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  • John Kerry’s Remarks at U.S. Chamber of Commerce Middle East Commercial Center Leadership Dinner
     

    In an energetic and wide-ranging speech delivered to guests attending the Middle East Commercial Center Leadership Dinner on Monday night at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Secretary of State John Kerry praised the work of the Center and the development of business relationships between the United States and the Middle East region.  Secretary Kerry shared […]

     
  • AP Reports Women May Be Moving Closer to Driving Rights, But Report Immediately Denied
     

    The Associated Press reported this weekend that an unnamed Saudi Shoura member confirmed its body had “recommended that the government lift its ban on female drivers,” a report that a government official quickly denied after it surfaced.  As the AP reports, “The council member said the Shura Council made the recommendations in a secret, closed session […]

     
  • First Global Entrepreneurship Forum Kicks off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as Kingdom Eyes SME Growth
     

    The first Global Business Entrepreneurship Forum (GEF) was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today to bring together top business and startup leaders to the Ritz Carlton Hotel near the Diplomatic Quarter in the Saudi capital.  Organized by the Centennial Fund, the GEF’s first event in Riyadh was a chance for entrepreneurs and others in the […]

     
  • Saudi Labor Reform and a Supermarket Checkout Line
     

    Last month SUSTG featured a Summer 2014 Report Card analysing the Nitaqat Program to significantly increase the number of Saudis in the workforce.  In that article Nathan Field assessed the structural reform required simply to implement the Nitaqat initiative as well as the array of regulatory changes and their impact on the Saudi labor environment. In […]

     
  • Taxi Apps Prosper As Women Seek to Cope with Ban Driving – Report
     

    Taxi apps in Saudi Arabia are flourishing in large part due to demand from women unable to drive themselves, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Rory Jones and Ahmed al-Omran note that taxi and ride-sharing businesses are rushing to meet demand in Saudi Arabia, and the services are well-liked by many women who are finding […]

     
  • Why MNCs Must Localize their Saudi Business
     

    Saudi Arabia is one of Europe, Middle East and Africa’s (EMEA) top emerging markets, but it is on an unsustainable growth path that threatens long-term prosperity. In addressing this problem through economic diversification, the government will increasingly push multi-national corporations (MNC) to localize their presence or risk being shut out of the market. Success for […]

     
  • Female Saudi Student Abroad: ‘I can confidently claim that being able to drive has transformed my daily life’
     

    In an op-ed published by the Riyadh-based english daily Arab News, PhD student Hatoon Kadi writes that being able to drive while abroad in the U.K. “has transformed my daily life.” The post, entitled “Memoirs of a Saudi Ph.D. student: Convenience of owning a car,” was published in Monday’s edition of the newspaper. It is the latest […]

     
  • Nitaqat Three Years On: A Summer 2014 Report Card
     

    Four years into the Arab Spring, Saudi Arabia has been an oasis of relative calm and stability in an otherwise tumultuous Middle East region. This is partially because the perceived social, economic and political dysfunction resulting from Arab Spring reform movements has had a sobering effect on Saudi perceptions.  In fact, many Saudis consider the […]

     
  • Shifting Gender Norms in Saudi Arabia
     

    Though often caricatured as backwards and traditional, Saudi gender roles are undergoing a reconfiguration. Previously, the majority of Saudi women did not work outside of the home and relied on male relatives to manage many aspects of family life. Globalization and economic necessity, not necessarily liberal values, are propelling more Saudi women into work outside […]

     
  • C3 US-Arab Business Summit Set for October 6, 2014 in New York City
     

    Since 2012, C3 Summit, in collaboration with the US State Department, US Chamber of Commerce and the US Department of Commerce, has been producing US-Arab Summits focusing on healthcare, commerce and economic development between the Arab region and North America.   Given the continuing growth and importance of the business sector to both regions, C3 has developed the US-Arab […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Saudi Arabia: the first 100% women’s rally in the Arab world

    The 34 teams competing in the Jameel Rally crossed the finish line safely in Riyadh after a final stage of 1,105 km. Among the 15 countries represented, Sweden stood out by taking first place, led by Annie Seel and her co-driver Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky in their Toyota RAV4, both of whom are Dakar Rally regulars. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia came in second and third.

  • Why it is an ‘exciting time’ for women in Saudi Arabia

    “After it is well established in the kingdom, we plan to open chapters across the GCC and MENA because the challenges women face are the same across all the countries in the region,” said Al Mozaini. “Once that expands and say in ten years, my plan is to never talk about women again. We just want to talk about society – I don’t want to see anymore gender gaps in our country or others,” she continued.

  • Everything to Know About Rally Jameel, Saudi’s First Women’s-Only Motoring Event

    Saudi Arabia will soon host its first-ever off-road navigation rally for female drivers, having come a long way since announcing the end of the driving ban in 2017.  Titled Rally Jameel, it is the first of its kind in the Arab world, and will take place from March 17-19, with a 900km route that starts in Hail, passing through Al Qassim, and ending in Riyadh.

  • Women DJs Are Taking Saudi Arabia by Storm

    As a Saudi women artist benefiting from new opportunities, how does Cosmicat respond to the critics? “If you didn’t live in Saudi through the ’80s and ’90s, you would not understand the cultural structure, the community, the way that people think here, and what we actually need,” she says. “We do what fits our community. You can look everywhere around you here in Saudi and see the change happening faster than everywhere else. Hopefully when we get to 2030, a lot more will have changed.”

  • Saudi women drive for extra cash as costs climb

    Like other Saudi women, Fahda Fahd couldn't legally drive until 2018, but her lime-green Kia is now a route to extra cash as living costs rise in the conservative kingdom. When she's not working full time at a healthcare call centre, the 54-year-old picks up fares in the capital Riyadh from a ride-hailing app exclusively for women.

  • Saudi-US operation rescues American women from Sanaa

    A State Department spokesperson confirmed the rescue operation with Reuters, saying in a statement: “We assisted with the safe return of two US citizens from an area of Yemen currently under Houthi control.” The spokesperson said the department was grateful for the assistance of “our Saudi and Yemeni partners ... in facilitating their safe departure. Due to privacy considerations, we have nothing further.”

  • Women welcome Saudi Arabia’s new personal status laws

    The absence of a clear legal framework has been “painful for many individuals and families, especially women, permitting some to evade their responsibilities”, the Crown Prince said earlier. The four laws that have been overhauled include the personal status law, civil transactions law, penal code of discretionary sanctions and law of evidence. In the past six years Saudi Arabia has introduced various laws designed to promote women's rights. Girls under the age of 18 cannot be married off, although teenagers have the right to marry a person of their choice without any interference. They can file lawsuits, review their marriage contracts and clerics cannot marry women without a verbal confirmation. "Things are changing," Somayya Youssef, a Saudi marketing major in Riyadh told The National.

  • ‘Under the Abaya’ gives Saudi women an opportunity to tell their own stories 

    When she was compiling the images to be stitched into the first edition of “Under The Abaya,” Mossalli found that many Saudi women were willing to participate but were reluctant to reveal anything about their identities. She remembers how they would want to “crop out their faces or show only certain parts of their identities.” Only a year later, after the success of the first edition, she saw how many women were not only proudly submitting pictures revealing their full faces but insisted on her publishing their full names, in addition to their Instagram and Twitter handles.

  • U.S. calls on Saudi Arabia to lift travel bans on released women activists

    The United States urged its ally Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to lift travel bans and other restrictions imposed on previously released women's rights activists. Michele Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, also called on the kingdom to resolve cases of 'prisoners of conscience' - a term commonly referring to political prisoners.

  • ‘You’re insane’: the Australian working with Saudi Arabia’s first women’s national team

    The establishment of the women’s national team, along with the domestic league, is significant in a country where, until just recently, women were banned from even participating in sport. It wasn’t until 2012 that Saudi Arabia allowed female athletes to compete at the Olympic Games. Those who challenged the system had to so in the shadows. There were no clubs or structures set up to develop female athletes.