MUST-READS

• Saudi Arabia spends over SAR 500M on mineral exploration: Deputy Minister

  Saudi Arabia is currently spending more than SAR 500 million on mineral exploration, compared to less than SAR 25 million in 2018, with an eye for 50% more year-on-year (YoY) in 2024, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Mudaifer. “Spending on exploration activities has grown by 40% YoY from SAR 80 per square kilometer to SAR 300, albeit still below the global average. Thus, we aspire to increase it by 50%, in a bid to align growth with global rates,” he told the press conference on the fourth International Mining Conference. The official also indicated that a total of 70 foreign and local exploration partnerships were established this year. Further, programs and incentives worth about SAR 780 million were created for investors in the exploration domain.

• Saudi Arabia announces Riyadh Declaration for inclusive, innovative and impactful AI for all

  He said the declaration focused on AI with its inclusive, innovative and impactful dimension, and emphasizes the need for use of AI technologies to enable digital access and enhance digital knowledge, as well as address global challenges and unleash global economic value. The declaration also emphasized the AI role in increasing digital accessibility and digital literacy, promoting sustainable development, protecting environment, improving public health, and boosting economic inclusion. Alswaha also pointed out that the Kingdom, under the leadership of the Crown Prince, has adopted a proactive approach in the field of AI, and stressed that the Kingdom's Vision 2030 is clear and based on the commitment to lead the global transformation in this field by example.

• Saudi pharma industry capacity surpasses local demand, targets regional role: Alkhorayef

  Pharmaceuticals are among the key industries prioritized in Saudi Arabia, with the Kingdom's capabilities in this sector surpassing local demand, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef said. Speaking at a press conference today, Dec. 17, in Cairo, Egypt, the minister emphasized Saudi Arabia's efforts to establish itself as a regional hub for pharmaceutical industries to serve the wider region. He underscored the importance of collaboration with Egypt to explore industrial integration in the pharmaceutical sector, leveraging the expertise of both countries and developing joint projects aimed at reducing reliance on imports, particularly for raw materials.

• Saudi Arabia spotlights private sector’s role in driving logistics transformation

  Saudi Arabia’s private sector is playing a pivotal role in driving the Kingdom’s transformation into a global logistics hub, a top official said. Speaking at the sixth edition of the Supply Chain And Logistics Conference in Riyadh, Rumaih Al-Rumaih, vice minister of transport and logistics services and president of the Transport General Authority, highlighted the critical contributions from businesses. “The main player in achieving anything in the logistics sector is the private sector. Truly, the private sector is the one delivering results. The government’s role is to enable,” Al-Rumaih said.

• FIFA chief Infantino warned by EU lawmakers over Saudi Arabia World Cup

  Members of the European Parliament delivered a stern warning to world football governing body FIFA over the 2034 men’s World Cup to be held in Saudi Arabia, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO. “We are writing to express our grave concerns regarding the decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia,” read the letter, which was signed by 30 EU lawmakers and addressed to FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Saudi Arabia, which has been criticized by human rights groups over its treatment of migrant workers and LGBTQ+ people, easily won the right to host the world’s most prestigious football tournament during a meeting of the FIFA Council last week.

• The Gulf’s Evolving Energy Landscape: Saudi Arabia’s Energy Policy and a Transition to the Post-Oil Era

  Transitioning from an oil-dependent economy poses significant challenges for the Kingdom’s foreign policy, as well. Saudi Arabia finds itself in various push-and-pull relationships across the wider Middle East, all of which are complicated by heightened tensions, proxy wars, and shifting alliances. This report provides an overview of the main challenges ahead for the Saudi government and offers recommendations to maintain a healthy course in the changing energy landscape of a volatile region. Taking the reader through a journey from the role of oil in the Saudi economy to renewable energy outlook and geopolitical challenges, the following pages provide a comprehensive approach to economic diversification and energy transition in the Kingdom. The report explores Saudi strategic initiatives under Vision 2030, the country’s pivotal role in the geopolitics of global energy markets, and its forward-looking energy roadmap that collectively aim to secure a prosperous, sustainable future in the post-oil era.

• Saudi Arabia sets sights on becoming lacrosse power, with 2028 LA Olympics on horizon

  Having thrown its significant resources into gaining influence in football, golf, boxing and tennis, Saudi Arabia has now set its sights on becoming a power in the world of lacrosse. And officials said they expected to become competitive over the next few years, despite the new head of the game in the desert kingdom admitting “99 per cent of all Saudi people” didn’t know anything about the sport. Ray Porcellato, the new CEO of the Saudi Lacrosse Federation, who began his new role in June, said the biggest hurdle was “getting people to understand what it [lacrosse] is, and the biggest challenge to development was being able to “expose young children” to the game.

• Trump returns to a profoundly different Middle East

  In the urgent first quarter of 2025, the new US administration is going to have to focus on how to maximize the opportunity while minimizing the risk stemming from the sudden collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. Assad and his father before him cast a long and dark shadow over the Levant for the past half century; the regime’s collapse is a cause of intense and bittersweet celebration for Syrians but also an enormous chance for the region. Trump may have used ALL CAPS to say that the US has no interest in Syria, but that is simply not the case. A successful transition in Syria will consolidate Iran’s and Russia’s defeat and departure from the heart of the Middle East, offering Syrians an opportunity to build stability and economic development for themselves and allowing their regional neighbors to do the same.

• Post-Assad Syria presents a more complex, nuanced, and urgent challenge to a second Trump administration

  A political transition is currently underway in Damascus, run by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — a group that remains a designated terrorist organization in the United States. Notwithstanding the significant complications that HTS’s role presents, the transition itself has been remarkably efficient, constructive and stabilizing — at least for now. After three days of face-to-face working consultations between Assad’s prior cabinet and the HTS-linked Salvation Government in Damascus, a formal handover has now taken place. Civil servants and public-sector workers are back at work, and Syria’s airports will soon be re-opened. Almost every government in the Middle East now has diplomatic communication with HTS and its transitional body, and Syria’s diplomatic missions are all still at work, having hoisted the green revolutionary flag. Even Assad’s hand-picked ambassador to the United Nations is now issuing formal letters to the UN Security Council under the new HTS-led authority.

• Geostrategic shifts have deepened divisions between Arab Gulf states and Israel, challenging assumptions for Trump II

  The conventional wisdom is that Donald Trump’s second administration will seek to follow the same Middle East playbook as during its first term, emphasizing support for Israel and its anti-Iran coalition with Gulf partners as well as anticipating that Gulf leaders will continue to demonstrate little regard for Palestinian interests while pursuing normalization agreements with Jerusalem. Dramatic shifts in conditions and the balance of power in the region may make that plan inoperable.

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