Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- The Small and Medium Enterprises Bank of Saudi Arabia's National Development Fund said Sunday it has allocated SAR 10.5 billion ($2.79 billion) to finance programs and products for the SME sector.The Bank's direct and indirect lending programs, financing guarantee programs and investment programs will be financed...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has made a phone call to Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during which he expressed the UAE's welcome of the Riyadh and Tehran agreement...

Surprise Saudi-Iran detente, midwifed by China, has gone against the drift of Austin’s visit to the Middle East which was largely premised on an abiding antagonism between the two countries.

Negotiations overseen in Switzerland by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross will see Yemen's warring parties holding talks in Geneva starting Saturday to discuss a prisoner exchange, according to rebels and government officials. Hostilities have largely stopped since a UN-brokered ceasefire took effect in April last...

The region will benefit from investment in training institutes for nursing and health professionals, Amanat Holding CEO Mohamed Hamade tells TRENDS during an interview.

Riyadh cut ties with Tehran after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic republic in 2016 following the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The two countries also agreed to activate the security cooperation agreement signed in 2001.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- A meeting was held in Riyadh Thursday to prepare for holding the third round of free trade agreement negotiations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States and the United Kingdom from March 12–16 at the GCC General Secretariat in Riyadh.Fareed bin Saeed Al-Asaly, the...

Dubai, UAE -- Saudi energy giant Aramco broke ground for its 26.25-billion-riyal ($7 billion) Shaheen Petrochemical Project, its biggest in South Korea.The groundbreaking was carried out through Aramco's affiliate S-Oil in South Korea's industrial city of Ulsan. Scheduled for completion by 2026, the Shaheen project is aimed at converting crude...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's Industrial Production Index increased by 6.8 percent in Jan 2023, compared to Jan 2022, mainly due to the increase in mining, quarrying manufacturing activities.A monthly bulletin by the General Authority for Statistics said the mining and quarrying activity increased by 3 percent year on...

The launch is part of a year-round program that will allow women filmmakers to collaborate with leading industry professionals and access funds to create and share their stories.

The growth rate is also the highest in the last decade, with crude oil and natural gas contributing 32.7%, government services 14.2%, and manufacturing other than oil refining 8.6%.

Saudi Arabia aims to gain a leadership role in space.

As relations thaw after more than a decade of isolation, Saudi Arabia has suggested that closer cooperation with Syria may open the road for its admission back into the Arab League, albeit it is still too early to debate this option.On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud...

Dubai, UAE--Agility Logistics Parks (ALP) today announced the launch of data center campus sites in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and Ghana.The sites are being readied at ultra-modern ALP warehousing complexes in fast-growing markets and mega-cities that are looking to add hyperscale data center capacity and resolve data latency, security and...

The investment bank is working on five diverse sectoral IPOs in the GCC market which will be launched between the second and fourth quarters of the year.

Ahmed Al Khateeb, the Saudi tourism minister and board chairman of the Saudi Fund for Development, signed an agreement with Turkish central bank governor Sahap Kavcioglu "to make a significant $5 billion deposit", the Saudi government said in a statement. "This deposit is a testament to the close cooperation and...

Young women in the MENA region are more likely to be in the workforce, while the GCC countries — particularly the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — have seen advances in labor force participation, according to a PwC report published in December last year. However, they are yet to gain...

Pact is likely to help enhance Kingdom's non-oil exports.

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi  Justice Minister Dr. Walid Al-Samaani inaugurated the International Conference on Justice here on Sunday.Several ministers, thought leaders and legal experts from around the world were present at the event.Over 4,000 persons and 50 international speakers took part in the justice conference.  Al-Samaani, with the participation...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-- Saudi Arabia ranked first globally on the Global Knowledge Index 2022 in the percentage of students enrolled in post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED 4), in technical and vocational programs.The Index is issued by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation in collaboration with United Nations Development Program and...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Friday condemned a call by an Israeli minister for a flashpoint Palestinian town to be "wiped out", with Riyadh describing it as "racist and irresponsible".Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Israel's coalition government, made his comments on Wednesday, days after two...

The GCC countries are likely to benefit from the relative stability in their financial covers due to high oil prices and strong energy exports in 2022, reports suggest.

Industries in the region may use metaverse interchangeably. However, there is no specific way to know which sector will benefit the most from the latest technology, says an expert.

Dubai, UAE-- Saudi energy giant Aramco has completed the acquisition of US motor and oil maker Valvoline's global products business for $2.65 billion.Under this acquisition, which comes after the two companies signed the share purchase agreement announced on 1 Aug 2022, Aramco hastens its aim to enter the integrated, branded...

The funds will be used by Amwal to further develop their technology and expand in the MENA region.

During the meeting, the two discussed strengthening the process of joint GCC action and reviewed GCC issues of common concern.

The firms said margins will continue to be under pressure in H1.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--Saudi Arabia’s economic growth is expected to accelerate by 3 percent in 2023 backed by a robust non-oil sector. According to a forecast by Riyad Capital, the output from this part of the economy will rise by 5 percent this year.The growth will be driven by a sturdy fiscal...

The region's biggest economy, Saudi Arabia, was projected to accelerate to 8.3 percent in 2022 before moderating to 3.7 percent and 2.3 percent in 2023 and 2024.

The net profit for the year nearly doubled compared to 2021.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--The Saudi Ports Authority, also known as Mawani, has sanctioned five new shipping services that will link up the Kingdom with 43 international ports. The five new services are projected to support commercial traffic, strengthen the national imports and exports system, as well as provide alternatives for importers, exporters, and shipping agents.In addition, the...

The meeting will deliberate on the current situation in occupied Palestinian territories, especially killings of 11 Palestinian citizens in Nablus.

Sports, social and marketing events, including various global activities and competitions, are likely to bring in more Saudi tourists, Qatar Tourism's data suggest.

The World Health Organization on Sunday appealed for $392 million ahead of a UN-led donor conference in Geneva to avert the "potential collapse" of the health sector in war-torn Yemen. The call came with the Arabian Peninsula country in the throes of one of the world's worst humanitarian tragedies after...

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef highlighted his ministry’s role in the country’s development in a interview with TRENDS at DAVOS 2023.

Property markets benefit as an increased demand for tourists and the rise in government spending on infrastructure projects drive the post-pandemic recovery in the region.

Abu Dhabi, UAE – The non-oil trade between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in 2022 increased by 9 percent, reaching AED136.09 billion ($37.05 billion), compared to AED124.6 billion at the end of 2021, the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics said.Over the period of 2013-2022, non-oil trade between the two...

The UAE has maintained a neutral stance towards Russia's war in Ukraine, which is nearing its one-year anniversary. The Gulf nation has emerged as a top destination for rich Russian emigres fleeing the impact of Western sanctions.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-- Saudi Arabia's non-oil exports (including re-exports) fell by 24.4 percent to SAR 22.7 billion ($6.05 billion) in December 2022, from SAR 30.1 billion in December 2021, according to the kingdom's General Authority for Statistics. Non-oil exports (excluding re-exports) decreased by 17 percent as re-exports also fell by...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-- Saudi Arabia and Costa Rica have signed agreements to increase the volume of trade and investment between the two countries.In this connection, the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Costa Rican Export Authority signed two agreements in the field of economic cooperation between the kingdom and the...

However, economic and people-to-people ties between Israel and its Abraham Accords partners will be affected due to the hard right nature of Israel’s coalition, says Esawi Frej.

DUBAI, UAE -  PwC Middle East and Microsoft have strengthened their global partnership at LEAP event in Riyadh, to support government and private entities in their digital transformation and cloud migration journey in Saudi Arabia.The collaboration will focus on cloud transformation, business process automation and technology consulting, addressing the present...

Creating a coherent ESG policy is perhaps one of the biggest challenges for the region, which is heavily reliant on hydrocarbons, says an expert.

WHO says that globally an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of $1 trillion per year in lost productivity.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Net-zero goal cannot be achieved without carbon capture and there is a need to scale up carbon capture and storage over the coming years to reach zero emission targets, Fahad Alajilan, President of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), has said.KAPSARC co-hosted on...

The annual expansion of more than 100 fuel stations in the Gulf countries add around US$500,000 per day to companies' revenues in each country in the region, say experts.

London, United Kingdom - A consortium led by a Qatari banker announced it had submitted an offer to take full control of Manchester United, with British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe also reported to have lodged a bid.Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani "confirmed his submission of a bid for 100 percent of...

At least six banks, seeking to open branches in Saudi Arabia, have obtained licenses from the Saudi Central Bank to conduct operations in the Kingdom in the coming months.

London, United Kingdom--Saudi Arabia has joined the race to buy Manchester United ahead of Friday's bid deadline, according to a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph, raising the stakes in what could be the most lucrative deal in sports history.The American Glazer family, who completed their takeover of the 20-times English champions...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia---Saudi Arabia's Transport General Authority has signed the largest project for transporting passengers by buses through a network covering more than 200 cities and governorates.The network is expected to serve more than 6 million passengers annually through 76 routes, with a new fleet of buses equipped with the...