Home topics small-business-resources growth-import-export Growth | Import | Export Growth | Import | Export Exporting to the Middle East Guest Author April 17, 2008 An exchange program, designed to build trade connections between Australia and the Arab world, has been given the thumbs up by visiting delegates. Trying to get a visa to travel to Australia is difficult if you live in Mauritania, a rich oil and gas country nestled into west Africa. For Mauritanian Boubacar Diop it was a dream come true—to be selected as one of 17 Arab business leaders who travelled to Australia in February and March as part of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR) Young Professionals Exchange Program. Australia hosted the group, which included managing directors, chief financial officers, human resource managers, engineers and telecommunication specialists representing Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, and Yemen. The program is an initiative to build further connections between Australian and Arab businesses. More importantly, it’s a relationship, says chairman of CAAR, Dr Glen Simpson, that offers great strategic value for Australia. “Our relationship with the Arab world will be one of the most important for Australia to manage over the coming decades, and has already been a key focus in the first decade of this century. “The CAAR Young Professionals Exchange Program has been, since 2004, a long-term investment in developing a positive and lasting relationship between Australia and the Arab world. That goal continues to be achieved through