Pakistan is set to grant Most Favored Nation status to India, Pakistani Minister of State for Commerce Abbas Khan Afridi said Jan. 24, The Express Tribune reported.

China Petroleum Pipeline is close to winning a $650 million contract to build a pipeline linking oilfields in southern Iraq's Maysan province to major export storage depots and offshore terminals on the Persian Gulf, the chief of state-run Maysan Oil Co., Ali Maarij, said Jan. 22, Reuters and Al Arabiya English reported.

The price of rice in Iran has doubled because the country has had difficulties importing rice from countries like India and Pakistan because of international sanctions, Mehr News and other agencies reported Jan. 21.

Qatar will stand by Egypt and its people in its time of financial need, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani said Jan. 15, Reuters reported.

Brazil is urging the Venezuelan government to hold elections as quickly as possible if Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dies, unnamed senior Brazilian officials said Jan. 14, Reuters reported.

Iran's oil exports have fallen 40 percent in the last nine months, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told a parliamentary commission on Jan. 7, AFP reported, citing the ISNA news agency.

South Africa's Harmony Gold may permanently close its Kusasalethu mine after managers received death threats and police were shot at, Reuters reported Jan. 7.