MUST-READS

• New Honeywell centre cements Saudi Arabia’s position in global cybersecurity market

  Honeywell recently launched a new centre in Saudi Arabia’s Jubail to provide localised cybersecurity services for critical industrial sectors in the Kingdom, according to a press release. Honeywell Himaya Center, which was announced at the In-Kingdom Total Value Add (iktva) Forum and Exhibition 2025 in Dhahran, will support Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation and strengthen its position as a key player in the global cybersecurity market.

• Saudi’s Al-Hilal offers record salary to sign Mohamed Salah

  According to media reports, Al-Hilal is in serious negotiations with Salah to secure his transfer to the team. Saudi Arabia media revealed that Al-Hilal has offered Salah an annual salary of 150 million Saudi riyals ($32.5 million), totalling 300 million riyals ($65 million) for a two-season contract. This proposed salary far exceeds the £18 million ($22 million) that Salah currently earns at Liverpool.

• Saudi Arabia proposes amendments to Zakat Executive Regulations for real estate projects under construction

  On 15 January 2024, Saudi Arabia's Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) announced on the public consultation platform (Istitlaa), proposed amendments to Article 73 of the Executive Regulations for Zakat Collection (Executive Regulations) relating to real estate projects under construction. The ZATCA has proposed to add a new paragraph 3 to Article 73 of the current Executive Regulations addressing the zakat treatment of off-plan real estate sale projects and taking into account the nature of these projects. The deadline for receiving comments on the proposed amendments is 29 January 2025.

• Saudi Arabia Seeks to Enhance Mining, Agricultural, and Financial Investments in Nigeria

  Leaders from Saudi Arabia’s private sector have agreed with senior Nigerian officials on a joint strategy to promote and attract Saudi investments in Nigeria, focusing on key sectors such as mining, agriculture, food products, banking services, and financial technologies. During a meeting today, President of the Federation of Saudi Chambers Hassan bin Moejeb Al-Huwaizi met with Minister of Solid Minerals of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dele Alake and Minister of State Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Doris Uzoka. The meeting was attended by Saudi investors. In his opening remarks, President Al-Huwaizi emphasized the importance of the Saudi-Nigerian Business Council in strengthening economic relations. He expressed Saudi Arabia’s interest in enhancing collaboration with Nigeria in the agriculture, livestock, and mining sectors.

• Saudi development fund might invest $100m in Pakistan mining

  Minister of industry and mineral resources Bandar Alkhorayef also confirmed that mining company Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Saudi sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund and miner Ma’aden, is interested in investing in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine.  “Part of what we are looking at is how we can help Pakistan also in some infrastructure,” Alkhorayef said in an interview with Reuters at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. “Without that infrastructure, the economics of the deal are not attractive, so through the Saudi Development Fund we are thinking about how we can finance it.”

• What does the ceasefire agreement mean for Israel, Hamas and the wider Middle East?

  Israel can point to countless tactical victories in the war, from the assassination of top Hamas leaders to the blows it rained on Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran itself, which backs both groups. But Israel fell short on two central aims: Hamas to date has survived, even if greatly weakened, and several hostages taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack died in captivity. Some were accidentally killed by Israeli forces, others by their Hamas captors as troops closed in. Israelis see the return of captives as a sacred obligation, worth the agonizing price of releasing large numbers of imprisoned militants in lopsided deals. The inability to reach a deal through months of negotiations tore the country apart.

• How the Middle East can assume the mantle of green energy leadership

  Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries are both highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and exceptionally well placed to become the most important global producers of various forms of green energy, thanks to abundant sunshine, wind, and available land on which to build the installations that can generate these new energy sources. Saudi Arabia alone is home to the world’s cheapest solar electricity at Shuaiba—almost 1 cent per kilowatt-hour. Four of the ten most cost-effective solar projects are here. So far, green foreign direct investment (FDI) has not flowed here, however. Foreign direct investment data shows that more than $0.9 trillion in large-scale green FDI has been announced, with more than 80% of it allocated to hydrogen, renewable energy, and batteries. For now, Europe is the main destination, while the Middle East is missing out despite its considerable advantages.

• Saudi Arabia Welcomes Ceasefire Agreement in Gaza

  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's welcoming of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and appreciates the efforts made by the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the United States of America in this regard. The Kingdom stresses the need to adhere to the agreement and stop the Israeli aggression against Gaza; the complete withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Strip and all other Palestinian and Arab territories, and the return of the displaced persons to their homes. The Kingdom also stresses the importance of building on this agreement to address the root causes of the conflict by enabling the Palestinian people to claim their rights, foremost among them is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Kingdom hopes that this agreement will permanently end this brutal Israeli war, which has claimed the lives of more than 45,000 people and injured more than 100,000.

• Commentary: Biden could have had the best presidential record – Gaza destroyed it

  US President Joe Biden may be on the brink of finally securing a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, but his atrocious mishandling of that devastating conflict will leave a terrible and lasting bloodstain splattered over the record of what might have otherwise been one of the great presidencies of recent decades. It’s a tragedy, an outrage and a shame that will linger over US foreign policy for many years to come. Mr Biden presided over a remarkable string of domestic legislative achievements, with just a tiny majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in his first two years. It was arguably the finest domestic record since Lyndon B Johnson in the early 1960s. This ground-breaking legislation addressed climate change, health care, pandemic relief, industrial policy and many more crucial issues.

• Saudi Arabia vows to be ‘fast and furious’ in mining as it reveals $100 billion investment

  Saudi Vice Minister of Mining Affairs Khalid al-Mudaifer announced Wednesday the development of a new mineral investment project valued at $100 billion, and that $20 billion of it was already in the final engineering phase or under construction. While the vice minister did not provide further details, Saudi officials have discussed plans to significantly expand the country’s exploration for lithium, as well as for other critical minerals and rare earth elements including copper, gold, zinc, phosphate and nickel. The minister highlighted Manara, a recently established venture between Ma’aden and the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, or PIF. Manara was established to invest in mining assets around the world and develop more resilient global supply chains. “We don’t claim to have all the resources or abilities, so we’ve created Manara to make sure we can reach out for the resources that we need,” bin Salman said. “We have to be doing it as fast and furious as possible.”

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