Recent stories from sustg

  • Wealth Management in the Middle East: Boon or Bust?
     

    Middle Eastern policymakers and bankers will develop an indigenous wealth management industry which keeps the super-wealthy’s investments at home. Developing a local national wealth management industry requires letting in foreign competition, changing banking and securities laws, and growing local companies whose shares are worth buying. The first part of the article reviews trends in wealth […]

     
  • Saudi Students Flood In as U.S. Reopens Door
     

    The more than 300 graduates gathered at a hotel overlooking the Potomac River were all from Saudi Arabia, part of a massive government-paid foreign study program to earn bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees and return home to help run their country. “You are the best of the best, and the future of our country,” Saudi […]

     
  • Saudi consumer electronics market surges
     

    Saudi Arabia’s consumer electronics devices market, defined as the addressable market for computing devices, mobile handsets and video, audio and gaming products is projected at $6.4 billion in 2012, Business Monitor International said in “Saudi Arabia Consumer Electronics Report Q2 2012″report. This is expected to increase to $8.2 billion by 2016, driven by the growing […]

     
  • The Saudi Cultural Mission’s New Headquarters
     

    The new SACM headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia provides a modern hub for Saudi Students in the United States, and stands as a symbol of the strong cultural relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Until recently, the future of the iconic Watergate hotel and office complex in Washington DC, which was the site of […]

     
  • With customs union, GCC edges toward closer economic ties
     

    Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy, is leading moves toward political and economic cooperation, which it believes would give the mostly Sunni-led monarchies of the Gulf more power to withstand any confrontation with Shi’ite Iran. Closer business ties within the GCC, which consists of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain and has […]

     
  • Ramadan 1433
     

    Ramadan means more in the lives of Muslims than refraining from eating and drinking during the daylight hours. The ritual fasting during the holy month is among the five pillars of Islam: Shahadah, the declaration of faith; Salat, five daily prayers; Zakat, charitable giving; Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca; and Sawm of Ramadan, the ritual […]

     
  • Saudi car sales to hit $25 billion by 2013
     

    Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans to further expand its lucrative automobile industry. In 2011 alone, the Kingdom announced the sale of approximately 800,000 cars potentially increasing to 1 million vehicles per year by the end of the current decade. In this context, the country is planning to start manufacturing automobile parts by 2013 in addition […]

     
  • Muslims across the world prepare to observe Ramadan
     

    Muslims around the world begin fasting on Friday in observation of Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam when the faithful abstain from eating food or drinking water from sunrise to sunset…. Every year, identifying the start of Ramadan is like a waiting game; Islamic scholars must see the new crescent moon in the night skies […]

     
  • Gulf States Move to Diversify Income Sources
     

    Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has identified mining as a key investment area after oil and petrochemicals, and is spending an estimated $38 billion to develop two cities centered around mining…“The idea is to try and improve the range of benefits and advantages of doing business in the G.C.C. and in Saudi Arabia, […]

     
  • Moving forward with nationalisation in Saudi Arabia
     

    “Nitaqat represents an effort to introduce more incentives for companies to employ Saudis and in that sense it is an improvement on what went before,” says James Reeve, an economist at the local Samba Financial Group. “The reason you are hearing more complaints is probably because the system is being enforced with greater vigour.” Despite […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Secretary Blinken’s Call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud

    Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Secretary Blinken updated the Foreign Minister on his trip to Israel, and discussed ongoing efforts to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza that provides lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike and the establishment of a Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel. The Secretary and the Foreign Minister pledged to continue close coordination to increase humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.

  • Lexi Thompson, Linn Grant and Leona Maguire among Solheim stars at Aramco Saudi Ladies International

    Lexi Thompson headlines next week’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International field on the Ladies European Tour. The event, held this year at Riyadh Golf Club Feb. 15-18, offers a purse of $5 million, the same as the payout of the men’s PIF Saudi International. The 28-year-old Thompson, whose last worldwide victory came at the 2022 Aramco Team Series event in New York, last teed it up at the LPGA Drive On event in January where she tied for 16th. She is not listed in the fields of the LPGA’s upcoming Asian swing.

  • Netanyahu calls Hamas ceasefire proposal ‘delusional’ but Blinken sees scope for progress

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected Hamas' latest offer for a ceasefire and return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was still room for negotiation toward an agreement. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza, proposed a ceasefire of 4-1/2 months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from Gaza and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war.

  • Catwalk aims to preserve Arabian leopards in Saudi Arabia

    Catwalk, an initiative organized by Catmosphere, serves as an annual celebration in honor of the declaration last year by the UN designating Feb. 10 as the International Day of the Arabian Leopard. Through a variety of social activities such as this, the nonprofit organization Catmosphere, founded by Princess Reema bint Bandar, aims to prevent the Arabian leopard from becoming extinct, to educate participants about the animal, and connect people with their environment.

  • Local content rate surges to 43% in Saudi Arabia , with a 20% jump in spending

    Abdulrahman Al-Samari, CEO of the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, said that the growth rate of local content in Saudi Arabia has now reached 43 percent. The spending on content has increased by 20 percent. This is in addition to activating signed agreements to serve companies operating in the Kingdom, he said. Al-Samari made the remarks while addressing a dialogue session at the PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh on Wednesday. The dialogue session is titled “Supporting local content to empower the private sector.” Those who addressed the session also included Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt, Managing Director of Cisco Salman Faqeeh, and Director of the National Development Division at the Public Investment Fund Jerry Todd.

  • Saudi Arabia aims to produce 500,000 cars by 2030: PIF Official

    In an interview with Al Arabiya on the sidelines of the second PIF Private Sector Forum, AlShiha stated that the PIF is working on five upcoming supply chain projects, and five international companies will begin operating in the Kingdom to produce parts for the Lucid, SER, and Hyundai factories. Ceer, Saudi Arabia’s first automotive brand to produce electric vehicles in the Kingdom, is currently working on engineering and designing cars, AlShiha said, expecting the designs to be announced soon. Ceer’s plant is under construction in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

  • Future Forum shows KAUST aligning to Saudi priorities

    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is proud to host the inaugural KAUST Future Forum in Riyadh on February 12-13, 2024. The event aims to bring together government, industry, investors and academia to a showcase of KAUST's 15 years of achievements in research and innovation through panel discussions and an interactive exhibition.   The forum is under the patronage of H. E. Eng Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Chairman of the Board of Directors of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). It is scheduled to take place in Riyadh's startup district, "The Garage," with Saudi Press Agency as media partner.  

  • Alat: Spearheading Sustainable Technology Manufacturing with Clean Energy in Saudi Arabia

    Through strategic partnerships with international manufacturing and technology leaders, Alat endeavors to transform the global industrial landscape by offering sustainable solutions powered by clean energy. By manufacturing a diverse range of products across vital sectors such as robotics, communication systems, and digital entertainment, Alat aims to strengthen local innovation, research, and development while creating job opportunities and boosting economic growth.

  • Exclusive: Apollo in talks for AlShaya Starbucks franchise, sources say

    Dubbed "Project Emerald", according to two of the people, the privately owned retailer is looking to sell a minority stake of about 30% in the business, Reuters reported previously. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has previously been shortlisted to buy the stake, is also still involved in the talks, one of the people and a third one said. The Starbucks unit runs around 2,000 outlets in 13 countries, across the Middle East and North Africa, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. It was valued at between $4 billion and $5 billion in 2022, Reuters reported previously, before it exited Russia.

  • All the tangled conflicts in the Middle East, explained

    Even prior to Hamas’s attack and Israel’s response, longstanding alliances and regional political dynamics in the broader Middle East were in a state of unusual flux. Major players including Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States are all reconsidering their interests in the region.