“The kingdom stresses the dangers of Iran’s regional project, its interference in other countries, its fostering of terrorism, its fanning the flames of sectarianism and calls for a decisive stance from the international community against Iran that guarantees a drastic handling of its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction and develop its ballistic missiles program.”
-HRH King Salman, in a speech yesterday, which were the King’s first public remarks since he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in September via videolink. [Reuters]
“To me it’s huge improvement…To be part of something so huge, a moment in history, to me it’s a new Saudi when it comes to a lot of things and to be part of that is really big. For Saudi to put up such money two tournaments in a row is a huge statement to close that gap between men’s and women’s golf…It will motivate a lot of young girls to take up the game. I think in the coming years there will be a lot more Arab female professional golfers.”
-Maha Haddioui, Moroccan professional golfer, in comments welcoming Saudi Arabia’s progress in developing the sport of golf in the Kingdom. [BBC]
“The Saudi mining strategy and the Kingdom’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program aim to transform the mining sector into the Kingdom’s third pillar of the industry, effectively creating an industry that could compete globally and stand on equal footing with the Kingdom’s already established dominance in petroleum and petrochemicals.”
-Khalid S. Al-Mudaifer, Vice Minister for Mining Affairs and President of the Saudi Geological Survey, speaking at a Mines and Money 5@5 webinar titled “The regional geological survey program — the foundation for a new Saudi mining sector.” He also said new mineral data will be publicly available in the coming months and that the Saudi mining sector has been earmarked for major investment — local and global — as part of the Saudi Vision 2030. [Arab News]
“In the past two years, Aramco has received 478 upstream-focused, US-granted patents – consistently higher than its closest oil major.”
–Ashraf Al Tahini, head of Saudi Aramco’s upstream research and development unit EXPEC ARC. [Oil&Gas]
“There’s a lot of criticism with this, but if we can showcase that we can do something on the continent level that is strong, that will give us a stronger case in the future to maybe bid for either the [football] World Cup or the Olympics. Everything is open, a lot of things are being discussed.”
-Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Sports Minister, discussing Saudi Arabia’s bids to host the Asian football championship in 2027 and the Asian Games athletics meeting in 2030. Prince Abdulaziz was speaking on the occasion of the establishment of the Saudi Sports Company to create “a platform” for content development and managing TV rights. [Financial Times]
“So far there have been no health complications or allergic reactions in those who have tried the vaccine, except for a fever or mild migraine, but that is normal when vaccination is administered with any virus.”
-Aref Al-Amri, Head of the Department of Biomolecules and Cytogenetics at the regional laboratory in Riyadh. China’s Sinovac Biotech is seeking approval by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority for its COVID-19 vaccine. Testing has passed the third stage clinical trials. [About Her]
“It looks quite busy over the upcoming period…We have seen eight new listings since the beginning of the year despite the pandemic. We also currently have over 15 applications we are currently reviewing for listing whether in the main market or the (parallel) Nomu market.”
-Mohammed bin Abdullah Elkuwaiz, Saudi Capital Markets Authority Chairman, on the high volume of IPOs in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi stock market (Tadawul) saw five IPOs in 2019, including oil giant Saudi Aramco, its biggest ever IPO and the largest in history. [Reuters]
“In 2019, electricity consumption dropped by 3.5% year-on-year. It is the first time on record (the available data goes back to 1970) that year-on-year demand has declined. The drop in total electricity demand resulted from two energy price reforms (in 2016 and 2018) and efficiency measures to promote the rationalization of electricity consumption.”
-KAPSARC, which added the decline was achieved despite a steady increase in the customer base, which grew at 5% per year on average from 2016 to 2019 [King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center]
“Despite the severity of the pandemic we are currently facing, it did not create an obstacle to the continuity of the Saudi G20 presidency agenda…The Saudi G20 presidency led international collective efforts to work and seek solutions to this crisis, as the presidency program and Engagement Groups’ meetings have continued and adapted to a new normal with courage and creativity, hoping for a better world that enjoys stability, health resilience and food security.”
-Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, in comments made on behalf of King Salman of Saudi Arabia,which emphasized that the coronavirus pandemic has not been an obstacle to the Saudi G20 presidency. [Asharq Alawsat]
“It is the duty of the wise men to advocate for what upholds the spirit of tolerance and constructive cooperation in the world, which is based on the concepts of righteousness, benevolence, goodness and human dignity, and to reject practices that lead to hatred, violence, and extremism.”
-The Council of Senior Scholars, Saudi Arabia’s top religious body, denounced the terrorist attack in Nice, France, which resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. [Al-Khaleej Today]
