging economies. More broadly it gives also Lancaster University a footprint in the Gulf region, an area of major strategic interest.”

Dr. Taher and her Gulf One colleagues, Chief Operating Officer Ziyad Omar and Chief Economist Dr. Mohammed Salisu, attended a special signing ceremony with LUMS Dean Professor Sue Cox and the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert McKinlay.