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  • What does Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia mean for Russia?

    At the heart of Chinese-Saudi relations is oil. No specific oil deals were disclosed during the meeting, but the Riyadh meeting was clearly a chance for the countries to firm up their longstanding energy trade relations. Saudi Arabia is the top supplier of oil to China, and China is its biggest oil customer, importing $43.9 billion in Saudi crude in 2021.

  • What does a purple carpet mean in Saudi Arabia and why do they not use red?

    It's not that controversial of a choice. Red and purple were long the colours associated with royalty, because the dyes for those vibrant colours were the most expensive — and ergo, the most desirable way to express one's admiration for visiting dignitaries. However, purple also has specific connotations in Saudi Arabia's culture. The Ministry of Culture connected the change in ceremonial procedure to violet-coloured flowers currently in bloom across the Asir region. “The lavender carpets are identical to the colour of the kingdom’s deserts and plateaus in the spring,” said the Saudi Press Agency, referring to the blooms on the country’s lavender, desert germander and basil plants and jacaranda trees.

  • IR around the Gulf: Is the Middle East emerging from emerging?

    The Gulf has been here before: as a succession of currency, energy and financial crises roiled the region in the first decade of the 21st century, a status upgrade for markets of ‘the Wild Middle East’ appeared wishful thinking. A few years later, in 2014, Qatar and the UAE ascended to emerging market status amid universal agreement. Saudi Arabia followed in 2019, and Kuwait in 2020.

  • How will the G7 implement the $60 Russian oil cap?

    The group of the world’s most developed economies established the price cap “to prevent Russia from profiting from its war of aggression against Ukraine, to support stability in global energy markets, and to minimize negative economic spillovers of Russia’s war of aggression,” according to a joint statement. The new price on Russian-origin crude oil is meant to enter into force starting Dec. 5. For petroleum products from the region, the timeline is Feb. 5, 2023. Two prices for Russia’s petroleum—one for high-value and another for low-value refined products—are yet to be announced.

  • A New Chapter for UAE Defense Procurement?

    During the past nine months, the United Arab Emirates has closed deals for the purchase of substantial weapons systems from France, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Turkey, and Israel. If these deals come to fruition, they could mark a new era for Emirati arms procurement, where an emphasis on strategic autonomy and transfers of technology might push the UAE toward an increasingly diversified pool of suppliers, where the United States no longer reigns supreme.

  • Will Saudi investment pledges in Iraq overcome barriers?

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MbS) announced in October that Iraq was one of five countries for which the Saudi Public Investment Fund had established regional companies to ease the investing process, adding to one previously established in Egypt. Planned Saudi investments in the projects are expected to amount to 90B SAR (24B USD) and will target multiple strategic sectors—including infrastructure, real estate, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and technology.

  • Why are Chinese investors and startups so excited about Saudi Arabia?

    “In the last three years we built our HQ in Saudi, we built a local team and we looked at the needs: logistics and a cloud service is what is needed,” says Wong. “If you don’t invest in a cloud service and logistics, then you won’t change a fundamental thing. If you invest in that most important layer, you can have hundreds of thousands of startups later on. Those kind of investment opportunities no longer exist in mature markets.”

  • Why are Chinese investors and startups so excited about Saudi Arabia?

    “Mena used to be a region that was overlooked for decades, that’s why at that time we were curious,” says Jessica Wong, founder and managing partner at eWTPA Capital. “We started to evaluate and study other innovations and what are the chances of it happening in other emerging markets. Several of our portfolios did extremely well [in Mena] and we understood why.”

  • Could Embraer’s C-390 be Saudi’s transporter of delight?

    The company notes that the worldwide average age of tactical transports is a remarkable 31.2 years, so several nations will soon be looking to recapitalise their fleets. “For strategic reasons, we cannot disclose some of the countries. However, as is public knowledge, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the prospects in the region,” said an Embraer spokesman.

  • Have container shipping profits peaked?

    Container-shipping profits have soared during the pandemic to levels that industry veteran John McCown has variously described as “mind-bending” and “mind-altering,” peaking at $64 billion in the second quarter of this year.