“The Palestinian cause is a just cause but its advocates are failures, and the Israeli cause is unjust but its advocates have proven to be successful. That sums up the events of the last 70 or 75 years…There is something that successive Palestinian leadership historically share in common: they always bet on the losing side, and that comes at a price.”
-Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former Saudi Ambassador to the United States, in an interview with Al Arabiya. [Al Arabiya]
“A sustainable recovery plan with energy and climate actions would boost global economic growth by 1.1% per year, save or create 9 million jobs per year, and avoid a rebound in emissions, putting them into structural decline.”
-Excerpt from the B20-IEA Joint Statement on Energy Transitions. [B20 Saudi Arabia]
“Everyone in the industry wants to work in the above-the-line jobs, they want to be directors, producers, actors, and screenwriters while we lack below-the-line jobs such as operators, art directors, and supervisors. What will attract international productions to Saudi Arabia is when we have the below-the-line crew. If we don’t have them it means we don’t have the basis of the industry.”
-Hajar Al-Naim, Saudi filmmaker, discussing the in-depth Saudi Film Skills report by the British Council in Saudi Arabia; the first of its kind coming only two two years after the Saudi government lifted a 35-year ban on the film industry in the country. [Arab News]
“One of the most fascinating and encouraging decisions by the Saudi leadership in recent years has been to launch a series of interfaith initiatives designed to build closer ties between Muslims, Christians and Jews…As part of that effort, the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud, hosted a private dinner at her residence in northern Virginia on Monday night for eight Evangelical leaders, including myself. While our conversations were off the record, I can report that we covered a wide range of issues over the course of our three hours together.”
-Joel C. Rosenberg, editor and New York Times best-selling author discussing a recent interfaith dinner hosted by Saudi Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar. [allarab.news]
“The circular carbon economy builds on the principles of circular economy and applies them to managing carbon emissions: to reduce the carbon that must be managed in the first place, to reuse carbon as an input to create feedstocks and fuels, to recycle carbon through the natural carbon cycle with bioenergy, and, unique to circular carbon economy, to remove excess carbon and store it.”
-King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center’s (KAPSARC), Guide to the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE), contributed to the G20 energy ministers’ communique endorsing CCE as, “a holistic, integrated, inclusive and pragmatic approach to managing emissions.” [KAPSARC]
“Registered contractors in the kingdom employ around 3.2 million people, of which 13% to 14% are Saudi nationals. We must also take into consideration that the contracting sector accounts for 6% of the Saudi GDP.”
-Thabet Al-Sawyeed, Governor of the Saudi Contractors Authority, in his opening remarks for the 2020 Leaders in Construction KSA Summit. Currently, there are approximately 166,000 registered contractors working in Saudi Arabia, of which approximately 98.5% are small and medium contractors. [Construction Week]
“What we have are small businesses, for example, if I go to the beach, there’s a small company who knows that city and knows how to do scuba-diving in that place. That’s where we are right now. So all of the industry is trying to bring that ecosystem and human capital together.”
-Muzzammil Ahussain, executive vice president of the consumer travel unit at Saudi-listed Seera, observes that, although there are no current major international management company (DMC) in Saudi, there are a number of developing DMCs working with Saudi Tourism Authority to build up this infrastructure. [Skift]
The Saudi start up ecosystem is “sprinting forward, really propelled by this combination of a compelling, deep, local market that’s hungry for tech-enabled solutions; along with a new fuel of venture funding that’s blossomed in the last year or two.”
-Muhammed Mekki, founding partner of AstroLabs, speaks with Nabila Rahal about the Saudi fintech sector. [Arabian Business]
“Many of my friends have told me about their attempts back in 2010 and 2012 to push for the creation of a female league but to no avail. I think this generation is the first of Saudi female soccer players.”
-Azza Jawdah, member of the Storm, a team set to participate in Saudi Arabia’s first female soccer league which will launch in October after it’s scheduled March debut was delayed by the pandemic. [Al-Monitor]
“The impact of oil prices has affected Saudi Arabia’s revenue and like any other country we have to adjust…The government is in continuous review of what is best for the people and the nation and its interests.”
-Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce, in an interview with Bloomberg TV that will be aired on Thursday. [Bloomberg]
