MUST-READS

• Race Upgrades Announced Ahead of 2025 Saudi Cup Meeting

  The Sports Boulevard Riyadh Dirt Sprint and Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap will be run as Group 2 contests for the first time in 2025, it was announced by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) on Sunday. Both races take place during the Saudi Cup meeting, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 22 as part of the 2024/25 Riyadh season.

• Saudi Arabia opens NEOM’s luxury island Sindalah

  Saudi Arabia’s futuristic mega-city NEOM announced on Sunday the opening of Sindalah, a luxury Red Sea island featuring restaurants, hotels and yachting berths. NEOM described Sindalah as its “first physical showcase” that “will serve as NEOM’s gateway to the Red Sea, providing easy access for European, Saudi, and GCC yacht owners.” Sindalah is “spread over 840,000 square meters” (200 acres) and will be set to receive “up to 2,400 guests per day by 2028,” the statement said.

• Wall Street and Tech Royalty Fly to Saudi Event Amid Mideast War

  But those arriving at the Future Investment Initiative - often dubbed Davos in the desert - seem undeterred, sensing an opportunity to plug into Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s trillion-dollar Vision 2030 economic remake. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s David Solomon, Citigroup Inc.’s Jane Fraser and BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink have become regulars at the Riyadh summit and are set to return this year. Reflecting Saudi Arabia’s focus on technology and artificial intelligence, they’ll be joined by prominent names in those industries. Alphabet Inc. President Ruth Porat and TikTok Inc. Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew are set to speak at the summit for the first time. Benjamin Horowitz, tech entrepreneur and co-founder of venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, is also making an appearance.

• Saudi Economy Watch 2024

  The focus on sustainability is most evident in the significant expansion of renewable energy. The Kingdom aims to add 20GW of renewable energy annually to reach as high as 130GW by 2030, and is ready to export up to 150GW of green electricity or hydrogen. Aligned with the country's transformation goals, the renewable energy sector offers significant opportunities for job creation and economic growth. Investments are also underway in advanced manufacturing, such as electric vehicles (EVs), and environmental preservation has become a priority in tourism development projects. The Saudi Green Initiative pushes the agenda further, targeting the protection of 30% of national land and sea area by 2030, alongside reducing carbon emissions by 278 million tonnes per annum and planting 10 billion trees.

• Why Saudi Arabia is emerging as key exit market for start-ups

  In the first half of this year, Saudi Arabia's share of exits rose to 20 per cent, compared with 12 per cent in 2021, says Philip Bahoshy, chief executive of data platform Magnitt. Last year, the kingdom witnessed a total of nine exits, accounting for 21 per cent of the Mena region's M&A transactions and ranking second after the UAE. Start-ups usually take an average of seven years to exit, he adds.

• Aramco’s Venture Arm Allocates $100 Million for AI Investments

  Saudi Aramco’s venture arm has earmarked $100 million to invest in artificial intelligence startups as it looks to accelerate Saudi Arabia’s push to become a more competitive force in global AI. Wa’ed Ventures has appointed an advisory board made up of former employees from companies including Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to explore early-stage investments in the sector. Money will be deployed over the next three years, according to the company. “This investment will not only incentivize local entrepreneurs but also support the localization of global talent,” Anas Algahtani, acting chief executive officer of Wa’ed, said in a statement on Sunday.

• 14th Saudi Relief Plane Departs for Lebanon with Essential Aid Supplies

  The 14th relief plane of the Saudi air bridge, operated by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), left King Khalid International Airport for Lebanon today, carrying food, shelter, and medical supplies.

• Israel’s Shifting Policies Toward the West Bank

  The current government is taking advantage of the situation created on October 7, 2023, to bring about a fundamental change on the ground in the West Bank, seizing the opportunity to implement the goals laid out when the present cabinet was formed. These goals include attempting to abandon the Oslo Accords status quo, advancing the process of weakening the PA economically, financially, and in security matters—possibly as a prelude to its complete dismemberment—expanding the settlements, further boosting the number of settlers, and de facto annexing Palestinian lands in Area C. While the events of October 7, 2023 did not bring about this shift on their own, they boosted this agenda and gave it a sheen of legitimacy within Israeli society, accelerating its implementation and the extent to which it is publicly expressed.

• US power grid added battery equivalent of 20 nuclear reactors in past four years

  From barely anything just a few years ago, the US is now adding utility-scale batteries at a dizzying pace, having installed more than 20 gigawatts of battery capacity to the electric grid, with 5GW of this occurring just in the first seven months of this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).

• With no exit strategy for Israel in Gaza, critics fear an open-ended stay
  Retired Israeli general Giora Eiland believes Israel faces months of fighting in Gaza unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu uses the chance offered by the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to end the war. Since Sinwar's death this month, Eiland has been one of a chorus of former senior army officers questioning the government's strategy in Gaza, where earlier this month troops went back into areas of the north that had already been cleared at least twice before.

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