Riyadh fintech forum ‘a turning point’ in Swiss-Saudi partnership

Riyadh fintech forum ‘a turning point’ in Swiss-Saudi partnership
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Swiss Embassy and Fintech Saudi organized the first Saudi-Swiss Fintech Forum on Nov. 25 - 26 in Riyadh. (Supplied)
Riyadh fintech forum ‘a turning point’ in Swiss-Saudi partnership
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Swiss Embassy and Fintech Saudi organized the first Saudi-Swiss Fintech Forum on Nov. 25 - 26 in Riyadh. (Supplied)
Riyadh fintech forum ‘a turning point’ in Swiss-Saudi partnership
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Swiss Embassy and Fintech Saudi organized the first Saudi-Swiss Fintech Forum on Nov. 25 - 26 in Riyadh. (Supplied)
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Updated 28 November 2024
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Riyadh fintech forum ‘a turning point’ in Swiss-Saudi partnership

Riyadh fintech forum ‘a turning point’ in Swiss-Saudi partnership

RIYADH: The Switzerland Embassy in coordination with the Saudi Ministry of Investment and Fintech Saudi organized the first Saudi-Swiss Fintech Forum in Riyadh.

Swiss and Saudi experts took part in the event on Nov. 25-26 under the theme “Connecting Leaders across Borders.”

The forum provided a platform for the exchange of ideas and the rethinking of traditional financial models.

Switzerland is an established financial hub and Saudi Arabia has the largest financial services industry in the Middle East.

Swiss Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Yasmine Chatila Zwahlen, said the forum marked a turning point in the development of the partnership between Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.

Nezar Al-Haidar, CEO of Fintech Saudi, said the collaboration between Fintech Saudi and its Swiss counterparts creates opportunities for knowledge sharing, and paves the way for access to new markets.

The leaders are working to make Saudi Arabia a global fintech hub, and this collaboration deepens the ties between our ecosystems, he added.

Arab News met Saudi and Swiss experts at the forum, who discussed finance, market opportunities and the importance of Swiss expertise in Saudi Arabia’s fintech development.

Yazeed Al-Shamsi, co-founder and CEO of Ejari, said: “Our perception of Swiss cooperation is positive. Fintech is the sector that has received the most funding in Saudi Arabia in the last three or four years. There is still room for growth.”

Al-Shamsi said that the banking and insurance sectors contribute significantly to gross domestic product, and there are still opportunities in wealth management, investment, financing, and alternative financing. 

Abdulmajeed Al-Askar, CEO of MoneyMoon, told Arab News that Saudi companies see Swiss-Saudi cooperation as a chance to bridge two diverse but complementary markets.

Switzerland has a long history of financial expertise, while Saudi Arabia is becoming a hub of entrepreneurial energy and digital adoption.

This collaboration is about building long-term partnerships that enable both sides to innovate and scale faster, Al-Askar said.

Saudi Arabia has many talented financial leaders and professionals, he added.

“By combining expertise with a forward-thinking approach, we can create an ecosystem that sets new benchmarks. Saudi Arabian leaders can design solutions tailored to the population’s needs. With new talent, we are creating an entirely new financial paradigm for the region.” 

Eva Selamlar, head of the Swiss Financial Innovation Office, said that Swiss companies can contribute their expertise to help Saudi Vision 2030. 

Andreas Iten, CEO of Tinety, said: “There are many opportunities in this market. The regulatory framework is favorable, so Swiss companies should look at it because there are great opportunities and a big need for digital solutions.”

The forum explored the opportunity for Switzerland and the Kingdom to advance their ambitions in the financial technology sector, in line with Vision 2030.


Coming up roses — Taif blooms and henna honored by UNESCO 

Coming up roses — Taif blooms and henna honored by UNESCO 
Updated 25 sec ago
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Coming up roses — Taif blooms and henna honored by UNESCO 

Coming up roses — Taif blooms and henna honored by UNESCO 

RIYADH: Taif roses and henna are among the latest traditions to secure a place on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, thanks to the Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission.

The recognition comes following collaborative efforts by the commission, the Saudi National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, and Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, with the UAE as the leading country for the initiative.

Henna has great cultural significance in Saudi Arabia, with the art mastered by women and passed down through generations. It represents “joy and optimism” and is a social tradition that strengthens community bonds.

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom’s elevated terrains that span the Al-Hada mountains, Wadi Muharram, Wadi Ghazal, Wadi Qawah, Bilad Tuwairq, and Al-Shifa, the Taif rose has flourished as a cultural and historical symbol. Cultivation techniques, passed down through generations, have contributed to its status.

The Taif rose has been woven into the fabric of Saudi history. Taif’s distinct geography, with its fertile soil and moderate temperatures, provides ideal conditions for the flower to thrive allowing local families to perfect their agricultural expertise over the centuries.

From harvesting and distillation to extracting oil and water, knowledge has been passed down from one generation to the next. Growing along the slopes of Mount Ghazwan, these roses benefit from the area’s cool mountain breezes and spectacular landscape.

Rosewater derived from the blooms serves a sacred purpose in the annual washing of the Holy Kaaba and is favored by various segments of society, particularly royalty and elite Gulf families.

Farmer Raddad bin Radda Al-Talhi spoke to Saudi Press Agency and explained that what began as a small-scale cultivation in the mountain peaks has transformed into a thriving industry.

The sector now represents a significant investment in the Saudi market, valued at over SR64 million ($17 million). The scale of production has increased dramatically, with farms across the Sarawat mountains now harvesting approximately 550 million roses each year.

The industry encompasses more than 910 Taif rose farms across the province, supported by 70 factories and laboratories. These facilities produce over 80 different rose-derived products.

Al-Talhi said the time-honored distillation process of the Taif rose followed precise, traditional methods, beginning with carefully cultivated roses harvested from local farms.

Distillation relies on specially copper vessels, chosen for their superior heat conductivity compared to other metals. The higher temperatures optimize both efficiency and yield.

The process results in three distinct products — standard rosewater, concentrated rosewater (traditionally known as bride’s water) and the globally coveted rose oil.


Saudi firms back mass wedding at Riyadh Season

Saudi firms back mass wedding at Riyadh Season
Updated 8 min 40 sec ago
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Saudi firms back mass wedding at Riyadh Season

Saudi firms back mass wedding at Riyadh Season

RIYADH: Turki Al-Sheikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, sponsored a ceremony on Wednesday for signing agreements tied to the mass wedding initiative.

Set for January, the wedding of 300 couples is part of Riyadh Season’s social responsibility efforts and will be held on the two largest stages of Boulevard City.

The Abu Bakr Salem Stage will host the men’s hall, while the Mohammed Abdu Arena will host the women’s hall.

Al-Sheikh and Majid Al-Hogail, minister of municipal, rural affairs and housing, and chairman of Sakkan Foundation, signed an agreement to secure donations from benefactors, partners and supporters.

The contributions aim to support the mass wedding initiative and provide housing for newlyweds through the Jood Eskan platform under Sakani program conditions.

Faisal Bafarat, CEO of the authority, also signed an agreement with Saudi Telecommunications Co. CEO Olayan Al-Wetaid to provide wedding beneficiaries with free internet for one year.

Banque Saudi Fransi, represented by CEO Badr Al-Salloum, pledged SR1 million ($266,000) in financial support.

Ajlan & Brothers, led by CEO Ajlan Al-Ajlan, committed to providing gifts worth more than SR2 million.

Abu Al-Hassan Trading and Investment Group, represented by business development manager Fahad Al-Manea, committed SR1 million in financial support.

The ceremony also saw several companies pledging to offer services to couples during the major charitable event.

Services include hospitality, dining, hall decorations, bridal and groom attire, perfumes, grooming, premarital tests, coffee and tea, and family counseling sessions.


CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university

CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university
Updated 27 min 54 sec ago
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CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university

CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university

MANAMA: Leading particle physics research center CERN is looking to deepen its collaboration with Saudi Arabia by opening a data center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a staff member has told Arab News.

Martin Gastal, CERN adviser to the Middle East and North African region, told Arab News that “the ambition of the Kingdom is to try and integrate CERN into one of its drivers for research,” adding that there are plans to launch the center at the Saudi university to analyze CERN data.

KAUST already collaborates with the Swiss center, with four KAUST students taking part in internships at CERN.

According to Gastal, the Research, Development and Innovation Authority in Saudi Arabia aims to bring together more particle physicists in the Kingdom to improve research efficiency.

Also working with NEOM University, Gastal said he hopes to find synergies between the technology developed at CERN and the research conducted at Saudi universities.

“Scientific cooperation is a way of bringing together lots of brains with different ways of thinking that bring different ideas to the table and maybe also different techniques for testing those ideas,” CERN physicist John Ellis told Arab News.

Ellis, who holds the Clerk Maxwell Professorship of theoretical physics at King’s College London, and is known for his work in helping discover the Higgs-Boson particle, spoke to Arab News at a recent event on promising work in nuclear research and particle physics.

“Most countries in the Gulf region now have some sort of collaboration with CERN … Bahrain is perhaps the most advanced,” he said.

Ellis added that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman have also forged significant partnerships with CERN, with Saudi Arabia taking part in one of its experiments.

He said that CERN’s biggest focus is on “the smallest constituents of matters,” or the particles that make up the universe.

The research center aims to understand the behavior of these particles and decipher how they once behaved in the early history of the universe to answer the fundamental questions of who we are, why we are here and where we are going.

One focus is on the particles that make up dark matter, which, astrophysicists believe, constitute most of the matter in the universe, Ellis said.

CERN is home to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator. It works by colliding hadrons to create new particles and it is responsible for discovering the Higgs-Boson in 2012, a breakthrough that Ellis said was the “holy grail that we physicists have been looking for, for almost 50 years.”

Now, the focus is on carrying out more particle collisions and upgrading the experiments.

“The technological output from CERN is not just from the particles that we discover, but also from the techniques we develop to discover those particles.”

Ellis spoke to Arab News at a CERN event held jointly with the American University of Bahrain and the Sheikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa Center for Culture and Research in Manama on Tuesday.

The event hosted officials from CERN and Bahrain universities to discuss scientific collaboration between Gulf and international countries in particle physics.


Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand

Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand
Updated 41 min 20 sec ago
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Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand

Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand

RIYADH: Arabic Language Month activities in Thailand by the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language have concluded, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

The initiative, in cooperation with Krirk University in Bangkok and Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai, aimed to enhance Arabic curricula, improve teacher performance and promote the language.

Activities included a scientific symposium on teaching Arabic to non-native speakers which focused on Saudi contributions to Arabic education, challenges faced by educators and students, and the development of dual-language curricula.

Workshops, training sessions and panel discussions further enriched teaching methodologies and improved learning outcomes for Arabic language students.

Abdullah Al-Washmi, the academy’s secretary-general, expressed gratitude for support from Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan.

As part of the academy’s global Arabic teaching program, the initiative has been implemented in countries such as Indonesia, China, India, Uzbekistan, Brazil and France, expanding its international reach and fostering global partnerships.


150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce

150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce
Updated 44 min 44 sec ago
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150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce

150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce

RIYADH: Tuwaiq Academy in Riyadh has opened registrations for more than 150 advanced technical bootcamps and programs scheduled for Q1 2025, in partnership with leading global organizations.

The schemes will improve the skills of the workforce in advanced technologies and connect people to job opportunities, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Training is open to employees, university students, graduates and high school students, covering fields such as programming, cybersecurity, AI, cloud computing, user experience and interface design, metaverse technologies, digital manufacturing, game development, robotics and drone programming.

It reflects the academy’s commitment to addressing job market needs and preparing the workforce, the SPA added.

Register for training at tuwaiq.edu.sa.

Established in 2019, Tuwaiq Academy works with more than 1,000 in-person trainees daily and offers professional certifications in collaboration with global organizations such as Apple, Meta, Amazon, Alibaba, Dell, CompTIA, OffSec, IBM and Microsoft.

As the training arm of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, the academy has trained more than 32,000 people, with 80 percent of graduates securing placements through its Tuwaiq Job Fair program involving government and private sectors.