Oman launches smart cities to boost net-zero, diversify economy
Oman has launched two smart city projects as part of its efforts to cut carbon emissions and diversify its economy.
The first city, for 10,000 residents, will be built in the mountain region of Jebel Akhdar, while the second, Thuraya City in Muscat, will house 8,000 people, Arabian Gulf Business Insights reports.
Both cities will rely on renewable energy, including solar power, and will be used to promote Oman’s carbon-free environment plans, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning said.
The announcement comes a week after the Sultanate launched the Oman Centre for Net Zero. Like other Gulf countries, Oman has been ramping up investment in green infrastructure to diversify its economy beyond oil and gas.
The push for smart cities also reflects the country’s commitment to attracting foreign investment and creating livable, future-ready urban environments.
UAE, Italy, Albania agree on $1.1 billion renewable energy cable
The UAE, Italy and Albania are working together on a $1.1 billion venture that includes building an undersea cable to carry renewable energy produced in Albania to Italy.
The deal signed Wednesday in Abu Dhabi will focus on large-scale renewable energy projects in Albania, including solar, wind, and hybrid systems involving battery storage, The National reports.
It follows a preliminary joint venture agreement last year between Abu Dhabi green energy company Masdar and Albania’s KESH to develop renewable energy projects in Albania.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the deal “tangibly shows new forms of cooperation can be built even among seemingly distant partners – at least geographically speaking.”
Egypt comes out with billions in deals from European summit
Egypt emerged from its weekend huddle with the European Union holding signed agreements for billions of dollars in business deals ranging from construction projects to renewable energy.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Egypt-EU Investment Conference outside Cairo on Saturday that deals potentially worth over 40 billion euros ($43 billion) were being negotiated with Egyptian partners.
Among them were agreements on four green ammonia projects including an $11 billion deal with Frankfurt-based DAI Infrastruktur.
The Sovereign Fund of Egypt also signed a deal with BP, UAE’s Masdar, Egyptian infrastructure company Hassan Allam Utilities and Infinity Power to invest in a green ammonia plant in Ain Sukhna Port on the western coast of the Gulf of Suez.
EU officials said they would move ahead with plans to invest up to 1 billion euros in the Egyptian economy, the first tranche of a 7.4 billion-euro European aid package agreed upon in March.
Emirates Development Bank to provide billions in new financing to private sector
Emirates Development Bank (EDB) is loosening the purse strings, aiming to massively increase financing to the private sector by 2026.
The bank announced it will provide financing worth AED 30 billion ($8.2 billion) by 2026, targeting the 13,500 companies operating in key sectors for the UAE’s diversification efforts, including renewable energy, industry, advanced technology, healthcare and food security, according to Shaker Zainal, Business Finance Director at EDB.
On the sidelines of the Make it in the Emirates Forum on Monday, he said the bank has allocated $1.36 billion in financing for industrial projects so far this year.
Access to financing is one of the top hurdles for small- and medium-sized enterprises looking to grow in the Gulf. To address the access to credit or equity financing gap, development banks across the region have cropped up in the last decade, with EDB launching in 2015.
Sovereign wealth funds behind vast majority of Middle East business deals, report shows
From artificial intelligence to renewable energy, Gulf sovereign wealth funds have become the go-to source for startup investment in a tight global economy.
A new study from Bain & Co. gives a graphic view of why Silicon Valley tech titans and New York financiers have been making pilgrimages to the Public Investment Fund in Riyadh, Mubadala in Abu Dhabi and the Qatar Investment Authority in Doha.
The Bain report, released on Wednesday, showed that 86% of Middle East business deals last year came from sovereign funds, up from 84% in 2022 and 68% in 2018.
The total value of those deals was an estimated $95 billion in 2023, down from a high of $98 billion in the previous year and more than triple the $26 billion recorded in 2018.
“The region’s sovereign wealth funds sit on an abundance of capital that they are using to accelerate an economic transformation, including an aggressive diversification away from hydrocarbon and an ambitious shift toward deals in Asia,” says the report, written by Bain’s Tom De Waele, Grégory Garnier, Riccardo Molinari and Elif Koc.
In their analysis of the sovereign wealth phenomenon, the authors look at how the funds have been used to build new industries such as esports in the Gulf, noting the $4.9 billion acquisition by PIF-owned Savvy Games of California-based Scopely in July.
The shift toward Asia is illustrated in Mubadala’s co-leading a $2 billion investment last November in the Chinese online fashion company Shein, as well as the $1 billion that the QIA sank into India’s Reliance Retail Ventures in September.
The report examines the role that sovereign funds are playing in the energy transition, noting that commitments made to net-zero goals require them to “actively advocate for emissions reduction in portfolio companies and evaluate investments in enabling decarbonization technologies.”
