AL-ULA

Saudi Arabia, France Announce ‘Major Partnership’ for Al-Ula Development

Madain Saleh, an archaeological site located in Al-Ula, in the Madinah Region in the Hejaz, Saudi Arabia.
France and Saudi Arabia have announced a "major partnership" to develop the area of Al-Ula, a historic site in the Kingdom that is part of its push to bring in tourists and open the Kingdom up to investment.

Saudi Arabia

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Aramco IPO

Commentary: Why Saudi Arabia’s Delayed Aramco IPO Is No Ordinary Share Sale

The deal has been extensively marketed to international investors, according to people familiar with the plans, approaches have been made to potential key investors including...

 

Aramco IPO

Saudi central bank vets local lenders ahead of Aramco IPO – sources

SAMA is checking whether local banks have the capacity to handle demand for loans linked to the IPO, one of the sources said. Up to...

 

Al-Ula

France and Saudi Arabia announce major new partnership for Al Ula development

The project will take place in three phases, with the first being completed in 2023 at a projected cost of between $3 billion and $4bn...

 

OPEC+

Saudi energy minister, Russian minister discuss stability of oil markets

The Saudi energy minister on Monday discussed with the Russian minister of economic development cooperation in energy and the stability of global markets, Saudi state...

 

5g

Zain launches commercial 5G services in Saudi Arabia

Middle East telecom group Zain has launched commercial 5G operations in Saudi Arabia, the telco said in a release. Zain said that the first phase of...

 

Saudi Aramco

Fitch downgrades Aramco to ‘A’ with stable outlook, after attacks on oil facilities

Fitch on Monday downgraded Saudi Aramco by one notch after attacks last month on two production facilities, putting the rating of the state-owned oil giant...

 

Incubators

Saudi Arabia’s start-up incubator Biac plans GCC expansion for 2020

Established in 2016 through a royal decree, Biac has raised almost Dh328 million in venture capital for more than 650 start-ups incubated as of the...

 

Food and Beverage

Six foreign halal certification bodies recognised by Saudi Food and Drug Authority

Saudi Arabia’s government on October 1 approved the launch of the Kingdom’s national system for halal products. Two bodies are at the centre of the country’s...

 

Art and Culture

Desert X art exhibition is heading to Saudi Arabia

Desert X consisted of large-scale site-specific works staged across the Coachella Valley in 2017 and again in 2019. The new exhibition, Desert X AlUla, will...

 

Art and Culture

Five Saudi Art Spaces To Know

As the Kingdom faces a wave of political change, the art scene is also hauled in a new direction with budding artists and pioneering galleries...

 

Tourism

Saudi Arabia says 24,000 tourists visited in 10 days

Around 24,000 foreigners visited Saudi Arabia since a new tourist visa system went into effect in the kingdom on September 27, Saudi media reported on...

 

Saudi +

Regional and related topics

Trump Foreign Policy

Republicans deliver rare rebuke of Trump, slamming his Syria withdrawal decision

“A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “And it...

 

Syrian Democratic Forces

A brief history of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led alliance that helped the U.S. defeat the Islamic State

In October 2015, when the Islamic State was making large territorial gains in Syria, the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit, or YPG, joined with various Arab...

 

Global Oil Markets

With new spare capacity, Russia joins ranks of oil’s swing producers

“We have said we have some 300,000 bpd of spare capacity but today our potential is even higher because companies kept investing (during the production...

 

Afghanistan

Afghanistan braces for political uncertainty in election’s wake

Petr Stepanek, ambassador of the Czech Republic to Afghanistan, said a second round of voting possibly would not be held until spring, prolonging the uncertainty....

 

SoftBank

SoftBank Profit Damage From Uber, WeWork Could Exceed $5 Billion

Son is going through a particularly rocky stretch after repositioning SoftBank from a telecom operator into an investment conglomerate, with stakes in scores of startups...

 

China in the Region

China Pulls Out of Giant Iranian Gas Project

The exit by Beijing—which had vowed to resist U.S. restrictions on Iran—is a blow to Tehran’s attempts to fight growing economic isolation and comes after...

 

Middle East Innovation Maturity Index

Accenture: Middle East firms to lose $578bn by ignoring innovation

The Accenture Middle East Innovation Maturity Index report, which surveyed 200 C-suite executives in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and covers 275 Middle East companies,...

 

Israel in the Region

FM confirms initiative to sign ‘historic’ non-aggression pact with Arab states

Validating report, Israel Katz says he met with top diplomats from Gulf countries in bid to ‘end the conflict and enable civilian cooperation until the...

 

Iraq

Analysis: Iraq May Be the Next Flash Point for Oil Markets

It’s now been a week since mass protests sprang up in southern Iraq, sparking unrest that has left dozens dead and continues to flare. What began as spontaneous expressions...

 

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