Recent stories from sustg

  • Saudi Defense Minister Prince Salman Visits Pentagon, White House
     

    Saudi Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz held talks at the Pentagon on Wednesday that focused on the crisis in Syria, hours before a ceasefire deadline was due to expire. The Saudi defense chief later held talks with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

     
  • Saudi Arabia & the GCC – post ‘Arab Spring’: Obaid
     

    This week Mr. Nawaf Obaid, former strategic adviser to Prince Turki Al-Faisal, presented a briefing titled, “Saudi Arabia & the GCC in a Post ‘Arab Spring’ Environment” at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government as part of a program examining responses among GCC states to the “Arab Spring” turmoil that started early last year. Obaid […]

     
  • Al-Rabiah moves to push foreign trade and investment
     

    Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah yesterday opened a major workshop for the development of Saudi commercial attaches as part of the ministry’s efforts to promote trade and investment relations with foreign countries. The workshop attended by top officials from related departments and agencies discussed ways to improve the performance of Saudi commercial attaches abroad […]

     
  • Graphic: The Rise of Saudi Oil Consumption
     

    Saudi Arabia uses as much oil per person as America, largely to run oil-fired power plants to run domestic air conditioners. And the more of its oil siphoned off for such uses, the less cushion there is in the worlds oil supply. Thats a big problem now but is becoming less of one. America and […]

     
  • Critical Commercial and Economic Ties: Interview with Jose Fernandez
     

    The 2nd US-Saudi Business Opportunities Forum in Atlanta in December brought together a high level delegation of over 200 Saudi officials and business people with over 1000 Americans to explore the $1 trillion-plus commercial openings available in the coming decade in the Kingdom. The response to the Forum – and what it means for American investment and […]

     
  • Secretary of State Clinton to Visit Saudi on Friday and Saturday
     

    Clinton will be in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh Friday and Saturday. There, she’ll meet with Saudi King Abdullah and participate in an event dedicated to the “strategic cooperation” between the U.S. and Gulf Arab states. Washington and many of its allies say Syrian President Bashar Assad has lost all legitimacy in a year of […]

     
  • Geithner welcomes Saudi oil pledge
     

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he welcomed Saudi Arabia’s pledge to continue to make sure oil supplies are sufficient to meet demand.

     
  • Car-nage
     

    In his weekly piece for Arab News, Abdulateef Al-Mulhim takes a look at the extraordinary toll exacted on Saudi roads. With well-engineered roads and streets and access to the latest and safest automobiles, he says, Saudi Arabia still leads the world in highway fatalities. He offers a few ideas about how to gain control over […]

     
  • Jadwa Saudi Chartbook – March 2012 – Banking
     

    Bank deposits rose for the fifth consecutive month in January, with demand deposits accounting for the entire rise to reach almost 60 percent of total bank deposits. Bank excess deposits at SAMA remained very high, giving scope for further lending growth.    

     
  • Jadwa Saudi Chartbook – March 2012 – Trade
     

    According to Jadwa Investment’s March 2012 Chart Book,  “Non-oil exports hit a new all-time high in December owing to greater production of petrochemicals and plastics. Imports also jumped that month and data on letters of credit issued for imports suggest further rises are likely in the months ahead.”  

     

MUST-READS

  • Neom Beach Games 2024 brings sport to Saudi’s gigaproject

    The tournament kicks off with a triathlon on 3 November, 3×3 basketball from 7 to 9 November, beach soccer from 13 to 16 November and mountain biking from 18 to 22 November. A new addition to this year’s NEOM Beach Games is the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup NEOM. The event will bring together the world’s top open-water swimmers and serve as the grand finale of the NEOM Beach Games, taking place in the Red Sea.

  • Saudi Arabia’s cultural renaissance under spotlight at Riyadh forum

    A five-day cultural forum organized by Fenaa Alawwal in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, and co-curated by Afikra, is exploring the theme “Introspection: the role of contemporary art practices in a time of change.” The inaugural Muntada Forum of Contemporary Art Practices opened on Sunday night and will have five panel discussions during its run until Sept. 19. There are 24 creatives exploring a diverse range of topics, which includes the role of Saudi Arabia’s artists in shaping the Kingdom’s global image.

  • Aramco’s New Deals With China Signal A Further Deepening Of Sino-Saudi Relations

    The genesis of the broader and deeper relationship between Saudi Arabia and China was not the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on 21 July 1990. Rather, it was more likely the offer made by China to buy the entire 5 percent in a private placement of Saudi Aramco that was being touted for sale in an initial public offering (IPO) from late-2016/early-2017, according to several industry sources.

  • Saudi Red Sea Authority’s first regulations for Saudi yachts

    In line with SRSA's mandate to promote coastal tourism, the regulation specifies the criteria for obtaining technical licenses for leisure tourism, as well as requirements for yacht owners and authorised tourism maritime agents. Yacht chartering licenses are another critical element, with stipulations that a licensed maritime agent or yacht management company must oversee charters, alongside strict guidelines on safety, contracts, and marina access.

  • SMEs account for 90% of Saudi industrial sector: Minister

    The industrial base in most countries consists of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef said during an interview at Monsha'at Support Council in Riyadh. He added that SMEs dominate 90% of the industrial sector in Saudi Arabia.

  • Chip Startup Groq Backs Saudi AI Ambitions With Aramco Deal

    Artificial intelligence startup Groq Inc. has partnered with oil producer Aramco to build a giant data center in Saudi Arabia that it hopes will become a hub for companies running AI systems across the Middle East, Africa and India. The data center will be up and running by the end of this year, and could later expand to include a total of 200,000 language processing units, Ross said

  • Goldman Sachs, Citigroup cut China’s 2024 growth forecast to 4.7%

    Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have lowered their full-year projections for China's economic growth to 4.7%, after the world's second-largest economy's industrial output slowed to a five-month low in August. Weak economic activity in August has ramped up attention on China's slow economic recovery and highlighted the need for further stimulus measures to shore up demand. The faltering growth has prompted global brokerages to scale back their 2024 projections to below government's target of around 5%.

  • 3-month midday outdoor work ban comes to an end in Saudi Arabia

    The rate of compliance of establishments with the decision to ban work under direct sunlight this year reached 94.6 percent, according to the ministry sources. During the implementation period, the ministry, in coordination with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, instructed employers to organize working hours and adhere to the provisions of the decision to reduce occupational injuries and diseases.

  • Alcoa to Get $1.1 Billion for Stakes in Saudi Aluminum Plants

    Alcoa Corp. will receive $1.1 billion in cash and stock in Saudi Arabian Mining Co. as part of a deal that will involve the Pittsburgh-based firm selling its stake in two metals plants in northern Saudi Arabia.  Maaden, as the Saudi firm is known, signed a deal with Alcoa to purchase its holdings in a bauxite facility and an aluminum smelter for 563 million riyals ($150 million) in cash and 3.6 billion riyals of stock in the Riyadh-based miner, according to a statement Sunday.

  • Saudi Arabia’s inflation rate inches up to 1.6% in August

    Saudi Arabia's annual inflation rate inched up to 1.6% in August, from 1.5% in July, government data showed on Sunday, driven by an increase in housing rents and food prices. Housing rents rose by 10.7% in August, weighing on the overall rise in prices of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels by 8.9%, according to the General Authority for Statistics. The inflation rate had held steady at 1.5% in June and July, underpinned mostly by apartment rents.