#Saudi Arabia

Sophia

Sophia, the first intelligent humanoid robot, to debut in Dubai

Saudi Arabia granted her citizenship in October 2017

Saudi Arabia

Saudi lifts Covid-19 restrictions, scraps PCR testing requirement for incoming travellers

Social distancing measures in all open and closed places, activities, and events have also been suspended

Saudi Arabia to get its first Spinneys store

The first store is expected to launch in Riyadh in the first quarter of 2023

Saudi tech firm Master Works clinches $40m investment deal

The company, which has its headquarters in Riyadh and a presence in Egypt, UAE, Jordan and India, has served more than 140 clients in Saudi Arabia

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Here are the top mobile marketing trends for 2022

Consumer engagement and hyper-personalisation are expected to remain key factors in a changing digital world

Bahrain to hire advisers for privatisation of state oil firms

Bahrain produces about 200,000 barrels a day

Saudi oil discovery

Saudi announces discovery of natural gas fields across four regions

Saudi Aramco has discovered the five fields that can produce over 100 million cubic feet per day of natural gas in total 

UAE’s non-oil foreign trade rises 27% in 2021

China ranked first as the country’s largest trading partner in 2021

Special report: How the GCC is poised to develop as a major destination market for global tourism

The region is building its infrastructure and programmes to transform into a major tourist destination over the next few decades

boursa kuwait

Kuwait bourse plans derivatives trading amid push for more IPOs

The Kuwaiti stock exchange plans to introduce a central counterparty service for the cash market by the end of the year

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Saudi Arabian miner Amak seeks $332m from IPO

The initial public offering’s price range has been set at SAR58-63

Dubai real estate

Dubai most preferred foreign investment location for Saudi home buyers – Knight Frank

The annual 2022 Saudi Residential Survey spoke to 55 HNWIs in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam

Dubai’s DXB welcomes 29.1 million passengers in 2021, remains world’s busiest airport

India retained its position as the top destination country for DXB by passenger volumes

Rising momentum of the region’s banking sector

GCC banks are paving the way for a promising year

Saudi digital security firm Elm soars in Riyadh trading debut

The stock rose to $44.3 on Wednesday

Abu Dhabi Vaccine tourism

Abu Dhabi International Airport receives 5.26 million visitors in 2021

The airport handled 711,715 tonnes of freight in 2021

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund backs new digital bank called D360

The Saudi cabinet approved a licence for D360 bank on Tuesday

Saudi Arabia-based Nadec’s solar park now operational

The solar photovoltaic park, developed by Nadec and French energy company Engie, is estimated to lower carbon emissions by 53 million kg per year

Air Arabia

Air Arabia Egypt announces new service between Sohag and Gassim

The once-weekly flight will operate every Thursday and will be the seventh destination that the airline flies to in Saudi Arabia

Saudi’s Trukker raises $96m in equity, debt funding

The deal follows a $23m equity raise in 2019

Saudi pharma retail chain Al Dawaa seeks $500m from IPO

The initial public offering’s price range has been set at SAR65-SAR73

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Saudi’s Prince Sultan University and VMware sign MoU to launch innovation centre

The innovation centre will enable students, and businesses to experience cloud, and security solutions, supporting the kingdom’s digitisation agenda

Riyadh

Saudi Arabia convicts 11 people for laundering SAR10bn

An initial verdict has led to the conviction of two Saudi nationals and nine expatriates

OPEC sees upside potential for oil demand as economy rebounds

OPEC and its partners are trying to gradually restart production halted during the pandemic

Saudi

Saudi Arabia’s economic growth stays near decade-high as oil powers rebound

The kingdom’s economy expanded 6.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021

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Invixium appoints Saudisoft as a distributor for Saudi Arabia

The distributor will offer Invixium’s complete portfolio of biometric and card readers to its customers in Saudi Arabia

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Data and digital consulting firm Artefact expands to Saudi Arabia

Artificial intelligence is expected to contribute over $135.2bn in 2030 to the kingdom’s economy, equivalent to 12.4 per cent of GDP

Saudi makes 48-hour negative Covid test mandatory for Umrah pilgrims

The new directive will come into effect on 1am, February 9, 2022

Diriyah: Nesma awarded SAR1.2bn transportation contract

It covers the construction of a network of road tunnels, ramps and a major bridge deck as well

Saudi Arabia

Saudi wealth fund edges closer to green bond with Moody’s rating

Last week, Fitch Ratings gave the fund a rating of A