Recent stories from sustg

  • Are Members of Royalty “Foreign Officials” Under the FCPA?
     

    For U.S. companies conducting business abroad, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a constant companion.  The FCPA, “applies to any person who has a certain degree of connection to the United States and engages in foreign corrupt practices. The Act also applies to any act by U.S. businesses, foreign corporations trading securities in the […]

     
  • Commentary: Saudi Arbitration Court in the UK?
     

    In a recent Financial Times article Caroline Binham and Helen Warrell reported that, “Saudi Arabia will lobby the UK government as early as November to set up a confidential court in London that would settle multimillion pound commercial disputes arising from the Middle Eastern kingdom. The Saudis hope that a London-based arbitration centre would help counter investor […]

     
  • What’s the foreign policy agenda for the next four years?
     

    Is it too early to talk about the foreign policy and national security agenda that will face the next president? No matter who wins on November 6, the feature that is going to dominate U.S. national security planning over the next four years is constraint. Even if we avoid going off the sequestration cliff, there […]

     
  • Major natural gas find by Saudis. A shift ahead?
     

    Saudi Arabia has announced that they made a major new find in natural gas in the Red Sea. The Saudis are already ranked 5th in the world for their reserves of natural gas, but they are only ranked 9th in terms of production of the commodity. They account for about 3 percent of world natural gas production. Compared […]

     
  • Anne Habiby: Entrepreneurship and Job Creation in the Arab World
     

    In addition to featured speakers such as President Bill Clinton and Mr. Abdullah Alireza  the recent C3 Summit in New York City presented a number of compelling panel discussions addressing commercial and trade issues related to doing business in the MENA region. SUSTG has featured the remarks at this event of Abdullah Alireza (Global Economic […]

     
  • Randa Hudome: How do I get my business over to the Middle East?
     

    In addition to featured speakers such as President Bill Clinton and Mr. Abdullah Alireza the recent C3 Summit in New York City presented a number of compelling panel discussions addressing commercial and trade issues related to doing business in the MENA region.

     
  • Public policy considerations in Saudi Arabia’s new Arbitration Law
     

    We see plenty of coverage these days of Saudi Arabia’s growing economy; and justifiably so.  Expansionary government spending, elevated oil prices, a strong banking system, a maturing private-sector, increasing diversification, growing foreign investment and other factors contribute to an exciting period for Saudi Arabia. While elevated oil prices have fueled Saudi Arabia’s impressive recent growth, […]

     
  • Saudi eases access to long-hidden ancient ruins
     

    “Spectacular… wonderful… breathtaking,” she says. “But where are the tourists? If we had a site like this in my country, we would have millions of tourists!” Dating back to the second century BC, the Nabataean archaeological site, also known as Madain Saleh, has long been hidden from foreign visitors in this ultra-conservative kingdom that rarely […]

     
  • Modernity and tradition: Khalid Habash’s stunning photos of Saudi
     

    It is no secret that Saudi Arabia’s economy and society are modernizing at a remarkable pace. Already the Arab world’s largest economy, the Kingdom also has one of the world’s highest GDP growth rates.  Government spending is expansive and investment in infrastructure, education and numerous other sectors are at all time highs.  Soon to be […]

     
  • Will Saudi Arabia become an oil importer by 2030?
     

    THIS was the question asked all of this past week all over the world. Thousands of stories were filed on the topic, following speculation by a Citigroup analyst that Saudi Arabia may start importing oil by 2030. According to that theory, by 2030, Saudi consumption of oil would outstrip production and we could be importing […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Will America Become the Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas?

    Even with the 15 bcm of LNG from the US, Europe will still require another 140 bcm to replace its gas imports from Russia completely. Those supplies will have to come from a world market that was already stretched thin before Russia invaded Ukraine. And European demand for non-Russian natural gas will add to the pressure on prices for countries that depend on imports – not least China, the world’s largest gas importer.

  • Opinion: How Did Jared Kushner Get $2 Billion From the Saudis?

    Jared Kushner’s new private equity firm got $2 billion from Saudi Arabia because maybe that’s how you can cash in when your investing experience is slender but your father-in-law may wind up back in the White House. It’s also possible that you can get billions for a firm with no track record because the White House did favors for the Saudis when your father-in-law still occupied the Oval Office.

  • Will Yemen’s newly-formed presidential council succeed in ending years-long war?

    Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi announced Thursday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that he has handed over all his powers to the newly-formed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) that will succeed him in running the government and holding peace talks with the Houthis. While favorably viewing the political reshuffle, along with the ongoing two-month ceasefire, as a new hope of ending the country's seven-year civil war, political analysts believe that there is still a long way to go before achieving lasting peace in the war-torn country.

  • How Will Triple-Digit Oil Impact the Energy Transition?

    High oil prices also provide energy organizations with more financial bandwidth to accelerate their digital and automation aspirations when it comes to driving efficiency and productivity.

  • Can Saudi newspapers be saved?

    Al-Qassabi has been in his role since 2020, as well as the Kingdom’s minister of commerce. One of his first statements upon assuming the role was telling his colleagues at the ministry: “Your performance has not been satisfactory.”

  • Who Needs Oil When You Have Land?

    The government of Dubai does not have large oil and gas reserves, but it does have land. It controls the right to develop land, it builds infrastructure around it, and it shapes the legal and regulatory environment that residents enjoy. Dubai saw more than $80 billion in property transactions in the last year alone.

  • Mumkin Sura? A New Day for Saudi Photography

    In many Muslim societies, photographing women was always considered taboo. In Yemen, a western journalist photographed a girl of 14 in a tribal desert region near Ma’arib in the early 1990’s. Years later, the woman, then married with children, found herself being divorced because she had disgraced the family. When the magazine featuring the journalist’s photograph of the girl finally reached Ma’arib more than a decade later, it brought shame on the family. The photographer meant no harm, but when it comes to cultural norms, unthinking actions can have devastating consequences.

  • How much oil does Europe import from Russia?

    The EU buys so much Russian energy that it has paid Russia nearly $19 billion since the start of the Ukraine war. In 2021, the EU bought 155 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Data from the US government show that, in the same year the EU bought 2.3 million barrels a day of Russian oil—almost half of Russian exports.

  • Commentary: Saudi Arabia and China – New best friends?

    This includes a growing military component to the China-Saudi relationship. Between 2016 and 2020, Chinese arms transfers to Saudi Arabia increased 386%, according to the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in a February research paper. First China sold ballistic missiles to the Saudis, then it began to assist them with their production inside Saudi Arabia.

  • Will Houthi negotiators show up in Riyadh?

    The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reportedly wants Yemeni parties, including the Iran-backed Ansarullah movement—better known as the Houthis—to gather in Riyadh for “consultations.” The aim is to rally support for a UN-led peace initiative. Yemen’s President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi has reportedly agreed to the talks. However, Houthi politburo chief Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi has rejected a mediation role for Riyadh, requesting neutral ground as the seventh anniversary of the Saudi-led war is coming up.