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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Tallinn, Estonia on Tuesday.
The minister is on an official visit to the country aimed at strengthening Saudi-Estonian relations, Saudi Press Agency reported.
RIYADH: Apple announced plans on Monday to expand in Saudi Arabia, starting with an online store launch in summer 2025.
The store will offer the full product range with service and Arabic support.
In 2026, Apple will open flagship retail stores, enhancing customer access to products and services.
As part of this expansion, Apple is planning an iconic retail store in Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Apple is investing in Saudi Arabia, creating jobs and introducing technologies for artists, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and commuters. Over the past five years, it has spent over SR10 billion ($2.6 billion) with local companies.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said: “Our teams are looking forward to deepening our connections with customers, and to bringing the best of Apple to help people across this country explore their passions, build their businesses, and take their ideas to the next level.”
Apple’s retail expansion builds on its investments in Saudi Arabia, including the region’s first Apple Developer Academy, launched in Riyadh in 2021 in partnership with the Saudi government, Tuwaiq Academy, and Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University.
The all-women academy at the university offers world-class training for aspiring coders, designers, and entrepreneurs, preparing them for careers in Saudi Arabia’s growing app economy.
Nearly 2,000 students have completed programming courses and are now publishing apps on the App Store for both domestic and global audiences.
Apple is expanding learning opportunities through academy programs and partnerships. This summer, it hosted Saudi Arabia’s first coed Apple Foundation Program, a monthlong course on coding and app development focused on gaming.
Apple plans to expand the coed foundation offerings, with the next cohort scheduled for spring 2025.
Apple is investing in Saudi Arabia, creating jobs and introducing technologies for artists, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and commuters. Over the past five years, it has spent over SR10 billion ($2.6 billion) with local companies.
With the opening of the new metro earlier this month, Riyadh became the latest city to join over 250 others where users can ride transit with Apple Pay.
RIYADH: Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz met with Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov for discussions on strengthening energy relations.
The talks in Riyadh centered around cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan in renewable energy as well as means of enhancing their partnership in various energy fields, including energy transformations and technologies.
RIYADH: The headquarters of the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, also known as the Misk Foundation, received the WELL gold certificate on Sunday for its innovative urban design.
The globally recognized certificate is given by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) which aims to encourage organizations to prioritize health and well-being through building design.
The acclaimed headquarters is in the Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City, also known as Misk City, in Riyadh.
The WELL certificate acknowledged that Misk's headquarters is a role model and center for innovative urban design in Saudi Arabia, committed to creating sustainable urban spaces that focus on human health and well-being.
IWBI's certificate considers various elements in the urban and building design such as air quality, water purity, light, temperature and insulation, contact with nature, and flow of movement.
The Misk Foundation's headquarters have integrated these WELL elements to provide a healthy and supportive working environment for its employees, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
This latest accomplishment is in line with Misk Foundation's current pursuit of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certificate which would further strengthen Misk's position as a model for healthy and green design in the Middle East.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are solidifying their partnership through expanded collaborations in key sectors, including finance, trade, tourism and innovation.
The strategic alignment reflects both countries’ shared aspirations for economic growth and diversification, with Saudi Arabia leveraging its Vision 2030 initiative and the UK seeking stronger ties in the Gulf region.
Recent high-level discussions underscore a mutual commitment to bolstering bilateral trade, setting ambitious targets, and fostering cross-industry synergies.
These efforts are underpinned by cultural exchanges, increased tourism flows, and cooperative initiatives in emerging sectors such as clean technology and heritage preservation.
According to data from the UK government’s Department for Business and Trade, total trade in goods and services with Saudi Arabia reached £17.6 billion ($22.4 billion) in the year ending March 2024.
During a top ministerial meeting in Riyadh in September between Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce Majid Al-Qasabi and the UK’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds, officials discussed a target to increase bilateral trade to £30 billion ($39.6 billion) by 2030.
We’ve always had a very strong relationship, but that relationship is getting closer as Saudi Arabia undergoes this huge societal and economic change.
Lucy Frazer, Former UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport
After the meeting, Al-Qasabi noted the implementation of 79 initiatives in 13 economic sectors to strengthen Saudi-British relations that have led to more than 30 percent growth between 2018 and 2023.
“Economic growth is this government’s driving mission, and boosting trade and investment with some of the world’s biggest economies is crucial to that,” Reynolds said in a statement.
The Kingdom was the UK’s 23rd largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of the year’s first quarter, accounting for 1 percent of total UK trade.
Chairwoman of the Saudi British Joint Business Council Jennie Gubbins spoke to Arab News in November 2023 and said that bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and the UK had increased 68 percent in the previous year.
She said at the time: “This is just a really exciting time. The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UK, I think, is better than I’ve ever seen it, and I’ve been working between the UK and the Middle East for a long time.
“People who don’t know what’s going on in Saudi Arabia think maybe it’s oil stuff. but it’s all about … a huge growth in the technology (sector). Things like clean tech, fintech, healthtech, huge interest in all of those things,” Gubbins said.
She also said that the council uses Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 as a “blueprint” to direct them toward the areas to focus on with continual growth.
Gubbins highlighted that Saudi mega-project NEOM opening its first international office in London is not surprising considering that Britons are the second-largest group of expatriates working at NEOM.
During a November event at the British Embassy, Neil Crompton, the ambassador to Saudi Arabia, pointed out that the partnership between the two countries has expanded from traditional defense partnerships to include variable sectors such as tourism, people-to-people relations, and sports, especially since Vision 2030 was announced.
The tourism sector is an area of promising growth, with more British sports personalities, such as the cricketer Kevin Pietersen, visiting Saudi Arabia and many Saudis regularly traveling to London for holidays.
“I think the affection between the two countries is amazing,” Crompton said. “Since we introduced the visa waiver system in June 2022, over 500,000 Saudis have used it to go to London, in addition to the 100,000 who already had a 10-year visa or another passport.”
At the Great Futures Conference in May, the Saudi Tourism Authority and VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency, signed a declaration of intent to develop and grow tourism.
VisitBritain has predicted there will be 240,000 visitors to the UK from Saudi Arabia this year, a 9 percent increase from 2019.
At the event, Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb said that the Kingdom had welcomed more than 165,600 British tourists and issued 560,462 e-visas for British visitors since 2019.
The former UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport Lucy Frazer told Arab News: “We’ve always had a very strong relationship, but that relationship is getting closer as Saudi Arabia undergoes this huge societal and economic change.”
She added: “It’s so dynamic and it’s got so many ambitions for the future. And in the UK, we would like to be a strong partner in that. So we’re collaborating in a number of areas sharing knowledge, sharing expertise, sharing best practice.”
A heritage agreement between Historic England and the Saudi Ministry of Culture was also discussed to encourage joint training and sharing expertise in terms of the restoration of palaces and historic buildings.
RIYADH: A new award has been launched with the aim of improving the quality of tourist offerings in the Arab world.
A memorandum of cooperation launching the Tourism Quality Award was signed by Bandar Al-Fuhaid, president of the Arab Tourism Organization, and Talal Mandoura, CEO of the Quality Applications Co., according to a statement issued on Sunday.
The Arab Tourism Organization said that the award is part of its efforts to enhance the quality of tourism services and contribute to sustainable tourism development.
It will include a comprehensive evaluation of various aspects of the tourism sector, ranging from regulations and laws to the quality of services provided to tourists.
Judging focuses on eight main areas: the quality of regulations and laws, tourism services and products, tourism management, tourist destinations, transportation, accommodation and restaurants, tours and guides, as well as management and knowledge transfer.
“The company will develop training and qualification programs for individuals and institutions to enable them to apply tourism quality and excellence standards,” Mandoura told Arab News.
The award will require effective governance to ensure its transparency and credibility and to achieve its intended goals, he explained.
Khaled Al-Akwa, the award’s technical director, told Arab News that it will motivate tourism institutions to adopt global best practices and develop their products and services to meet the growing needs of tourists.
He explained how the award will create a healthy competitive environment among institutions and boost investment.
“The Tourism Quality Award is a crucial step to boost (the) Arab tourism sector. By applying the principles of good governance, this award can achieve its desired goals of elevating the level of tourism services and enhancing the position of Arab tourism globally,” Al-Akwa said.
