UN Selects Riyadh to Host the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2024 – Asharq Al-awsat – English

The United Nations has selected Riyadh to host the 19th edition of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2024.
The IGF is an annual event organized by the United Nations, bringing together global experts to discuss and formulate international trends and policies regarding the developments of internet governance in a collaborative manner between governments, the private sector, and non-profit organizations.
The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Alswaha, affirmed that the Kingdom is leading international efforts to increase digital inclusion and bridge the digital divide worldwide.
It aims to contribute to building a thriving and inclusive digital economy for all.
This comes in light of the unlimited support received by the sector from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
The Governor of the Digital Government Authority, Eng. Ahmed bin Mohammed Alsuwaiyan, pointed out that the United Nations’ selection of Riyadh to host this global forum reflects Saudi Arabia’s leading role and efforts in maximizing the impact of digital infrastructure to achieve sustainable development goals and serve communities and business sectors.
The trust placed by international organizations in Saudi Arabia’s ability to host major exhibitions and global conferences confirms its position as an advanced country in the field of communications, information technology, and digital government. It also recognizes its excellence in various fields in line with the programs and initiatives of Saudi Vision 2030.
IGF brings together more than 160 countries and features over 1,000 speakers consisting of global experts and specialists. It hosts more than 300 sessions and workshops, in addition to awards, and cooperative agreements that will take place over five days. These activities aim to facilitate the exchange of expertise, success stories, and best practices in public policy issues related to the Internet.
The forum seeks to shape the future of the Internet and technology and build a secure digital future for all.
President of Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority Mazin bin Ibrahim Al-Kahmous and South Korea’s Prosecutor General Lee One-seok signed in Riyadh on Sunday a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in combating cross-border crimes related to corruption, and to develop and strengthen institutional capacity of both sides.
The signing took place during a meeting between Al-Kahmous and Lee during which they held discussions on cooperation, sharing experiences and other matters of mutual interest.
The Kingdom’s notable accomplishments in safeguarding integrity and combating corruption, as well as South Korea’s experience in the field were presented at the meeting.
The Saudi-Uzbek Joint Committee is set to discuss 50 potential investment opportunities worth approximately $31 billion in Uzbekistan, Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih has announced.

The Committee held its sixth meeting in Riyadh, chaired by Falih from the Saudi side and the Deputy Prime Minister, Jamshid Khodjaev, from the Uzbek side.

Falih pointed out that these projects aim to achieve the target of $110 billion in foreign investments within the goals of the Uzbekistan 2030 strategy.

The Saudi Minister emphasized the compatibility of economic goals through Uzbekistan’s National Development Strategy 2023-2030, the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and the National Investment Strategy.

He also pledged full support for the efforts of the Saudi-Uzbek Business Council, which plays a crucial role in bringing together the private sectors of both countries.

The meeting aimed to identify specific areas of cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting discussed several topics related to developing bilateral cooperation in the economic, trade, and investment fields. It also reviewed the promising investment opportunities between the two countries and the business environment in both nations.

The meeting stressed the importance of strengthening joint work and pushing relations to new and promising horizons, boosting the economic and social partnership between the two countries and transferring it to a broader scope.

It also addressed the continued work to enable partnership between the private sector, encourage mutual investments, enhance trade exchange, and overcome any challenges facing the development of economic relations.

Furthermore, the two sides praised the joint projects and investments in energy, renewable energy, health, infrastructure, agriculture, and human resources development.

The meeting concluded with the signing of several memorandums of understanding between the private sectors of the two countries and the minutes of the sixth committee meeting that included multiple joint initiatives and work programs.
Since the beginning of 2023, Saudi Arabia has achieved significant economic milestones and successfully hosted several international conferences and events.
These endeavors have resulted in the establishment of economic alliances and blocs with major countries around the world.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched giant projects throughout the year, contributing to the support of the economic diversification policy and aligning with the Kingdom’s vision for the next phase.
Saudi Arabia also achieved a historic milestone by winning the bid to host “Expo 2030,” the largest world fair.
After competing with South Korea and Italy, Saudi Arabia secured 119 votes from member countries, thus selecting Riyadh as the venue for the international expo in 2030.
Moreover, the Kingdom played host to numerous international economic conferences, forums, and events, including the 10th edition of the Arab-Chinese Businessmen Conference, the Saudi-Arab-African Economic Conference, the Saudi-Turkish Investment Forum, and the Saudi-Korean Investment Forum.
Saudi Arabia also hosted the Saudi-European Investment Forum, Climate Week, World Tourism Day events, and the seventh edition of the Future Investment Initiative, which witnessed significant attendance from leaders, officials, and CEOs of major companies worldwide.
Non-oil Activities
The Saudi government’s commitment to structural reforms in both the financial and economic spheres has contributed to the continuous growth of the non-oil gross domestic product (GDP) throughout 2023.
The government anticipated a non-oil GDP growth of 5.9% for the year.
As a result of these achievements, several credit rating agencies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank have revised their expectations for Saudi Arabia’s economic growth.
The IMF noted that the Saudi economy is undergoing a transformation due to ongoing reforms aimed at reducing reliance on oil, diversifying income sources, and enhancing competitiveness.
Concurrently, credit rating agency Fitch upgraded its credit rating for Saudi Arabia to “A” with a stable outlook, reflecting its financial strength and substantial sovereign assets.
The recently approved state budget for the fiscal year 2024, led by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, focuses on enhancing non-oil sectors expected to contribute to a 4.4% growth in the kingdom’s overall GDP next year.
The budget estimates revenues at SAR 1.172 trillion ($312.5 billion) and expenditures at SAR 1.251 trillion ($333.6 billion), with a limited deficit of SAR 79 billion ($21 billion).
Labor Market
The Saudi Arabian labor market witnessed the highest citizen participation during Q2 of 2023 compared to previous quarterly periods.
The number of employees in the private sector increased to 2.2 million, and the unemployment rate among Saudis decreased to 8.3% from 9.7% in the same period in 2022.
This approaches the government target of 7% outlined in the Kingdom’s national transformation plan, “Vision 2030.”
Thanks to governmental measures and initiatives, the Kingdom successfully managed to control the inflation rate, which continued to gradually decrease from the beginning of the year until October.
It reached the lowest level in almost two years at 1.6% on an annual basis.
Energy Markets
In a significant economic development, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, announced new discoveries of natural gas in the Eastern Province and the Empty Quarter of the Kingdom.
He also revealed Saudi Arabia’s intention to operate the Middle East’s first hydrogen-powered train in the coming months.
Regarding global energy markets, the Saudi government decided to voluntarily reduce its production by 1.5 million barrels per day to a level of 9 million barrels per day after the OPEC+ meeting in Vienna, Switzerland.
This move aims to support global oil markets and protect both producers and consumers from potential harm.
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef has said the Kingdom’s industry system was seeking to achieve national goals by expanding partnerships with the public and private sectors, strengthening research, development and innovation mechanisms, and providing industrial enablers and incentives.
He pointed to his ministry’s keenness to adopt the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and to enhance industrial productivity in 12 promising sectors that contribute to meeting national needs.
This includes promoting research and development mechanisms, fostering innovation, providing industrial capabilities, support programs, and financing, as well as adopting the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and applications.
The Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON), met with a number of investors in the industrial sector in the Aseer region (southwest of the country), to discuss the challenges and opportunities of industrial investment.
Al-Khorayef stressed that his ministry was working in partnership with the Aseer Development Authority to promote industrial development in the region.
Development projects related to the region’s strategy will be aligned with the targets of the national industrial strategy, attracting investments and localizing industries, with active participation from the private sector due to its crucial and enabling role, the minister added.
He emphasized that the ministry has worked on more than 100 enablers for investors in the industrial sector over the past years regarding exports made in Saudi Arabia, local content, protection from unfair competition, training and qualification, and other important aspects. These are essential for industrialists to enhance their operations and find solutions to challenges, enabling greater growth.
During his visit to the region, the Saudi minister inaugurated a factory that specializes in the manufacturing of medical products and bone reconstruction fillings.
The factory extends over an area exceeding 4,000 square meters, with investments amounting to SAR 40 million ($10.6 million).
Boeing’s first direct delivery of a 787 Dreamliner to China since 2019 landed in Shanghai on Friday, a step that could hasten the end of China’s freeze on deliveries of the firm’s profitable 737 MAX after more than four years.
Privately owned Chinese carrier Juneyao Airlines on Thursday took delivery of the 787-9 aircraft, which Boeing said then departed for China from Everett Paine Field in Washington state.
The flight landed in Shanghai around 4:20 p.m. local time (0820 GMT), the airline said.
China suspended most orders and deliveries of Boeing planes in 2019 after the 737 MAX was grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes.
A restart of MAX deliveries would represent a reset of Boeing’s relationship with China and create an opportunity for the company to offload dozens of planes in its inventory, and pave the way for a larger breakthrough in deliveries and orders, Reuters reported.
The company expects China to account for 20% of the world’s aircraft demands through to 2042.
Boeing last delivered a leased Dreamliner plane to a Chinese customer in 2021, but no 787s have been handed over directly to Chinese airlines since November 2019.
Analysts had forecast the resumption of Dreamliner deliveries to China after consultancy AAP/AIR this month reported preparatory flight activities for a 787 designated for Juneyao Airlines, registered as B-20EQ.
Twelve of the 60 undelivered 787s in Boeing’s inventory are dedicated for Chinese operators, analysts Jefferies said.
Some of the world’s largest shipping firms, including Maersk and CMA CGM, will impose extra charges after they re-routed ships in response to attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, as worries about disruption to global trade grow.
The surcharges, designed to cover longer voyages around Africa compared with routes via the Suez Canal, will add to rising costs for sea transport since Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militias started targeting vessels.
Maersk and CMA CGM were the first to introduce the fees, followed by Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd later on Friday.
The three are among leading shipping lines to have suspended the passage of vessels through the Red Sea that connects with the Suez Canal, the quickest sea route between Asia and Europe.
Instead, they are directing ships around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, adding about 10 days to a journey that would normally take about 27 days from China to northern Europe.
Citing “severe operational disruption”, Maersk said late on Thursday it was imposing an immediate transit disruption surcharge (TDS) to cover extra costs associated with the longer journey, plus a peak season surcharge (PSS) from Jan. 1.
Hapag-Lloyd has said it would redirect 25 ships by the end of the year to avoid the area.
On Friday, Chinese automaker Geely told Reuters its electric vehicle sales were likely to be hurt by a delay in deliveries to Europe, the latest company to warn of disruption.
China’s second largest automaker by sales said most of the shipping firms it uses for European exports have plans to go around southern Africa.
The alert bodes ill for other automakers in China as they seek to increase exports to Europe due to overcapacity and weak demand at home.
The United States has announced a multinational force to patrol the Red Sea, but shipping sources say details have yet to emerge and companies continue to avoid the area.
In a message to customers, logistics firm CH Robinson Worldwide said it had re-routed more than 25 vessels to southern Africa over the past week.
“That number will likely continue to grow due to ongoing war risks in the Red Sea and the drought in the Panama Canal,” it said.
Surcharges
CH Robinson said cancellations and rate increases were expected to continue into the first quarter and recommended customers book 4-6 weeks in advance to ensure space on vessels.
Maersk said a standard 20-foot container travelling from China to Northern Europe now faced total extra charges of $700, consisting of a $200 TDS and $500 PSS.
Containers bound for the east coast of North America will be charged $500 each, consisting of the $200 TDS payment and a $300 PSS, the company added.
Maersk also said routes in other parts of its network would be affected by the Suez disruption, triggering emergency contingency surcharges on a wide range of journeys.
CMA CGM announced surcharges late on Thursday including an extra $325 per 20-foot container on the North Europe to Asia route and $500 per 20-foot container for Asia to the Mediterranean.
The charges were part of its contingency plan to re-route vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, it said.
France-based CMA CGM listed 22 of its vessels as having been re-routed.
The United Arab Emirates completed talks on Friday on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Mauritius, its first with an African country, state news agency WAM said.
The UAE’s partnership with Mauritius paves the way for increased trade, investment and bilateral cooperation between the private sectors of both countries, a statement on WAM said.
The partnership, which WAM said will be signed at a later time, carries “the possibility of adding a full 1% to the Mauritian economy by 2031 and enhancing the UAE’s GDP by 1.2% in the same period, Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE minister of State for Foreign Trade, was quoted as saying.
Exporters are scrambling to find alternative ways, whether by air, land or sea, to deliver key consumer goods to retailers, as a series of attacks in the Red Sea exacerbate problems in maritime shipping supply chains around the world.
The Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi group has intensified its attacks on ships in the Red Sea since Nov. 19 to show support for the Hamas movement as the Israeli military offensive in Gaza continues.
The attacks disrupted a major trade route linking Europe and North America to Asia via the Suez Canal, and container shipping costs rose more than threefold at times as companies sought to transport their goods via alternative, often longer, sea routes.
Standard & Poor’s Global said in a report that if there are prolonged disruptions, the consumer goods sector, which supplies the world’s major retail companies such as Walmart and IKEA, will face the greatest impact.
Alan Baer, CEO of OL USA, noted that he has teams advising shipping and logistics clients to prepare for disruptions in the Red Sea that could extend for at least ninety days.
Jan Kleine-Lasthues, chief operating officer airfreight with leading German freight forwarder Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, said that companies were now trying to switch to what is called “multimodal transportation” to maintain global supply chains, which includes a common sea and air route.
He added that Hellmann has witnessed an increase in demand on the common air and sea routes for consumer goods, such as clothing, as well as electronics and technical materials. This could mean, for example, that the goods are first transported by sea to a port in Dubai, then loaded onto planes.
“This alternative route allows customers to avoid the danger zone in the Red Sea and the long voyage around the southern tip of Africa,” Kleine-Lasthues told Reuters.
For his part, Paul Brashier, vice president of Drayage and Intermodal for supply chain group ITS Logistics, told the agency that some companies might choose to use air freight for particularly urgent or critical goods, but the cost means that it is not a comprehensive solution.
Moving goods by air costs roughly 5-15 times more than by sea, where container shipping rates are still low by historical standards, said Brian Bourke, global chief commercial officer at SEKO Logistics.
Quoted by Reuters, he noted that if the time required to get goods to shelves doubled, more shippers would switch to air – especially for high value goods like designer clothing and high-end electronics.
Corey Ranslem, CEO of British maritime risk advisory and security company Dryad Global, said that around 35,000 vessels sail through the Red Sea region annually, moving goods between Europe, the Middle East and Asia, representing about 10% of global GDP.
“Under an extended threat you will see the price of fuel and goods into Europe increase substantially because of the increased costs of diverting around Africa, which can add roughly 30 days to a transit depending on the arrival port,” Ranslem told Reuters.
The agency noted that shipping companies remain in the dark over a new international navy coalition being assembled by the United States aimed at stabilizing the area.
A Spanish fashion industry source told Reuters shipping lines were telling customers a lot was riding on the US-led task force and whether it can prevent more attacks and make the route safe again.
 
 
 
 
 
 
A recent report has highlighted Saudi Arabia’s economic growth, with non-oil activities rising by 3.5% in Q3 of 2023. The positive performance is mainly due to the non-oil private sector.
The report emphasized Saudi Arabia’s efforts to reduce dependence on oil exports and boost the local private sector, benefiting the national economy.
In October, consumer spending increased to SAR 179.1 billion ($47 billion), showing a 20% monthly growth and an 11.2% increase compared to the same period last year.
According to the report, the Kingdom’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 4.4% on a yearly basis, driven by a 17% contraction in oil activities compared to the same period last year.
This reduction is a result of the voluntary cut in oil production by one million barrels per day, expected to continue until the end of the first quarter of 2024. On the other hand, non-oil activities continued to grow, reaching 3.5%.
The report indicates a 0.8% yearly decrease in consumer loans, with a slight quarterly increase of 0.1%.
The main market index (Tadawul) showed a 4.6% monthly increase in November and a 2.6% rise compared to the same period in 2022.
Foreign investment inflow was reported at SAR 6.2 billion ($1.65 billion), decreasing by 20.7% monthly and 17.2% annually.
Moody’s Analytics recently predicted that Saudi Arabia’s non-oil GDP would grow between 3% and 4% annually until 2030, as the country increases spending to diversify its economy away from oil.
During an online seminar about the economic outlook for the Middle East and North Africa in 2024, Moody’s Analytics economist Catarina Noro stated that Saudi Arabia’s economy has shifted in the past decade, with the non-oil sector claiming a growing share of the GDP.
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has raised its forecast for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the UAE in the coming year, 2024, to 5.7 percent, compared to its previous projection of 4.3 percent, WAM reported.
The bank stated in a recently released report that the overall GDP for the country is expected to grow by 3.1 percent in the current year, 2023.
The report anticipates a non-oil GDP growth of 5.9 percent in 2023 and 4.7 percent in the following year, while estimating the oil GDP growth at 8.1 percent in 2024.
The Central Bank clarified that the UAE economy recorded a 3.8 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in the second quarter of the current year, compared to 8 percent recorded in the same period last year, aligning similarly with the first quarter of the current year.
It mentioned that the non-oil GDP growth accelerated to 7.3 percent YoY in the second quarter of the current year, up from 4.5 percent YoY in the previous quarter and 6.4 percent YoY compared to the same period last year.
According to the report, government revenues reached AED 246.9 billion, constituting 26.4 percent of the GDP on an annual basis during the first half of 2023. Meanwhile, total expenditures amounted to AED 199.5 billion, accounting for 21.3 percent of the GDP on an annual basis.
According to WAM, the Central Bank’s report highlighted the continued robustness of non-oil private sector economic activity. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the UAE surged to 57.7 in October, marking its highest level since June 2019. The improvement in working conditions was propelled by a sharp rise in both business activity and new orders, particularly in new export orders, growing at the fastest pace in over four years.
The report also indicated that the PMI data generally signalled strong growth in the non-oil sector in the third quarter and in October. Companies remained optimistic about expectations over the next twelve months.
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