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  • Saudi Crown Prince Promises Justice for ‘Heinous Crime’ of Khashoggi Murder, Touts Reform Progress
     

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took the stage yesterday at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, making his first public comments since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul grabbed the world’s attention. The Crown Prince did not shy away from the topic, and opened with addressing what he and the Saudi […]

     
  • FII Kicks Off in Riyadh
     

    The Future Investment Initiative (FII) kicked off today at the Ritz Carlton, Riyadh with a standing room only crowd despite an exodus of CEOs and other top executives in recent weeks. The PIF-organized event went forward as planned despite questions regarding the event’s timing, and saw a large crowd at the start of the event. The event […]

     
  • Special Economic Zone Created at Riyadh Airport to Attract Investment; New Jazan Project Launched
     

    Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of a special economic zone around Riyadh’s airport to draw more foreign investment, Reuters reports, citing the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The zone, which will be located in King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, will “focus on integrated logistics and enjoy special rules and regulations aiming at attracting more multinational companies […]

     
  • Oil Down 11% in Two Weeks
     

    Despite sanctions against Iran and tensions between Riyadh and Washington over the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the price of oil has fallen 11% in two weeks on oversupply and other downward pressures, according to reports. U.S. crude has plunged 11 percent from peak to trough over the last two weeks, while Brent is […]

     
  • Pompeo Leaves Saudi Arabia, Arrives in Turkey
     

    U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo concluded his visit to Saudi Arabia and is now in Turkey to meet with Turkish officials including President Erdogan, according to reports. Pompeo said the government pledged to hold anyone accountable in the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “[The Saudi government] made a commitment to hold anyone connected […]

     
  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Visits Saudi Arabia, Meets with King, Crown Prince
     

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held separate talks with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday in Riyadh as the situation over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues. According to CNN, Pompeo had a short discussion with King Salman before a longer meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. US State Department spokeswoman Heather […]

     
  • Trump Sends Pompeo to Saudi Arabia after Speaking with King Salman
     

    Saudi Arabia has extended its “appreciation” to the US administration among others for “refraining from jumping to conclusions” in the ongoing investigation in the Jamal Kashoggi case, which has garnered international attention in the last week. “To help clarify recently issued Saudi statement, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia extends it appreciation to all, including the […]

     
  • Global Advisory Board for NEOM Includes Diverse Experts
     

    The Saudi government has appointed a global advisory board for Neom, the kingdom’s $500 billion city of the future planned for Saudi Arabia’s northwest coast near Egypt on the Red Sea. The board is composed of experts in a variety of sectors – including urban planning, architecture, design, technology, sustainability, energy and manufacturing – to provide […]

     
  • Bloomberg Lands Another Wide-Ranging Sit-Down Interview with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
     

    Bloomberg‘s reporting team in Saudi Arabia landed another wide-ranging sit down interview with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, revealing the powerful leader’s thinking on many issues from Vision 2030 to the Saudi Aramco IPO and others. Bloomberg’s Senior Executive Editor for Economics, Stephanie Flanders, and five other Bloomberg journalists sat down with the […]

     
  • Saudi, Kuwait, UAE Agree to Give Bahrain $10b
     

    Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to give Bahrain $10 billion to “support the country’s funding requirements,” Reuters reports, as Bahrain embarks on a fiscal program aimed at eliminating its budget deficit by 2022. The move by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE “makes sense economically” because “any collapse of Bahrain’s currency […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Saudi Venture Capital Company supports 100 startups, 29 investment funds

    The Saudi Venture Capital Co. has supported 100 startups through 29 investment funds to develop the local venture investment sector, CEO Nabeel Koshak said. As many as 24 funds and five groups of people have benefited from the company’s support, Koshak said on Tuesday during a virtual talk organised by the Financial Academy, according to SPA.

  • Saudi Arabia’s Art World Has Long Been Isolated. With Its First Ever Biennial, It’s Looking to Usher in a New Chapter

    The rules of engagement for the cultural scene in what is an extremely conservative nation are still unclear. Tinari was likely tapped for his experience in running a museum in China, which requires the fine art of dealing with the People’s Republic and censorship.

  • Riyadh starts campaign to host World Expo 2030

    This marked the start of Saudi Arabia’s campaign to host the Expo 2030 world fair. Addressing the virtual meeting convened by the BIE organizing body, Al-Rasheed said expanding from a small town of 150,000 inhabitants in 1950, Riyadh has become one of the world’s fastest-growing cities with a gross domestic product of more than $200 billion. He said the city did not achieve this status because of petrodollars as evident from the fact that Riyadh’s economy represents 50 percent of the Kingdom’s total non-oil GDP.

  • Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale: A New Platform for Saudi Artists on the World Stage

    The biennale has been curated by Philip Tinari, the director and chief executive of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in China, and will feature over 60 artists, with nearly 30 from Saudi Arabia. Only the second biennial art exhibition in the Gulf, after the United Arab Emirates’ nearly 30-year-old Sharjah Biennial, the Diriyah Biennale will also present programs, workshops, and talks under the theme “Feeling the Stones.”

  • Saudi Aramco’s entrepreneurship arm Wa’ed provides $2.04m grant to four start-ups

    Created as a wholly-owned venture of Aramco in 2011, Wa’ed has disbursed more than 400m riyals in venture capital investment, loans and incubation services to more than 100 kingdom-based start-ups. Start-ups in Saudi Arabia attracted a record $168m worth of venture capital funding through 54 transactions in the first half of 2021, according to data platform Magnitt. This is about 94 per cent of the money extended to the kingdom’s start-ups in 2020.

  • Saudi Food Delivery Startup Jahez Eyes Over $2 Billion IPO Value

    The goal represents a huge leap for the firm, which closed a $36 million Series A funding round last year. The boon came partly as a result of shifting consumer habits during the pandemic. Gross merchandise value nearly tripled to 1.4 billion riyals in 2020 from 497 million riyals the previous year.

  • Arqit in ‘smart city’ deal with Saudi Arabia’s Neom project

    David Williams, founder and chairman of Arqit, said the company will use a distributed ledger technology called Quantum Blockchain, which is “designed to deliver financial payments and smart contracts in a way that is sustainable, energy-efficient and can manage instantaneous transactions at close to zero cost”. He said: “Neom is without doubt leading the world in the development of cognitive communities, and therefore the perfect launch partner for this technology.”

  • ‘West Side Story’ Will Not Play In Saudi Arabia & Other Parts Of Middle East

    The situation is somewhat reminiscent of what happened in early November with Disney/Marvel’s Eternals which featured a same-sex kiss. At the time, Saudi Arabia and censors in other markets also sought cuts beyond any scenes of intimacy and Disney opted not to make them, hence distribution certificates weren’t issued. In the UAE, a version of Eternals was ultimately released that removed all scenes of intimacy — heterosexual and homosexual as is generally normal practice for these markets.

  • Spartan Race returns to Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia’s first Spartan Race took place in the mountains of Al-Soudah during the Asir Season in 2019, drawing more than 1,500 competitors and spectators. The race returns to the Kingdom on January 21, 2022, taking place at Dirab Park in Riyadh from 7am to 4pm.

  • Iran defends itself from charges of overreach as parties return to Vienna

    The lead Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov, while discouraging heated statements and “hasty conclusions” from all sides, acknowledged that privately Moscow’s messages to Iran may be far franker that some of their nuclear actions are unhelpful and provocative and their proposals overreaching.