Day: September 18, 2022

Singapore– Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal bin Fadhil Alibrahim met with ministers and senior leaders during an official visit to the Republic of Singapore to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two nations.

The meetings in Singapore were also attended by Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the Republic of Singapore Abdullah bin Mohammed Almadhi.

The Minister of Economy and Planning visited Parliament House for high-level talks with Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan. They exchanged views on the best methods to strengthen bilateral relations between the Kingdom and Singapore and expressed a shared desire to promote prosperity and economic progress for the benefit of both nations.

He also met with Singapore’s Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing at the Ministry of Education, where they spoke about the importance of empowering youth and fostering a culture of lifelong learning.

Alibrahim then met with Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board Dr. Beh Swan Gin, to discuss the importance of sharing knowledge and accelerating the digital transformation to create smarter, renewable and sustainable cities.

Meetings with key private sector figures were also organized for the Minister of Economy and Planning to understand how the island-nation rapidly became a high-income economy with some of the best human capability development programs in the world.

As a major trade hub, Alibrahim was received by Regional CEO for the Middle East and Africa and Head of Group Business Development at PSA International Wan Chee Foong. They met at the Singapore Port Authority’s headquarters after meeting local logistics businesses.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– A workshop entitled “Economic and Social Mobility” was held today, as part of the activities taking place on the sidelines of the 2nd Global AI Summit, organized by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority “SDAIA”, under the theme “AI for the Good of Humanity” at King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh.

The workshop discussed the open value provided by artificial intelligence and touched upon organizations around the world that are looking to employ data and artificial intelligence techniques to accelerate the achievement of their objectives and visions.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– NEOM CEO Eng. Nadhmi Al-Nasr said that artificial intelligence is the beating heart of NEOM and that it will lead the future in modern designs and technologies, adding that the NEOM in the past five years surpassed expectations by transforming its vision into strategies in cooperation with various partners.

This came during Al-Nasr’s speech in a session entitled “Artificial Intelligence for Digital Twins” held during the 2nd Global AI Summit, which kicked off today at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh.

“NEOM is not only a project but it is a business model and will have a vision, economy, and legislation that will attract the best expertise from the Kingdom and around the world,” Al-Nasr said, adding that “The Line project”, which will be the future of the world, will depend entirely on the use of artificial intelligence.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– The Ministry of Energy and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) announced today signing an agreement between the Artificial Intelligence Center for Energy and Siemens Advanta to develop AI solutions for the energy sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to contribute to increasing the efficiency of energy and enhance integration of renewable energy resources.

The announcement was made during the 2nd Global AI Summit that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is hosting between September 13 and 15, 2022.

The National Center for AI CEO Dr. Majid Al-Twijiri and CEO of Siemens Saudi Ahmad Al-Hosawi signed the agreement in the presence of Assistant Minister of Energy for Development and Excellence Eng. Ahmad Al-Zahrani.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– The “Second Saudi International Iron and Steel Conference” continued its second day, with participation of a group of industry leaders, and investors in the sector in Saudi Arabia and the world. Five working sessions were held that dealt with the prospects and future of Iron and Steel industry in the industrial, economic and urban development.

In the opening speech of the first session, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the Arab States, Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf, stressed the need to address the challenges facing the iron industry, stating that the Coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war led to the disruption of supply chains and damaged the global economy along with the energy crisis. He added that GCC states adopt regional and international cooperation to meet these challenges.

Following, Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Eng. Osama Al-Zamil, and Deputy Minister of Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, Eng. Khaled Al-Mudaifer, confirmed that Saudi Arabia is a pioneer in the petrochemical industries, and has been distinguished in the iron and steel industry, pointing out that SABIC and its ilk have invested a lot in developing their capabilities in this industry.

The second-day conference witnessed an intense activity of research and in-depth discussion through four scientific sessions, with the participation of government speakers and executives of major companies in the iron and steel industries.

The second session of the conference was entitled “The Status of the Iron and Steel Market in the Middle East and North Africa”, while the third session entitled “Game Changers in the Global Iron and Steel Market”.

The fourth and final session on the second day of the conference is entitled “Supply Chains, Energy, and Raw Materials”, addressing the crisis facing the supply chains and raw materials that resulted from the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– Saudi Stock Exchange’s main index ended trading higher here today, gaining 62.33 points to close at 12084.45 points.

The total value of the trading reported was SAR 5.3 billion, while the toll of shares traded was 137 million, divided into over 300,000 deals.

The Saudi Parallel Market Index (NOMU) ended the day gaining 97.49 points, to close at 20997.43 points, with a valuation of SAR 35.1 million and an overall tally of more than 580,000 stocks traded and divided into as many as 2,570 deals.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources said it issued 30 new industrial licenses in July. The manufacturing of food products, molded metal products, and other nonmetallic metals each received three licenses, while the furniture industry activity received seven licenses, making it the recipient of the greatest number of licenses.

According to a report released by the Ministry’s National Center for Industrial and Mining Information, the total number of industrial licenses issued by the Ministry since the beginning of this year until the end of July reached 531.On the other hand, the number of existing and under-establishment factories in the Kingdom as of the end of the same month reached 10,685 thousand, with an investment volume of 1.367 trillion riyals.

The report pointed out that the new industrial license investments totaled 973 million riyals for the month of July. Small businesses accounted for most of these investments 86.67%, followed by medium-sized enterprises 13.33%. National factories recorded the highest share of all licenses issued by investment type 73.33%, followed by foreign businesses 20% and businesses with joint investments 6.67%.

The National Center for Industrial and Mining Information reported that 22 factories started production in July with an investment of SR 548 million, the majority of which were food factories totaling 9, followed by paper factories totaling 4 and nonmetallic metal factories totaling 4. Production also started in two molded metal factories and one factory for beverage, furniture, and chemical activities. Joint-capital factories came in second with 4.55%, and national factories made up the remaining 95.45%.

According to the report, the new industrial licenses were distributed among five administrative districts, with the Riyadh region receiving the most 15 licenses – followed by the Eastern Province, which had seven licenses, the Makkah region, which had six, and the Qassim and Medina regions, which each had one license.

The most significant industrial indicators that show the type of industrial activity in the Kingdom, the degree of change in new industrial investments, and the number of jobs provided by the sector are released monthly by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources through the national center for industrial and mining information.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– The Future of Desalination International Conference in Riyadh hosted, during its first day of events on Monday, an opening plenary session on innovation and entrepreneurship to discuss the ever-growing development of desalination technologies and the future aspects of innovation in this thriving industry.

The session was chaired by Peter Terium, the CEO of ENOWA, Neom, Saudi Arabia, who led the discussion among some world-class professors and innovation leaders in the desalination industry.

During the session, Terium and the other distinguished speakers emphasized on the need to see a disruptive change on how to accelerate the pace of innovation in desalination in order to further advance the rapid development of the industry.

Considering the city of Neom as a clean start and a fertile environment for desalination innovations, Terium mentioned that “Neom is the land of the future that is powered by ideas and is there to exceed boundaries. It is also where great minds and best talents exist in an inspirational world”.

Describing the Neom environment as quite a challenge, Terium emphasized on the delicacy of the environment nature of the red sea and the need to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change. He also mentioned the importance of promoting new ways of preventing environmental degradation, which are solutions that can be offered later to the world once achieved in Neom.

As for the desalination impact in Neom, Terium explained how they aim to absolutely zero brine discharge and that the only way forward is solving the brine puzzle and how to profit from it to further contribute to lowering the costs of desalination.

The session included some invaluable discussions about how to harness innovations to make profits through entrepreneurship.

Dr. Kevin Cullen, VP for Innovation at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), explained that more brilliant ideas always come from deeper search for more valuable resources.

Confirming the value of ideas, Dr. Kamal Youcef-Toumi, Engineering Professor at MIT, mentioned that “ideas are the perfect way to make a new ecosystem and that is why we need to nurture, support and develop ideas”.

Experts made clear that collaboration is the only way to bring fresh ideas to the table. “We trained thousands of people and collaborated with several companies to develop an economic system of desalination,” said Dr. Cullen.

Nicolaas Pannekeet, the Managing Partner at Pureterra Ventures, emphasized the importance of collaboration between the private sector and universities, which, according to him, contributed in boosting investment and producing innovations in desalination.

On the other side, Prof. Yoram Cohen, Distinguished Professor at the University of California, mentioned that past experiences are the key factor in making future plans and creating new solutions for desalination.

The discussion also included the importance of a healthy system to manage the whole process.

“The regulations of desalination needs to be updated around the world to be an enabler and a stimuli of the companies development and achievement of positive results for desalination,” Pannekeet noted.

Prof. Cohen also mentioned: “The emerging technology developments have a positive effect on innovation. If we think about it; we all have mobile phones and cars, and the system defines everything around us. Why don’t we do the same for desalination?”

Source: Saudi Press Agency