Saudi Arabia and the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) UpLink Innovation Platform have signed two agreements to catalyze cutting-edge global responses to today’s most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges.
Signed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Davos, the agreements aim to foster innovation ecosystems around early-impact marketers to drive investment and innovative responses that address critical sustainability challenges, adding ocean degradation, biodiversity loss, and carbon circularity. economy.
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal al-Ibrahim and WEF President Børge Brende signed the agreements on the sidelines of the Davos 2024 Annual Meetings. The agreements on “Catalyzing Innovation for an Ocean Positive Economy” and “Catalyzing Innovation for a Carbon Positive Circular Economy (ACE)”.
Ibrahim announced that Saudi Arabia is committed to addressing challenging climate and sustainability situations through culpable environmental stewardship and driving transformative investments in revolutionary, cutting-edge, and scalable technology solutions.
He explained that by expanding collaboration with UpLink, Saudi Arabia is doubling down on its commitment to supporting climate-positive responses that can build a sustainable and resource-resilient future.
The Kingdom aims at investments and technical inventions to cope with the demanding situations of sustainable progression and to assist emerging entrepreneurs. The Ministry of Economy and Planning operates in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Saudi Arabia. Green Initiative and the WAVE Initiative.
UpLink Director John Dutton said the world is facing a climate crisis that demands urgent and joint action, highlighting the urgency of responding to the climate emergency and highlighting the importance of swift and coordinated action.
State-of-the-art responses presented through start-ups are key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dutton noted that UpLink, in partnership with global collaborators, is creating a supportive ecosystem for those entrepreneurs, offering significant resources, visibility, expertise and funding.
The enhanced partnership between UpLink and Saudi Arabia demonstrates the transformative impact of innovation and collaboration.
The current agreement aims to inspire and invent that drive the growth of the circular economy and help reduce waste and carbon dioxide emissions to preserve the planet.
The platform is also an ideal path for many cooperation projects between the public and personal sectors, innovators and investors towards global responses to demanding environmental situations that can be scaled up.
Gold rose as the dollar retreated and Treasury yields fell, even as the costs of other metals remained broadly combined.
Valuable safe-haven steel rose 0. 1% to $2,073. 0 a troy ounce and is on track to consolidate its weekly gains after the Federal Reserve said rate cuts would not happen anytime soon, causing yields to fall, analysts said, AFP reported.
That said, “in our view, gold is too nervous,” RBC analysts noted.
Battered by both positive and negative macroeconomic pressures, it’s no surprise that gold can’t attract steady flows of investors, given its expectation-based prices, analysts said.
Three-month copper fell 0. 3% to $8,615. 5 a tonne, while aluminum rose 0. 6% to $2,285. 0 a tonne.
The U. N. food agency’s global value index fell in January to its lowest point in just three years, due to falling grain and meat prices.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) stock index, which tracks the world’s most traded food products, averaged 118. 0 points in January, up from 119. 1 last month, the company said on Friday.
January’s figure is the lowest since February 2021.
“Global wheat export costs declined in January due to the strong party among exporters and the arrival of recently harvested materials in southern hemisphere countries,” FAO said in its monthly update.
FAO also said maize prices fell sharply, reflecting progress in developing conditions and the start of harvest in Argentina and increased materials in the United States.
The meat value index fell for a seventh straight month as an abundance of materials from major exporting countries reduced the foreign value of poultry, beef and pork, FAO said.
In a separate report, FAO said global cereal production in 2023 is on track to reach a record 2. 836 billion tonnes, up 1. 2 percent from 2022. World coarse grains production was set at a record 1,523 million tonnes, following an upward adjustment of 12 million tonnes. tons this month.
“The bulk of the revision reflects new official data from Canada, China (mainland), Türkiye, and the US, where a combination of higher yields and larger harvested areas than previously expected has led to higher maize (corn) production estimates,” the FAO said.
Turkey’s central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan resigned on Friday, raising a desire to protect her family amid a “reputational assassination,” and was temporarily replaced by a lawmaker who is expected to maintain his strict political stance.
President Tayyip Erdogan – who hired Erkan eight months ago to pivot away from years of inflation-fuelling low interest rates to a more orthodox policy – named Deputy Governor Fatih Karahan to take the reins, the Official Gazette said early on Saturday, two hours after the surprise resignation.
Karahan, a former economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was appointed to the House of Representatives in July and is seen as a capable successor who played a vital role in shaping financial adjustment.
Erkan, a former head of a U. S. bank, began raising rates when she was appointed in June, launching a 180-degree turn after years of low interest rates under Erdogan that had boosted inflation and scared away foreign investors.
The central bank has since raised its key interest rate from 8. 5% to 45%. Last week, after a 250 basis point increase, he said he had tightened inflation enough to achieve disinflation, signaling a halt.
Erkan said that “our economic program has started to bear fruit”, citing rising foreign reserves and expectations that inflation will begin cooling around mid-year “as proof of this success”.
“Despite all these developments, as the public knows, a major reputational crusade has recently been organized against me,” he added on social media platform X.
“To prevent my family and my innocent son, who is not even a year and a half old, from being further affected by this situation, I have asked our president to forgive me from my duties. “
Last month, the opposition newspaper Sozcu published an article about a central bank worker who claimed to have been wrongfully dismissed through Erkan’s father.
Erkan then reacted by calling an “unfounded” article directed at her, her family and the bank “unacceptable” and vowed to exercise her legal rights against those responsible.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its expectations for economic expansion in Saudi Arabia, indicating a outlook for the Kingdom’s economy.
The IMF now predicts a growth rate of 5.5% in 2025, an increase from its previous estimate of 4.5% issued in October 2023.
These revisions were made based on data published in the IMF’s “Global Economic Outlook Updates” report in January 2024, which highlighted the positive outlook for the functionality and strength of the Saudi economy despite the dangers and challenging situations presented by the global economic outlook. .
This outlook confirms the expansion and prosperity of the Saudi economy, driven by strong leadership both regionally and internationally.
The report also expects the economy to grow by 3. 1% in 2024 and 3. 2% in 2025.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance and the National Debt Management Centre (NDMC) have revealed plans to launch the first government-backed retail product.
Abdulaziz Al-Furaih, chairman of the Finance Ministry’s Steering Committee, explained that the product launch is part of the projects of the Financial Sector Development Program, one of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 systems, aimed at increasing savings rates. encouraging them to regularly save a portion of their income.
He added that the product aims to strengthen the supply of savings products, enrich monetary literacy and raise awareness about the importance of savings and its benefits, in order to plan long-term goals.
The savings project is titled Sah, which is derived from the first letters of the Arabic phrase “Sakookun Hukoomiya” or government bonds, and will be put into circulation on Feb. 4.
NDMC CEO Hani Al-Madini said the product falls within the program of local sukuks denominated in Saudi riyals, which will be issued on a monthly basis, according to a specified calendar.
He added that the initiative represents an incentive for the personal sector to cooperate and participate in the progression and release of a series of savings products for other categories of people, whether through banks, fund managers, fintech corporations or others.
The Shah program, which is compatible with the Islamic Shariah, offers cost-effective benefits and will be featured on the virtual channels of various monetary institutions, such as Al-Ahli Financial Company, Aljazeera Capital, Alinma Investment, Al-Awwal Capital, and Al-Rajhi Capital Company.
Saudi Arabia is witnessing the launch of gigantic renewable energy projects, leading to a festival within the private sector to attract specialized national skills in the field, according to the chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Polytechnic Institute of Renewable Energy (SPIRE). Engineer Majid Al-Refai.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Refai revealed that the Saudi government, represented through the Human Resource Development Fund, supports efforts to exercise executives in renewable energy, covering 75% of citizens’ salaries during the exercise period, under a committed program.
According to Refai, the program, which is being implemented in cooperation with SPIRE, has become a highlight of the private sector’s initiative to qualify and empower Saudi talent in the renewable energy sector, noting that the institute holds regular meetings with private sector companies to meet their needs for trainees in this field.
Refai noted that SPIRE recently signed five contracts with private sector companies to train another 100 people to pursue a degree in renewable energy.
These make up the first batch of the program, he said, adding that 80% of applicants will concentrate on the solar energy sector, which includes specializations such as quality, maintenance and operation, while the remaining 20% will specialize in wind energy.
The head of SPIRE revealed that the institute’s facilities would be completed and equipped within a period of two years, to be able to accommodate approximately 3,000 trainees.
He also pointed to agreements with Saudi universities that aim to spread awareness about renewable energy, saying the ongoing steps will make the SPIRE Institute a pioneer in the world, and will promote cooperation with various academic bodies inside and outside the Kingdom.