“The kingdom will not cease its tireless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without one. We thank all the countries that recognized the Palestinian state as an embodiment of international legitimacy, and we urge other countries to take similar steps.” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince Says No to Israel Ties Without Palestinian State [New York Times]
“I’m very bullish on aluminum. The energy transition doesn’t happen without aluminum, so if we want to be a critical minerals and processing hub, we’ve got to control the feedstock.” Maaden Chief Executive Officer Bob Wilt, Saudi Arabia Targets Control of Alba to Bolster Metals Ambitions [Bloomberg]
“The decision to establish industrial capabilities like final assembly, testing facilities, a spaceport, and an immersive dome experience in Saudi Arabia reflects the Kingdom’s favourable business environment. We believe Saudi Arabia is well-positioned to lead the near-space sector, and we’re excited to deepen our partnership as we push forward with our mission.” Carlos Mira, CEO of HALO Space, HALO Space to Build Final Assembly Facilities in Saudi Arabia, Prepares for Test Flight [Edge Middle East]
“Tourism dominates in the FDI sector, as it accounts for 32% of incoming projects, driven by the Ministry of Tourism’s pursuit to reach 150 million tourists by 2030.” Eugenia Perozo, Analyst Comment: Saudi Arabia’s FDI Outlook [Yahoo]
“The Houthis now hold the world as hostage in the Bab al-Mandab entrance to the Red Sea, and yet Iran is not showing that it can do something there if it wanted to, and the kingdom would have expected Iran to be more forthcoming in showing not just to us but to others that it can be a positive factor in securing stability and removing differences not just with Saudi Arabia but the rest of us.” Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and diplomat, Saudi Arabia calls for more pressure on Iran as Houthi threat grows [The Guardian]
“It will ease business between Saudi and U.S. It will also open a lot of doors for building the capability, the computational capabilities, in the kingdom. But most importantly, it’s not only the computational capability that’s important. We worked hard in the past three years in building capacity, in human capacity, we also build data capacity as well. So we are working and collaborating with all [of the] international community and contributing [to] be one of the top active countries in data analysis.” Abdulrahman Tariq Habib, Saudi Data and AI Authority, Saudi Arabia expects to get access to Nvidia’s high performance chips ‘within the next year’ [CNBC]
“China and Saudi Arabia should further expand the scale of bilateral trade, deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as oil and gas, petrochemicals and infrastructure construction … [while expanding] to new energy, information and communications, digital economy, green economy … and work together to maintain the stability of the global industrial supply chain.” Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Chinese Premier vows stronger trade, investment ties with Saudi Arabia [South China Morning Post]
“Rising female workforce participation, coupled with increasing westernisation of clothing, besides rising social media influence and mushrooming of online shopping platforms are the driving forces for the unprecedented growth in the fashion wear segment in Saudi Arabia, the research by global advisory firm RedSeer said.” Saudi Arabia: Women’s fashion projected to become $53bn market by 2030 [Arabian Business]
“A Saudi government agency has launched a nationwide initiative to replace old air conditioners with new ones with the aim of boosting energy efficiency and cutting household consumption. Dubbed “Estbdal” (Replacement), the initiative is undertaken by the Saudi Energy Efficiency Centre in collaboration with other competent government bodies. More than 30 retailers, 350 showrooms and four Saudi plants are joining too.” Saudi nationwide initiative to replace old ACs [Gulf News]
