ALI ALTURKI, Vice President of Operations, Rawabi Holding

P.M. Communications: What was the vision of your father Sheikh Abdulaziz AlTurki when he first started his business?

Mr. AlTurki (RHC): My father was blessed to be part of a Saudi family that believed in education at a time when having an education abroad was almost unheard-of. He spent his early school-years in Lebanon until he graduated high school. This gave him the proper tools to successfully graduate from George Washington University in the US Capital. He holds both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Business Administration.
As he returned home and recognized the endless business opportunities available in Saudi Arabia, my father's focus became very clear; to become a part of the largest Oil & Gas Industry in the world and to be involved in the massive infrastructure boom that most definitely had to follow.

Mr. AlTurki (RHC): On the Saudi Economy Today: The GDP has been estimated to have grown by 30% in 2005. Oil exports revenues have been estimated to reach $ 44B, increasing by 48% since last year. In addition to being accepted to join the WTO in late 2005, Saudi has seen a growing competition in business especially with the liberalization of the country's major sectors, for example removing the local bank's monopolies and opening the telecoms sector. Saudi Arabia finally established the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to act as an investment regulator in the country. In regards to the Saudi private sector, the local stock Market in 2005 had witnessed the highest ever IPO activity since its' inception, as well as a very strong profitability and an extreme abundance in liquidity, which is evident in the record breaking Tadawul Share Index recent levels. The Saudi Stock market today represents about $ 435B (twice the value of total export revenues). The local business climate is impressive and we as a company are very optimistic about Saudi's future and economy.

P.M. Communications: Would you say that's the newest development? How about the one that shows the best growth?

Mr. AlTurki (RHC): The Saudi economy is based on supplying oil to the world markets. The local business potential is directly tied with the world's increasing oil demands. Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer is planning to invest $40,000M by 2010. This budget includes upstream oil development programs such as the Khurais Field (1.3M Barrels/day), AFK Fields (500K b/d) and the Shaybah and Nuayyim Fields (350K b/d). It also includes increasing the gas output to better serve the booming petrochemicals industry. Finally in downstream, two mega export refineries are underway in addition to the ongoing massive Rabigh Refinery project, which is a JV with Sumitomo, Japan.
In terms of Saudi's oil proven reserves, the number is close to 263,000M barrels and the production capacity today is about 10,500M b/d; however, I believe this number is planned to be increased by 3-3.5M b/d in the next few years alone.

In other words, the Oil & Gas Sector is most definitely the one that shows the largest growth potential. As RAWABI HOLDING COMPANY, the following is a brief of our activities in this particular field and what we have planned to expand on in the following oil field services:
· We operate about 10 onshore drilling and work-over rigs through RAWABI-DALMA, a Saudi based joint venture. We are actively looking to buy new rigs.
· We operate 5 offshore jack-up rigs through ROWAN-COMPANIES in the Arabian/Persian Gulf waters. The company holds the largest offshore drilling contract in the Middle East. ROWAN is listed on the NYSE.
· We hold the only Saudi Aramco H2S Gas Monitoring Services Contract to supply the proper manpower and related equipment through our company RUSS (RAWABI UNITED SAFETY SERVICES), a Saudi-Canadian joint venture. H2S gas is odorless and poisonous and requires 24-hours monitoring in oil extraction and transportation. Our systems are considered the best in the world according to the world's largest oil producer.
· We hold the only Saudi Aramco Mud-Engineering Services Contract through our joint venture, RAWABI-EMEC. This joint venture is the first 100% Arab-owned oil services company to break the Western (US/European) monopoly in this particular scope of work in Saudi Arabia. Today, we operate on about 70 rigs and are extremely proud of it!
· We operate a Casing Services Company (running casing) named RAWABI-FRANK'S, a Saudi/US joint venture. We hold about 60% of Saudi's casing market and we seek to grow further.
· We supply instrumentation services with our partners MD-TOTCO (a VARCO Company), rig moving and maintenance services, new technology introduction and testing for example our new and unique partnership with HOT-HED for wellheads and welding services, mud-logging services, snubbing services, and wireline and slickline services. Furthermore, our company RAWABI TRADING & CONTRACTING (RTC) is a well-established Oil & Gas Trade-House as it supplies equipment and chemicals to most of the companies involved in this industry
· Finally, we have recently established a new company in this field to perform cementing, Nitrogen testing, well stimulation and coiled tubing services. This company is a closed joined stock company with plans to be listed in the Saudi Stock Exchange in the near future. The main partners in this venture are RAWABI HOLDING COMPANY and NAPESCO, a Kuwaiti Public Company.

Another Oil & Gas Sector growth area involves the building of new facilities required to handle the increased oil extraction and production, in addition to upgrading and maintaining existing facilities. This sector has endless business opportunities for local and international companies for two main reasons. The first is the huge number of these types of projects that are being rolled-out on a weekly basis. The Saudi government made a commitment to cope with increasing world oil demands and Saudi Aramco has translated this commitment into a very aggressive tendering campaign. The second is the lack of availability of well-established and capable FEED/PMC/EPC & LSTK contractors (Front End Engineering & Design, Project Management & Construction, Engineering Procurement & Construction, and Lump-Sum-Turn-Key). This creates a once in a lifetime opportunity for contractors seriously thinking of participating in such a massive expansion program. In short, the next upcoming years are the true "boom years" of Saudi Arabia.
Our activities as contractors are as follows:
· We provide EPC services on an LSTK basis (or whatever the client needs) in the field of civil and building, electro-mechanical, and industrial construction through NESMA & PARTNES. The company was established in 1980 by our president and is today regarded as one of the largest contractors in the Middle East with an impressive list of clients and completed projects. NESMA is owned by RAWABI HOLDING COMPNAY and three other Saudi Groups.
· Through ABACORP, a fully-owned subsidiary of RAWABI HOLDING COMPANY, we provide specialized contracting, plant maintenance and turnaround services to the Oil & Gas and the Petrochemicals Industry. In addition, we undertake major infrastructure works including water and sewage pipelines and networks, construction of high-rise and mixed-use building, major shopping malls and hospitals and water treatment, desalination and pumping plants/stations.
· Finally, through our CCG (Corrosion Control Group) and RISS (RAWABI INDUSTRIAL SUPPORT SERVICES) we can undertake most corrosion related services needs from corrosion inspection and detection (NDT or other) to corrosion prevention and material supply (cathodic-protection for example).

Local and international construction companies and investors also have major business potential outside the Oil & Gas sector. King Abdulla's first two acts as ruler included increasing government employees' salaries by 15% and approving a $ 8B program to be spent on the country's basic infrastructure.

Growth is also witnessed in the Telecoms Sector. A second GSM operator entered the market last year and more liberalization of this sector in planned for this year. Prior to my recent job, I served as director of Telecom & IT of RAWABI HOLDING COMPANY. Our activities in this sector include manufacturing and supplying wireless networks basic infrastructure. REMAL TELECOM FACTORY, a fully-owned subsidiary has manufactured about 60% of the shelters (telecom enclosures) being used in Saudi today. We have supplied towers, antennas, and the full line of accessories through our partners RFS, GmbH amongst others. RAWABI TELECOM & SOFTWARE COMPANY, another fully-owned subsidiary provides point-of-sale connectivity through X25 or through IP networking and also has a division that provides VAS (value added services) to the regional telecom operators. Our latest venture in 2005 was the partial acquisition of DIGITALSKYS, BVI which operates out of Dubai, UAE. The company provides the "last-mile" connectivity solutions through integrating cutting edge VSAT, WiFi and WiMax technologies. DIGITALSKYS is planned to be listed on the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) in the 3rd QRT of 2006 and may possibly be dually-listed on the DIFX (Dubai International Financial Exchange) after a secondary capital raise.

To handle such a growing market, we also plan to expand in the warehousing and logistics business. RAWABI owns a large stake in NAMMA CARGO SERVICES COMPANY, which has been in partnership with DANZAS since the early 80's (recently bought by DHL and the terms of the contract continued).

Finally, the country's power sector has major expansion plans and a wealth of business opportunities. As RAWABI and through our partners NEXANS, Europe's largest cables manufacturer, we have signed a GCCIA (Gulf Countries Council Interconnection Authority) contract to manufacture, transport and install a dedicated extra-high voltage underwater link to interconnect the power grids of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. This project is considered to be the largest in the world in this particular scope.

In terms of our activities regionally, we operate in Kuwait as PETROLEUM NETWORKS SERVICES (PNS), in Bahrain as RAWABI AL-BAHRAIN, and in Qatar as RAWABI QATAR TRADING & CONTRACTING.

P.M. Communications: RAWABI has been voted as the fastest growing company in the Eastern province. What will be the challenges for the coming year?

Mr. AlTurki (RHC): Well, it is an honor to be voted as the "fastest growing company". I believe our subsidiary RAWABI TRADING & CONTRACTING (RTC) was the company chosen for this well deserved recognition. We consider this is a good pedestal to start from and we will strive to do our very best to continue to serve the Saudi economy to the best of our ability. The management team of RTC is the one to be accredited for this recognition for their amazing accomplishments in 2005. Frankly, they were the heart and sole of the entire group last year.

P.M. Communications: Do you see improvement in the government process for issuing visas?

Mr. AlTurki (RHC): Well, I don't think we - as a country - have a choice in this matter. We have to solve this meaningless bottleneck! We have endless issues with the Ministry of Labor with regards to issuing visas for foreigners to serve in major Saudi projects. King Abdulla's message was very clear. With the highest approvals given and the budgets required granted, the country's ministers have no justified reasons to prolong these issues or delay contractor's requirements. We are all in this together.

P.M. Communications: You have lived in the U.S for quiet some time and you have a westernized idea on how to do business, are there any misconceptions westerners might have about Saudi businessmen?

Mr. AlTurki (RHC): I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University's College of Engineering. I worked a total of two years in the US in different manufacturing fields until I decided to come back to Saudi Arabia and join the RAWABI group of companies. I am a firm believer that "SEEING IS BELIEVING". The problem is that in the Western media - especially in the US - reports are rarely based on speculations. However, when they report about Saudi Arabia or the Middle-East in general, their reports are mostly based on speculations. It is shocking what you hear when you walk down a street in a metropolitan city like New York or Los Angeles and ask people where Saudi is located geographically. I once got Idaho as an answer! So the fact that we do not live in tents nor do we ride camels to work is actually a surprise to some Westerners. I believe it is a question of who controls the media in the Western world. Criticizing a country's rules, regulations, safety, human rights and both personal and business environments without proper research and at least one visit is not fair. If you are thinking of doing business or investing in Saudi, you must initially visit the country and meet with the local community. Only by doing so will you be able to decide for yourself to (or not to) invest.

P.M. Communications: What will be your advice to foreign investors that want to come to Saudi Arabia to do business?
Answer: Mr. AlTurki (RHC):
Visit www.rawabiholding.com or www.alturkiholdings.com for a solid, well established and connected Saudi partner! On a serious note, I would like to emphasize on the numerous business opportunities that Saudi Arabia has to offer to both the local and the international companies. The next 15 years will be the "real boom years" of this great country. Thus, foreign investors should take advantage of the recent relaxations in regulations involving foreign direct investments and foreign ownership. As Rawabi, we strive to be heavily involved in the economy's expansion plans. We always stick to our slogan; "We Make It Happen"; just ask our clients and business partners locally and internationally.