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towering turnaround

Riyadh’s new financial hub sheds reputation as costly failure

QATAR PLEDGE

Qatar, Egypt PMs meet to firm up $7.5 billion investment pledge

The Daily Circuit: Saudi KAFD sprouts as finance hub + Progress at Octagon

welcome back

Damascus holds first investment conference since Assad overthrow

Going, GOING, GONE

Sotheby’s to sell rare watches, racing cars, real estate in UAE

FUTURE SHOCK

Dubai to unveil $1 million prize for AI-generated film at summit

The Daily Circuit: Investors pour into Damascus + ADIA backs GLP

pumping up

India signs 15-year gas deal with ADNOC as trade with UAE grows

CHINA's path

New fund aims to promote Chinese expansion in Middle East

The Daily Circuit: India tops ADNOC Gas buyers + UAE-China fund

thehrobserver-hrobserver-adgm

reaching out

Lunate buys $2 billion minority stake in London’s Brevan Howard

ANGOLA ANGLE

UAE expects $10B a year in trade with Angola under new pact

generating ai

Saudi Arabia’s Humain bets big on opening data centers in 2026

The Daily Circuit:  Lunate buys Brevan Howard stake + Humain’s data centers

joystick jungle

MBS crowns Team Falcons as winner of Esports World Cup

CLIENT CULL

HSBC Swiss private bank drops 1,000 clients from Middle East

The Daily Circuit: MBS crowns Esports champ + Taqa buys GS Inima

Up, Up and Away

Space42 mulls funding round for satellite mapping project in Africa

NO SNOW

Asian Winter Games looks for alternative to NEOM’s Trojena

The Daily Circuit: Space42 navigates to Africa + ACWA solar powers up

Quick Hits

Gas Deal

Shell, BP, Total, Mitsui sign up as partners in ADNOC gas project

The four companies will each take a 10% interest in the UAE energy company’s Ruwais LNG plant, which plans to start production in 2028

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed welcomes the heads of global energy companies visiting Abu Dhabi to sign agreements backing ADNOC’s Ruwais LNG project. (Photo: WAM)

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 11, 2024
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Chief executives from three of Europe’s largest energy companies and a top Japanese conglomerate came to Abu Dhabi this week to sign agreements backing state-owned ADNOC’s ramped-up efforts to sell liquified natural gas.

Each of the firms – Shell, BP, TotalEnergies and Mitsui & Co. – will take a 10% interest in ADNOC’s Ruwais LNG plant, a project scheduled to begin production in 2028 as spending on gas as a cleaner alternative fossil fuel to oil is projected to rise. Payments were not disclosed.

Signing the contracts to take part in the LNG venture on Wednesday were Murray Auchincloss, CEO of BP; Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell; Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies; and Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui, according to a UAE government statement.

The executives were hosted by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed in a sit-down at the beachside Qasr Al Shati palace. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, signed the agreements with the other executives during a separate meeting with Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. 

“As natural gas demand continues to increase, this world-class project will enable us to provide more lower-carbon gas to meet growing demand today while helping the world transition to a cleaner energy future,” said Dr. Al Jaber, who continues to serve as President of COP 28, the United Nations climate conference that was held in Dubai last December.

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Russia Trade

UAE signs deals with Russia and tightens trade relationship

An Emirati delegation to the Innoprom exhibition met Russian officials and discussed commercial issues that included a free-trade agreement

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin with an official ceremony at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi on December 6, 2023. (Photo: UAE Presidential Court via Getty Images)

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 10, 2024
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The UAE signed a series of deals and preliminary agreements with Russia this week at the Innoprom industrial exhibition in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth largest city.

Led by Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Group CEO of state energy company ADNOC, the Emirati delegation met Russian officials and discussed a variety of issues that included concluding a free-trade agreement and improving supply chains in agricultural technology, The National reports.

“We anticipate the removal of excessive barriers to mutual trade in the near future,” Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said,” Russian President Vladimir Putin noted during a visit to Abu Dhabi in December that the UAE is his country’s leading investor and trade partner in the Middle East.

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Flight Mode

Riyadh Air inks deal with Delta for U.S. connection

The partnership makes Riyadh Air Delta's exclusive partner in Riyadh while offering hundreds of destinations in the U.S. to Riyadh Air’s customers

An American flag waves as a Delta Airlines Airbus A321-211 aircraft departs San Diego International Airport in California. (Photo: Getty Images)

July 10, 2024
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Riyadh Air has yet to embark on its maiden voyage — that’s scheduled to depart sometime in 2025 — but it’s already changing the air space over Saudi Arabia. The startup carrier, marketed to the business class crowd flocking to the Gulf these days in search of deals, inked its own agreement on Tuesday with Delta Air Lines. 

The partnership deal will introduce the only non-stop service on an American airline between the U.S. and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and marks Delta’s first foray into the Middle East market. 

Signed at Delta’s headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., the partnership makes Riyadh Air Delta’s exclusive partner in Riyadh while offering hundreds of destinations in the U.S. to Riyadh Air’s customers. The partnership, still subject to regulatory approvals, will also allow coordination on flight times and routes while enabling passengers to book tickets on both carriers’ flights.

Delta, the world’s largest publicly traded airline by revenue, is getting in at a good time: airlines in the Middle East recorded a 33% increase in air passenger traffic in 2023 compared to 2022, according to the International Air Transport Association.

A number of factors are coming together to boost air travel in the region, in addition to improved airport infrastructure in a part of the world that serves as a transit hub connecting East and West.

Government tourism campaigns are also encouraging travel. Saudi Arabia for example, is pouring $800 billion into developing its tourism sector. 

Riyadh Air, which is owned by the Public Investment Fund, aims to fly to more than 100 destinations worldwide by 2030.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said it will run daily nonstop flights between Boston and the UAE capital starting in October in response to the route’s strong performance flying four times weekly.

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FOOD SECURITY

UAE’s Agthia opens $24.5 million meat plant in Saudi Arabia

ADQ-owned company seeks to help feed Saudi Arabia's growing population and provide greater food security across the region

Goats and sheep at livestock market in Saudi Arabia (Getty Images)

July 9, 2024
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Abu Dhabi food and beverage group Agthia has opened a meat processing facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city, as the kingdom looks to feed its growing population and the broader region pushes for greater food security.

The $24.5 million factory, located in Jeddah’s Industrial City 1, spans 9,000 square meters and is expected to produce over 9,000 tons of processed proteins – enough to export to more than 25 countries.

Agthia, which is owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, is in the midst of a five-year growth strategy in its push to become one of the region’s top food and beverage companies

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Battery Powered

Saudi Arabia’s EV campaign on show at Riyadh conference

The two-day Global EV and Mobility Technology Forum gets under way as Lucid, 60% owned by the PIF, shows strong growth in car deliveries

An EV made by Lucid Motors, which is majority owned by the PIF, is displayed during the Geneva Motor Show. (Photo: Getty Images)

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 9, 2024
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Saudi Arabia’s drive to establish an electric vehicle industry in the kingdom – clinching deals over the past year with the U.S., China and Europe – will be on display this week during the Global EV and Mobility Technology Forum in Riyadh.

The two-day conference, which gets underway tomorrow at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center, will bring together senior government officials, financiers and car company executives – led by Faisal Sultan, Managing Director and Vice President of Lucid, the California EV-maker backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Others scheduled to speak at the conference include Rusty Russell, Executive Director of Mobility at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Global; Shavaye Govender, Head of Business Development, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan at Uber; Fathi Tlatli, President of Global Sector Auto-Mobility for DHL; and Alex Gilbert, Head of Energy and Electrification and Commercial Development at Transport for London.

Lucid shares jumped 4% in Nasdaq trading on Monday after the company reported that second-quarter car deliveries grew 70% from the same period in 2023.

The PIF, which has a 60% stake in Lucid, opened a factory in the kingdom last year and has poured billions into the U.S. company as it looks to become a significant regional manufacturer.

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Eyes in the Sky

UAE to use satellites and AI to avert maritime troubles

The new Satgate project will employ satellites and artificial intelligence to locate ships, monitor sea conditions and forecast the weather

A satellite in orbit. (Photo: UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure/X)

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 8, 2024
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The UAE is aiming to use its advances in space to prevent chaos at sea.

Launching its new Satgate project, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said it will employ satellites and artificial intelligence to locate ships, monitor sea conditions and forecast the weather, according to a statement issued today.

In collaboration with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, the project will also develop a database of ships that call at UAE ports and help maintain the security of maritime facilities and coasts by tracing the location of ships that are not connected to tracking devices.

At a time when oil tankers and cargo vessels are being attacked in both the Red Sea and the Gulf, the satellite project has the potential to make commercial sea traffic in the region more secure and financially competitive.

“Improving our tracking systems using advanced technology will enhance maritime transport and mitigate risks,” Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei said in the statement.

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Tax Pioneer

Oman looks to introduce personal income tax on high-earners

The move would make the sultanate the first member of the GCC to take such a step

By
Jonathan H. Ferziger
July 8, 2024
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Oman is pushing forward with plans to impose a personal income tax on high-earning citizens and expats that would make it the first member of the GCC to take such a step.

The proposal, which has been floated by the government for more than a decade, was recently presented for consideration to the State Council, The National reports.

Introducing a personal income tax is in line with the country’s efforts to diversify its revenue streams and reduce its dependence on oil. If enacted, the tax would probably apply to citizens with net global income of $1 million or more and foreign nationals on Oman-sourced income above $100,000.

The proposed tax rates range between 5% to 9% for foreign nationals and a flat rate of 5% for Omanis.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have refrained from taxing individuals to make their countries more attractive to international companies and candidates for skilled jobs. 

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Boom Town

Riyadh among top 15 fastest-growing cities over next 10 years

Saudi Arabia’s capital is the only urban center outside of Asia to make the top 15, according to Savills Growth Hubs Index

A large number of construction cranes seen on the horizon near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Getty Images)

July 8, 2024
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Even as the most audacious blueprints for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 are revised, Riyadh is still poised to be one of the fastest-growing cities in the world over the next decade as the kingdom’s mega-projects take root, according to British property consultancy Savills. 

Saudi Arabia’s capital city landed in the top 15 fastest-growing cities by 2033 — the only urban center outside of Asia on the list — according to the Savills Growth Hubs Index.

Indian and Chinese cities take five spots each in the top 15, followed by Vietnam with two, and the Philippines, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia with one each. The ranking is a compilation of forecasts of population, wealth and economic expansion. 

Riyadh is at the center of the kingdom’s diversification push away from oil as the city serves as regional headquarters to an influx of international companies.

Major new developments are also underway to improve livability. The mixed-use property development New Murabba and a new metro system are under construction as the city prepares to host the World Expo in 2030 and vies for the World Cup in 2034. 

The Middle East’s third largest city is expected to record a 26% uptick in population, taking Riyadh from 5.9 million to 9.2 million residents in 10 years. The new-arrivals boom is expected to result in continued government spending on massive infrastructure projects as well as improved amenities and services to accommodate the growing population, according to Savills.

“Saudi Arabia boasts a population of around 36 million people and, astonishingly, 67% are under the age of 35,” Richard Paul, Head of Professional Services & Consultancy Middle East, said in the report.

“The employment potential and ultimate spending power of this segment of the population over the next decade are enormous.”  

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