MUST-READS

• Surge in Saudi Oil Flows Offset Cut in UAE’s September Exports

  Exports from Saudi Arabia rose by more than 480,000 barrels a day, almost exactly offsetting the drop in shipments from the UAE last month. Kuwait and Iraq increased flows by smaller amounts.

• Robust Competition and Merger Enforcement Activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

  The implementation of an updated merger control regime in in September 2019 has triggered increased awareness in the local and international business community and increased enforcement activity by the General Authority for Competition (“GAC”).

• Turkish Exporters See Political Strife With Saudis Hitting Trade

  Saudi Arabia is Turkey’s 15th biggest export market, with sales led by carpets, textiles, chemicals, grains, furniture and steel amounting to $1.91 billion in the first eight months of the year. That’s a fall of 17% from 2019, some of which is attributable to the virus that has hammered global trade. But Saudi statistics show the value of Turkish imports had already been declining each year since 2015.

• Saudi Arabia imposes new, lower property tax to shore up sector

  The royal order said the government would bear the cost of the new Real Estate Transaction Tax “for up to 1 million riyals ($266,616)” for Saudi citizens purchasing their first home. The housing minister said the move would help achieve a target of boosting housing ownership by Saudis to 70% percent by 2030 in a country with an overwhelmingly young population.

• How Special Economic ‘Free Zones’ Became the Middle Eastern Diplomacy Tool of Choice

  The emirate of Dubai, widely considered the Gulf’s de facto free zone hub, is using its flagship commercial entities to cement ties with Israeli counterparts. In September, DP World—the Dubai-based multinational logistics company—and other government-related entities signed multiple agreements with Israel-based DoverTower Group, a shareholder of the Israel Shipyards port in Haifa and a partner in Eilat Port.

• Saudi Crude Exports Surge to Four-Month High in September

  Saudi Arabia’s crude exports jumped by half-a-million barrels a day in September, as increased buying by India and South Korea helped to offset a dip in Chinese demand. Observed shipments from the kingdom rose to about 6.2 million barrels daily, the highest since May, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. It compares with 5.7 million barrels a day in August.

• Revolutionary Guards Commander Gives Rare Estimate Of Money Iran Spent On Proxies, Military Aid In Region

  Iran has spent nearly $20 billion pushing its controversial foreign policy objectives in the region, the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said in an interview on state television.

• Lebanon, Israel to begin negotiations over maritime border

  Lebanon and Israel said on Thursday that they would hold direct negotiations to resolve a long-standing maritime border dispute, the latest in a series of U.S.-brokered breakthroughs in the region. Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz welcomed the news and said: "Our goal is to end the dispute over the demarcation of economic water between Israel and Lebanon in order to help develop natural resources for the benefit of all peoples in the region."

  • Bloomberg - UN to Oversee Border Talks Between Israel, Lebanon
• U.S. blacklists more Syrians in fresh push for Assad to end war

  The United States on Wednesday blacklisted what it called “key enablers” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, reinforcing efforts to push Damascus back to United Nations-led negotiations to end Syria’s nearly decade-long civil war.

• Rockets land in Erbil hours after Iraqi PM pledges to protect diplomats

  Iran-backed militias launched rockets targeting U.S. troops that landed near Erbil airport in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a Kurdish security agency said on Wednesday, hours after Iraq’s premier pledged to protect foreign missions.

  • Military Times - Iraqi official to US: Reconsider embassy closure
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