As Saudi Arabia invests billions of dollars to adorn its western Red Sea coast with uber-luxe resorts, the kingdom is encouraging foreign tourists to relax on the beach secure in the knowledge that their state-of-the-art hotels are aiming for net-zero emissions.

Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb told the 1,500 delegates attending the Future Investment Initiative Priority Summit in Brazil on Thursday that his nation is committed to sustainable tourism in its sprawling $1.5 trillion Neom mega-project, building developments that adhere to environmental best practices.

Speaking at the Copacabana Palace hotel overlooking Rio de Janeiro’s far-more-developed Atlantic coastline, Al-Khateeb laid down a welcome mat for international investors looking to sink money into the Saudi sand.

“The kingdom’s doors are open for business,” the Saudi minister said at the summit, a spin-off from the annual “Davos in the Desert” conference in Riyadh that is backed by the Public Investment Fund. “We are keen to provide a favorable environment for international investors, and the investment facilities aim to make doing business in the kingdom in the most efficient and the least expensive way.”

While home to Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, the Gulf nation is stressing its commitment to the environment at the Brazil conference. The PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, issued a report on Thursday that highlighted the state mining company Ma’aden’s sustainability efforts, including projects for biodiversity management, vegetation improvement and the preservation of seaside mangrove tree thickets in coastal areas.

Abu Dhabi edtech platform Alef Education struggled on its first day of trading on the ADX, in a rare down day for an IPO on a Gulf exchange.

The shares closed 13% lower than the offer price of 1.35 dirhams on Wednesday despite strong demand for the stock when the IPO was rolled out. Investors poured in over $20 billion worth of orders, pricing Alef at the top of the range and raising 1.89 billion dirhams ($515 million) for the company.

But Abu Dhabi’s first initial share sale of 2024 marks the worst debut since 2021. The 14 companies that had gone public since the start of 2021 saw their shares rise by about 31% on average in the first session, according to Bloomberg data.

“Opening up below IPO price reflects negatively on the valuation it was sold at and the risk appetite of investors and liquidity of the market at that point,” Mohammed Ali Yasin, founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Financial Consultancy and Investments, told the news agency.

Turkish grocery delivery startup Getir, which counts Mubadala as its largest shareholder, plans to address a management dispute that has been blocking a funding lifeline from existing investors.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala demanded in April that additional cash be conditional upon changes to the board and senior management.

Getir CEO Nazim Salur agreed this week to convene an annual general assembly and vote on a new board, as the two sides work to move past the feud, Bloomberg reports.

Salur founded the company in 2015, operating at its peak over 1,100 so-called “dark stores” which worked as fulfillment centers in high-density neighborhoods.

Getir raised $768 million in a Series E round at a valuation of $11.8 billion in March 2022 amid a flood of investment into the delivery space during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The cash infusion spurred the company to continue its aggressive expansion into Europe and the U.S. which it has since unwound, now focusing on its home market of Turkey.

It was most recently valued at $2.5 billion as of September. Other investors include Sequoia and Tiger Global, as well as the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund and Alpha Wave Global. 

From food security to professional football, Saudi Arabia is ready to deploy billions of dollars to invest in Brazil and its Latin American neighbors as the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund expands its scope of global investments.

That’s the message being delivered in Rio de Janeiro by Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan who opened a three-day conference on Wednesday aimed at cementing the Gulf country’s financial links with resource-rich nations on the South American continent.

“We started investing in Brazil in 2016… in food securities [and] we are interested in investing in technology, renewable energy, and mining, and hopefully in football too,” Al-Rumayyan said as he kicked off the PIF’s Future Investment Initiative Priority Summit at the Copacabana Palace Hotel overlooking the city’s legendary beach.

Touting the sovereign fund’s $2 trillion in assets, Al-Rumayyan, who is also Chairman of Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company; English soccer club Newcastle United and the two-year-old LIV Golf tournament, said the kingdom is particularly interested in companies that are developing infrastructure for artificial intelligence in the Southern Hemisphere.

“We should look for solutions [as to] how to power the AI revolution through renewable energy,” he said, “Brazil is well-positioned to be one of the major players. What you need is the right regulations and government backing, along with an investment mix.”

Brazilian Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said the kingdom intends to invest some $15 billion in Brazil.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva followed Al-Rumayyan onstage, telling the conference’s 1,500 participants that his visit to Riyadh last November provided “tremendous impetus” for collaboration with Saudi Arabia.

“We are not just the Brazil of soccer or Brazil of the violence,” Lula said. “We are also the Brazil of the men and women who want to grow and develop.”

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is continuing its dogged drive to create an electric vehicle market in the kingdom.

The sovereign wealth fund’s EV-maker CEER announced on Tuesday a $2.2 billion deal with Hyundai Transys for the South Korean parts supplier to make the drive systems for its cars, set to be unveiled by next year.

Drive systems are responsible for converting the energy from an EV’s battery into mechanical power to move the wheels. 

The decade-long supply deal is set to start in 2027, when CEER aims to drive the first of its SUVs, sedans and coupes off the assembly line.

CEER, the two-year-old joint venture between the PIF and Taiwan’s Foxconn, is not Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s only play into electrification as he looks to grow the share of EVs in the kingdom to 30% by 2030 – up from 1% right now. 

In addition to setting up CEER in 2022, the kingdom has invested at least $6.4 billion in California luxury EV maker Lucid Motors, which it majority owns, and has built an EV metals plant.

In October, the PIF and Hyundai announced a $500 million joint venture to build a factory for internal combustion engines and EVs, creating a planned factory hub alongside CEER and Lucid in Jeddah’s King Abdullah Economic City.

The effects of climate change, population pressures and a regional struggle which has seen vast water resources diverted from the Nile to a dam in Ethiopia have all left Egypt rapidly approaching a state of severe water scarcity.

National authorities are now hoping to put advanced technology to work to help avert a crisis, by bringing in its space agency to revolutionize the study and sustainable management of water resources.

A cooperation agreement between the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences and the National Water Research Center was announced on Tuesday to spearhead these efforts.

Under the deal, the agencies will join forces to develop innovative solutions for water management, including smart systems aided by aerial and ground sensors, advanced imaging and Internet of Things technologies.

The convening of an “AI Retreat” at Dubai’s Museum of the Future today has presented a sterling opportunity for some of the biggest names in chips and data storage to show off their wares before some of the UAE’s top decision-makers in government.

Executives from Nvidia, Google Cloud, Microsoft, AWS, Oracle and IBM are all taking the stage today to tout their products as the UAE’s biggest city accelerates plans to implement AI across government services and attract more business from deep tech firms.

On the sidelines of the gathering, Omar Al Olama, UAE Minister of Artificial Intelligence, said the UAE is looking to position itself as a top destination for advanced chip manufacturing, in an interview with Bloomberg.

He added that he believes U.S. security concerns over technology leaking from the Middle East and into China are understandable. “Sometimes you are a victim of the neighborhood you are in,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s energy firm Acwa Power is planning to raise 7.1 billion riyals ($1.9 billion) by issuing stock to existing shareholders days after Saudi Aramco landed $11.2 billion in its own share sale.

Acwa Power, which is 44% owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, is one of the leading firms in Saudi Arabia’s decarbonization and diversification strategies.

The company is planning to double annual investments to $2.5 billion in an international push into renewables and hydrogen, as well as projects in the kingdom, Bloomberg reports.

Acwa’s shares have increased about 570% since listing on the Saudi Tadawul Exchange in October 2021.