SUSTG.com / Research

Discover stories, topics, and more about Saudi Arebia faster.

Recent stories from sustg

MUST-READS

  • Neuralink competitor Paradromics secures investment from Saudi Arabia’s Neom

    Texas-based neurotech startup Paradromics on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Neom and said it will establish a Brain-Computer Interface Center of Excellence in the region. Paradromics is building a brain-computer interface, or a BCI, which is a system that deciphers brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. The company will work with Neom to “advance the development of BCI-based therapies” and set up the “premier center for BCI-based healthcare” in the Middle East and North Africa, it said in a release.

  • Saudi Arabia’s First Luxury Train Is A Moving Oasis Of High Design

    From Italy’s new La Dolce Vita Orient Express to the United Kingdom’s new Britannic Explorer, luxury rail travel is having a global renaissance, and the Middle East is about to get in on the action with Dream of the Desert, a new 14-carriage luxury train coming in 2026. Unveiled by Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) and Arsenale (the Italian hospitality house behind Accor’s upcoming La Dolce Vita Orient Express train), this five-star rolling masterpiece promises to define high-end rail travel across the Arabian Peninsula.

  • Trump says he might meet Putin in Saudi Arabia after call on Ukraine

    Trump made the comment a few hours after speaking with Putin in their first publicly disclosed call since Trump took office. Trump said they had agreed on "starting negotiations immediately" to end the war in Ukraine, which is approaching its third anniversary. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump floated the idea of meeting Putin in Saudi Arabia, along with the Saudi crown prince. He did not lay out a timeline and said he would deal with Putin on the phone in the meantime. In an interview with the Economist published on Wednesday, Zelensky had said he'd had little contact with Trump's team and raised concerns about "any decision-making" on Ukraine taking place without Kyiv's involvement.  

  • Trump says he and Putin expect to meet, probably in Saudi Arabia

    US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he did not think it was practical for Ukraine to join NATO and that it was unlikely Ukraine will get back all of its land. Trump discussed the war in Ukraine on Wednesday in phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the US president’s first big step toward diplomacy in a conflict he has promised to end. Trump said he and Putin expect to meet in the future, probably in Saudi Arabia.

  • Secretary Rubio’s Travel to Germany, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Munich on February 13 to participate in the Munich Security Conference, where he will discuss a range of U.S. priorities with international partners. While in Munich, Secretary Rubio will also participate in the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. He will then travel to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates from February 15-18. Secretary Rubio’s engagements with senior officials will promote U.S. interests in advancing regional cooperation, stability, and peace. The trip will center on freeing American and all other hostages from Hamas captivity, advancing to Phase II of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and countering the destabilizing activities of the Iranian regime and its proxies.

  • How LEAP 2025 is Driving AI Investment Across Saudi Arabia

    Michael Champion, CEO of Tahaluf, states: “The massive volume of new investments announced on day one builds on the progress made at LEAP and across the Kingdom in previous years, reaffirming Saudi Arabia’s undisputed status as the primary digital accelerator in the Middle East and North Africa.” Arvind Krishna, Chairman & CEO of IBM, took to the stage to predict quantum computing breakthroughs are “three to five years away”, for significant impacts for pharmaceuticals, energy and AI. Quantum computing emerges as a prominent topic of discussion, exploring how this will solve problems rapidly to drive efficiency and innovation.

  • Esports Olympics to debut in Saudi Arabia later than expected in 2027

    The first Olympic Esports Games will be hosted in Riyadh in 2027, two years later than expected when a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia was signed last year. The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday its founding partner for the event will be the kingdom’s Esports World Cup Foundation. The first annual Esports World Cup was held last July and August in Riyadh with tens of millions of dollars in prize money paid for games including Call of Duty, Fortnite and Street Fighter. It is unclear which, if any, shooter games the IOC will allow on the Esports Olympics program, which it has repeatedly said must align with Olympic values.

  • Saudi Arabia moves to ban sale of tobacco in kiosks and grocery stores

    The Saudi Ministry of Municipalities and Housing has proposed a ban on the sale of tobacco products in kiosks, grocery stores and central markets. This is among the draft proposals, published by the ministry, on the public survey platform Istitlaa, seeking the opinions and viewpoints of the public before putting the draft into a final shape. The draft rules include several regulations with regard to the sale of tobacco products. According to this, the sale of tobacco products must comply with the standard specifications issued by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA). Tobacco products must be 100 percent invisible to visitors at the commercial facility and must be placed inside closed drawers.

  • Records set for Arab artists at Sotheby’s debut Saudi Arabia auction

    Sotheby’s inaugural auction in Saudi Arabia — and the country’s first major international art and luxury auction — took place in Diriyah on Saturday with works by regional artists selling particularly well. Sotheby’s reported a full house for the “Origins” sale, which was held in a 250-seat outdoor amphitheater and featured participants from 45 countries. The sale totaled $17.28m with a sell-through rate of 67% by lot and 74% by value. Almost a third of the buyers were from Saudi Arabia.

  • Saudi Arabia launches ferocious state media attack on Netanyahu

    Saudi anger has been thrust into the open as Riyadh is expected to face pressure from US President Donald Trump to normalise relations with Israel. Like other Arab states, Riyadh has also been rattled by Trump’s insistence that Palestinians should be forced out of Gaza. Saudi Arabia was closing in on a three-way deal with the Biden administration before Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack. The kingdom would have agreed to formal diplomatic relations with Israel in return for a US defence pact and assistance with a nuclear programme.  The war in Gaza shook up those plans. Riyadh never took normalisation off the table, but has escalated its condemnation of Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza and has hardened its position, insisting Israel would need to take irreversible steps towards a two-state solution. In September, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman went further, telling the consultative Shura Council that the kingdom would not recognise Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state including Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.