MUST-READS

• Nearly 1 million foreign Hajj pilgrims arrive

  Nearly one million foreign pilgrims arrived in Saudi Arabia for the upcoming annual pilgrimage of Hajj. By the end of Sunday, a total of 935,966 Hajj pilgrims arrived through all the Kingdom’s air, land and sea ports, according to the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat). The directorate revealed that the overwhelming majority of pilgrims came by air and their number reached 896,287, while the number of pilgrims arrived via land entry points stood at 37,280 pilgrims, and 2,399 pilgrims came via sea ports, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The directorate said that it is harnessing all its capabilities to facilitate the entry procedures for the guests of God, by supporting its online platforms at international air, land and sea ports with the latest technical devices operated by qualified Saudis who are proficient in different languages spoken by the pilgrims.

• Saudi Arabia largely removes negative portrayal of Israel from its school curriculum

  Textbooks for the 2023-2024 school year no longer teach that Zionism is a “racist” European movement, and no longer deny the historical Jewish presence in the region, according to the study, published last week by the nonprofit IMPACT-se, which monitors educational curricula in Middle Eastern and North African countries.

• Fostering a sustainable future: the role of land restoration in Saudi Arabia

  Nearly one-fifth of our planet is threatened with desertification leading to the loss of fertile soils and biodiversity which we need to grow food for millions of people and feed for livestock. Climate change has further aggravated the situation especially in countries that have experienced alarming drought events, battled large-scale deforestation or continued using unsustainable agricultural techniques. Since 1961, climate change has reduced global agricultural productivity by about 21%. Moreover, since 2000, the world has lost more than 10% of its global tree cover, with the tropics accounting for 1.48 million km² of deforestation — an area larger than France, Spain, and Germany combined.

• Saudi Arabia sees 477% increase in multinational HQs in first quarter

  Some 127 international companies have relocated their regional headquarters to Saudi Arabia over the first quarter of 2024, according to a new report, an increase of 477% from the previous year as the kingdom looks to lure businesses to set up there as it diversifies its economy away from oil.  

• Sweden’s Seventh AP Fund excludes Saudi Aramco and six other companies
   Sweden's Seventh AP Fund (AP7) has blacklisted Saudi Aramco and six other companies from its portfolio all due to large-scale operations within oil extraction or coal production, the pension fund manager said on Monday.
  "The companies are blacklisted because they do not act in line with the Paris Agreement due to large-scale oil or coal operations without transition plans," AP7 said in a statement.

• Retail subscription to Aramco’s secondary offering begins

  The offered shares constitute about 0.64% of the company's issued shares, as Aramco is capitalized at SAR 90 billion, divided into 242 billion shares (at no par value).   The retail subscription will end on June 5 at 5:00 pm.   The price range for the retail offering was set at SAR 26.7-29 per share.   The bookbuilding process for institutional subscribers to Aramco's secondary offering began on June 2.

• Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector growth steady with PMI at 56.4

  Saudi Arabia’s private sector non-oil growth remained steady in May, with the Kingdom’s Purchasing Managers’ Index reaching 56.4, a slight decline from 57 in April, official data showed. According to the Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia PMI report by S&P Global, business activity in Saudi Arabia rose at a substantial rate in May, continuing a period of robust output growth across the non-oil economy.

• The U.S. Needs a New Purpose in the Middle East

  The United States had actually been successful in the region throughout the Cold War: U.S. diplomatic, economic, and military power prevented disruption to the flow of oil, helped Israel stave off threats to its security, and prevented the Soviet Union, for as long as it existed, from trying to dominate the region. There were setbacks and significant—mostly moral—costs given U.S. support for the Middle Eastern authoritarians and complicity in the ongoing statelessness of Palestinians. But from the perspective of the United States’ elected leaders, officials, foreign-policy analysts, and other elites, the price was worth paying.

• EV maker Lucid opens first UAE retail showroom amid Middle East push

  With the announcement of its Dubai Studio, luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has opened its first retail space in the UAE.

  It is the California-based EV company’s second retail showroom in the Middle East, its first being located in Riyadh.

  “The expansion of Lucid into the UAE is a significant milestone for the company,” said Faisal Sultan, vice president and managing director of Lucid Middle East.

  “The region continues to build momentum in its shift towards sustainable energy, emerging as a key market in EV ownership.”

• Iran’s allies in Iraq are firing at Israel. Could that trigger a wider war?
  Iran-backed Shi'ite armed groups in Iraq have ramped up rocket and missile attacks on Israel in recent weeks, raising concerns in Washington and among some Iranian allies of potential Israeli retaliation and regional escalation should they draw blood.
  Though the attacks, often from hundreds of miles (kms) away, are not seen by western officials and Israeli experts as posing the same level of threat to Israel as point-blank strikes by Hamas and Hezbollah, they have increased in number and sophistication.

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