Category: General

Jeddah, June 04, 2022, SPA – Saudia Airlines has been classified in the (A) category with its commercial value of identity increased by 13.1%, according to the “Brand Finance” annual report which measures the performance of the best (50) strongest airline brands, an achievement that reflects the significant progress achieved by “Saudia” driven by its overall growth in its network of airlines and the increase in the number of passengers, in addition to providing high-quality services on board, and in all service locations.

Saudi Arabia’s obtaining this classification is the result of the “Brand Finance” evaluation of more than 5,000 of the largest brands in various sectors and in all countries, through which nearly 100 specialized reports are issued that detail the classification methodology and the factors that were taken into consideration, as one of the factors that contributed to the high rating of “Saudia” was the opening of the largest lounge for the passengers at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, the on-board chef service, and the advanced services on the plane, especially high-speed internet.

SAUDIA Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, Khaled Tash, said “the airline’s brand is symbolic of the brand of the nation. With the tourism ecosystem flourishing and the number of visitors at an exceptional all-time high level, SAUDIA is well-positioned to continue accelerating as the wings of the country’s Vision 2030,” adding that this achievement poses a great responsibility to maintain the pace of excellence as the national carrier of the Kingdom, as well as meeting the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, especially in the tourism aspect, by attracting visitors to discover the Kingdom’s cultural and historical richness.

“Saudia” seeks to contribute to achieving the goals of Vision 2030, especially in tourism, by achieving 100 million visits by 2030. The airline is adding 10 new routes to the network this year, which includes recently launched cities: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Entebbe (Uganda), and Bangkok (Thailand), Barcelona (Spain), Marrakech (Morocco), Malaga (Spain), Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China), the Greek island of Mykonos, Seoul (South Korea), and Chicago (USA) coming soon.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia represented by the Communications and Information Technology Commission chaired the meeting of the Gulf Working Group to prepare for the work of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23), held in coordination with the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the Arab States during the period from May 30 to June 1, 2022 AD, at the Commission’s headquarters in Riyadh.

The meeting was chaired by the Director General of the Commission’s Frequency Spectrum Services, Eng. Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Abdulqader

The meeting aims to unify positions on the terms of the works of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23) in the International Telecommunication Union. It discussed (82) contributions submitted by the GCC states, in addition to many topics on coordinating the use of frequency bands for terrestrial and space radio services and working to enable innovative technologies.

It is noteworthy that this meeting is held periodically to review the radio regulations and international treaties that govern the uses of the frequency spectrum according to an agenda set by the International Telecommunication Union Council.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, June 04, 2022, SPA – The Ministry of Interior has launched the Makkah Route Initiative, as part of the initiatives of Pilgrim Experience Program, one of the programs of the Saudi Vision 2030, in (5) countries, including Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco, and Bangladesh.

The Ministry said that the Makkah Route Initiative

aims to receive the pilgrims and complete their procedures in their countries with ease, starting with issuing the visa electronically and taking the biometric characteristics, and passing through the completion of passport procedures at the airport of the country of departure after verifying the needed health requirements, in addition to coding and sorting of luggage per transportation and housing arrangements in the Kingdom.

The ministry added that upon their arrival, the pilgrims will be transported to their places of residence in Makkah and Madinah, per designated paths, while the service authorities deliver their luggage to their residence.

The Ministry of Interior is implementing the initiative in cooperation with the ministries of “Foreign Affairs, Health, Hajj and Umrah”, the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority “SDAIA”, Pilgrim Experience Program, the General Directorate of Passports, and Elm Company.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– The Saudi Space Commission will launch the “Madar” program, which offers several tracks and training courses aimed at raising the level of knowledge in the space sector and its sciences as the program will accommodate 1,000 male and female trainees from various scientific specialties by providing theoretical and practical courses in the space sector.

The program includes three main tracks, the “specialized space orbit” track, which consists of two sub-tracks, the “satellite” track and the “public space” track, and they will be presented over five weeks each, in addition to the “knowledge orbit” track for short training courses, which it lasts for five days for each course, and the “Alpha Orbit” track for training of trainers, and its duration is up to two weeks, while the program targets new graduates, and those interested in the space sector and its workers.

It is worth mentioning that this initiative comes in light of the Saudi Space Commission’s interest in developing human cadres, developing national capabilities and skills in the space sector, qualifying those interested in the field with sufficient experience and knowledge, and empowering its workers to help advance the space sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Stockholm– The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has reviewed its local and global efforts to protect and preserve the environment by launching a number of programs and initiatives to achieve the national environment strategy and sustainable development goals and confronting the challenges of climate change, stressing the importance of international cooperation to take the necessary measures for a better future for generations on the planet.

This came during the participation of an official Saudi delegation headed by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, with the participation of the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Economy and Planning, in the “Stockholm +50” Conference which was held on June 2-3, 2022 under the title: “A Healthy Planet for the Prosperity of All – Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity”

The delegation was headed by the CEO of the National Center for Environmental Compliance (NCEC), Eng. Ali bin Saeed Al-Ghamdi on behalf of the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Abdurrahman bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli.

In the at the conference, Eng. Al-Ghamdi affirmed the Kingdom’s keenness to make the most sincere efforts in achieving the goals of the national strategy for the environment and protecting the environment, reviewing the Kingdom’s efforts in the “Saudi Green Initiative and Middle East Green Initiative” to achieve the goals of sustainable development and confront the challenges of climate change.

Al-Ghamdi also explained that the Kingdom believes in the necessity of securing human progress and prosperity, the safety of the planet, and the role of the international community to reach this, stressing that the directions of the ambitious vision of the Kingdom 2030 are working to protect, enhance and sustain the Kingdom’s natural environment by adopting a holistic vision of ecosystems from the National Environment Strategy emerged to raise the level of environmental commitment for all development sectors, reduce pollution and negative effects on the environment as the Kingdom also seeks to develop natural vegetation cover, combat desertification, protect wildlife, preserve biodiversity and transform the waste sector from a linear economy to a circular economy by enhancing the participation of the private sector to raise the quality of services and stimulate innovation, too by raising environmental awareness among the public and enhancing the role of the non-profit sector.

NCEC CEO also pointed to the important role that the Kingdom led through the statement of the G20 leaders meeting hosted by Riyadh in 2020, which aimed to voluntarily reduce land degradation in the world by 50% by 2040.

He cited the G20 leaders’ launching of the global initiative to reduce land degradation and enhance protection terrestrial habitats to restore land and prevent its deterioration, as well as the global initiative to preserve coral reefs, explaining that the Kingdom is currently working in cooperation with the member states of the Group of Twenty to take the necessary measures to implement the two initiatives.

Eng. Al-Ghamdi concluded the Kingdom’s speech by confirming that the Kingdom has raised the level of its national contributions, by reducing emissions by 278 million tons annually, by 2030, which is equivalent to more than double what was previously announced in 2015, through many initiatives, including – for example – the provision of half of the Kingdom’s domestic energy needs from renewable energy sources, and benefiting from carbon capture, use and storage technologies as the Kingdom also announced its goal to reach zero neutrality by 2060 through the circular economy approach to carbon, and joined the global pledge on methane, which aims to reduce global methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Jeddah– Since the launch of its activities, Jeddah Season has contributed to accelerating the economic growth of private sector companies given the various investment opportunities that the season has provided, with the diversity and comprehensiveness of its activities, as well as the season’s contribution to providing job opportunities for Saudi men and women.

Specialists confirmed that the Jeddah Season demonstrated the potential of the Saudi companies to manage, operate and implement mega entertainment projects in record times, adding that the Season brought about a great economic and entertainment traffic that interacted with various other fields that are positively influenced by any economic movement witnessed by the city, including in particular the hospitality and retail sectors, restaurants, aviation, transportation, logistics, small and medium enterprises.

Business writer Haila Al-Mshooh said that the Jeddah Season played a key role in stimulating commercial activities and pumping more investments into several entertainment activities, noting that the Jeddah Season is an event that highlights the Kingdom’s leading role in the entertainment industry, enhances its tourism position, and achieves the goals of Vision 2030 and that the event reflects the implementation of the Quality of Life Program.

Al-Mshooh added that the transportation, retail, restaurants, and hotels sectors are the most prominent sectors in which the season provided major investment opportunities for national companies.

Tourism specialist, Thamer Al-Harbi, said the Jeddah Season is a major exceptional event whose impact is reflected on the economic sector in general and the hospitality and hotel sector in particular, highlighting that the visitors of the season’s various activities, which exceed two million during the first month since it was launched, represents a catalyst for reviving the hospitality sector, restaurants, flight reservations, transportation, and many other sectors.

Al-Harbi explained that the Jeddah Season has contributed to creating a great economic movement and improving the income of many Saudi youth and families and achieving rewarding returns for companies, stores, restaurants, gift shops, games, productive families, and other sectors that participated in the season, which meets the objectives of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision to create a vibrant society, a prosperous economy and an ambitious nation, as well as transforming the Kingdom into one of the most important tourists and entertainment destinations in the region, and a home for international events and exhibitions that attract visitors from inside and outside the Kingdom.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Hajjah and Saada, Yemen — King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has continued the implementation of the water supply and environmental sanitation project in the districts of Midi, Haradh, Hiran and Abs in Hajjah governorate; and Al-Azhor camp in Razih district in Saada governorate.

During the period from April 18 to May 24, 2022 in Hajjah governorate, 3,745,000 liters of usable water and 638,500 liters of potable water were pumped, and 96 shifts were carried out to remove waste from the camps for the displaced people.

In Saada governorate, 100,000 liters of potable water and 40,000 liters of usable water were pumped, benefiting 44,757 people.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Hodeidah, Yemen — King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has distributed personal hygiene kits to the displaced people in Al-Jishah and Al-Jaber camps in Al-Khokha district in Al-Hodeidah governorate, Yemen, benefiting 1,600 displaced families.

This comes within the framework of humanitarian and relief projects being provided by the Kingdom, represented by KSrelief, for the brotherly Yemeni people.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh– The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, represented by the Program of Communication with Yemeni Scholars, organized today a symposium entitled “Houthi Summer Camps and their Danger to the Present and Future of Generations”, as part of the program’s awareness activities implemented to warn of the danger of Houthi terrorist intrusive ideologies on Yemeni society and to immunize the Yemeni people and raise the public’s awareness on the importance of confronting and rejecting these ideas in all possible ways.

In the discussion papers, the scholars talked about the importance of integrating the roles between the state and the various components of society in confronting the Houthi threat that underlines the present and future of Yemen by implanting extremist ideas in the minds of generations.

Deputy Chairman of Yemen Scholars Commission Sheikh Ahmed Al-Muallem said “The Houthi summer camps are not educational centers, but rather camps to mobilize and charge students with toxic ideas that threaten society,” stressing the need to integrate efforts between the state, scholars, and all community entities to confront the Houthi project that aims to destroy the Yemeni society.

On the future danger of the Houthi summer camps, Dr. Kamal Al-Qatwi, a member of the Communication with Yemeni Scholars Program, said that the Houthi strategy is active in weakening religiosity as a historical sectarian strategy, noting that the Houthi summer camps aim to build a violent generation through centers that are meant for mobilization that create a savage, infidel generation to shed blood. He added that this Iranian project is distort the Islamic faith and history and that these generations pose a danger to the entire region.

For his part, Sheikh Dr. Abdullah bin Ghaleb Al-Himyari, a member of the Program for Communication with Yemeni Scholars, called for the necessity of engaging in a comprehensive collective confrontation against the Houthi project, pointing out that the Houthi ideology has no acceptance in Yemeni society were it not for the brute force with which it shields against people. Citing the catastrophic effects of the Iranian project in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, Al-Hamiari called on scholars and preachers to return to Yemen to engage in advocacy and intellectual confrontation against the destructive Houthi project.

The symposium was attended by a group of scholars, preachers, and media professionals, who stressed in their deliberations and discussions the need to confront the threat of Houthi summer camps in all possible ways and through collective creative intellectual efforts by the state and all advocacy and societal entities to neutralize the destructive dangers posed by the extremist terrorist Houthi ideology.

The symposium is part of the ministry’s efforts represented by the Program of Communication with Yemeni Scholars to raise awareness of the dangers of the Houthis and their Iranian terrorist ideology and to strengthen steadfastness and national alignment to liberate all Yemeni regions from the Iranian-backed Houthi militia.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Muscat– The Sultanate of Oman welcomed the announcement of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, to renew the truce in Yemen for additional two months.

In a statement today, the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs appreciated the response of the Yemeni parties to the UN efforts, hoping that this important step would create appropriate conditions for ending the war and reaching a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the Yemeni crisis.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Sharm El-Sheikh– Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Institute has organized the 16th World Bank Forum on Islamic Finance under the theme “Poverty Reduction through Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship” on the sidelines of the IDB group’s annual meetings, currently being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

IsDB President, Dr. Muhammed Al-Jasser, said in his speech at the forum that the economic crisis that resulted from the Coronavirus pandemic has increased poverty rates and inequality of opportunities worldwide, adding that there are more than half a billion people around the world who have fallen under the poverty line during the pandemic.

He pointed out that the economic situation has reached its worst state, and one out of every 3 member states of the Bank is living in poverty, adding that the fight against poverty has always been at the forefront of the objectives of the Bank’s partnerships with member states and various institutions.

“The pandemic prompted us to intensify efforts, as we studied optimal cooperation with member states to reduce poverty, expanded partnership with the Oxford Initiative, and presented an integrated initiative with more development projects,” Al-Jasser said, indicating that some member states succeeded in reducing poverty and reducing the effects of the pandemic, and there are many experiences that contributed to achieving positive results for those affected.

He noted that there is a global consensus that the problems facing the world are difficult to deal with governmentally only, calling for the need to join the efforts of funding institutions, development agencies, and civil society through innovative solutions that enhance social responsibility.

IsDB Institute Acting Director-General, Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem explained that Islamic finance has a significant impact on the lives of member states, hence the focus on social innovation and social responsibility, pointing out that the fight against poverty is at the forefront of Islamic finance.

IsDB, at the end of the forum, launched a training course on Islamic finance aimed at deepening awareness of its concept in the member countries of the bank and other countries around the world.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

London– The British government welcomed the announcement by the UN envoy to Yemen to extend the truce period to two months.

“The UK welcomes the extension of the UN-brokered truce in Yemen, and we are grateful to all parties for their continued flexibility,” the British Minister of State for Asia and the Middle East, Amanda Milling, said in a statement today.

In the same context, the British official reiterated that dialogue is the only way to end the crisis in Yemen, saying: “The negotiated settlement is the only thing that can alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.”

This comes after the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced that the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia had agreed today to extend the truce in Yemen for an additional two months.

Source: Saudi Press Agency