SUSRIS Daily News – Excerpts from International Media Reports
[Links to full articles were active on the date posted here]
US-Saudi Business Forum Gets Under Way in Chicago [Apr 29]
“On the banks of the sparkling green Chicago River, overlooking the vast expanse of Lake Michigan, the Sheraton Towers Hotel, venue of the first Saudi-American Business Opportunity Forum, was literally bursting at the seams and the action was as much in the corridors and lobbies as in the meeting halls.. ..When asked about his initial reaction to the event, Omar A. Bahalwa of the Committee for International Trade said, ‘Marvelous! This event is unique. The number of registrants means that this is the largest-ever forum in the history of our two countries. And for the first time, we’re targeting small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs. When someone said large crowds and a jam-packed schedule were ‘bad news,’ David Chaudron, representing Organized Change, laughed and added, ‘It’s absolutely wonderful that the bad news is the good news!”..” [Complete Report]
Saudi Arabia Eager To Diversify Economy, Saudi Minister Says [Apr 29]
“Saudi Arabia is no longer content to be ‘the gas station to the world,’ and is determined to diversify its oil-rich economy by investing in manufacturing and technology businesses, the Saudi minister of commerce and industry said Wednesday. Abdulla Alireza said the country is committed to using its wealth gained from the world’s largest proven oil reserves to develop a robust private business sector. Alireza said the country’s leadership is particularly interested in expanding oil-related industries, such as chemical production, and other types of high-value manufacturing. He added that the Saudis have overhauled their financial system, improved corporate governance laws and eliminated legal barriers to attract more foreign investment and trade with other countries.. ..’Sustainable economic growth and real diversification is the goal of Saudi Arabia.’..” [Complete Report]
US Panel Names 13 Countries as Religious Violators [Apr 29]
“Saudi Arabia and China are among 13 countries a U.S. government panel named on Thursday as serious violators of religious freedom. The panel’s report also criticized the current and former administrations in Washington for doing far too little to make basic religious rights universal. That is the goal of the congressional act that founded the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 1998. The commission investigates conditions in what it calls ‘hot spots,’ where religious freedom is endangered. Its job is to recommend U.S. government policies to improve conditions.. ..Thursday’s report described violations of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia as ‘systematic, egregious and ongoing’ despite limited reforms implemented by King Abdullah..” [Complete Report]
Saudi Property Growth to Be Slow, Credit Suisse Says [Apr 29]
” Saudi Arabia’s real estate market will probably grow more slowly than expected because of high prices and a lack of mortgage lending, Credit Suisse Group AG said. ‘A strong shift to home ownership will likely not be in effect in the short and medium term,’ Dubai-based analyst Ahmed Badr said in a report today. Housing supply needs to double, and that will be difficult to achieve because a shortage of off-plan sales means developers have to finance projects in full before offering units, he said. Demand for housing in Saudi Arabia, which has the largest population among the six Gulf countries, will reach about 2 million units by 2014, Badr wrote. About 57 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 20 and demand will mainly come from low and middle income buyers.. ..’Although we think that the new mortgage law will address this problem in theory, we are concerned about the ability of banks to implement these foreclosure rules in practice in the short-term,’ Badr wrote. It will take ‘considerable time’ before the new law has a significant effect on affordability..” [Complete Report]
Saudi Authorities Take War on Drugs Across the Border [Apr 29]
“Saudi authorities only are able to intercept 60 per cent of drugs smuggled into the country. The remaining 40 per cent finds its way across the borders, a security official revealed on Thursday. Brigadier Abdullah Al Jameel, the Director of Drugs Control in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia, speaking at a symposium, said the Kingdom was working with relevant authorities in the countries of origin to fight drug smuggling from the source. The symposium was attend by officials from neighboring Gulf states as well as the US, UK, UN and Iran.. ..Most drugs that come into the Kingdom are smuggled from its southern mountainous border with Yemen and its northern desert borders with Jordan and Egypt..” [Complete Report]
Ma’aden Launches US$7.5bn Financing [Apr 29]
“Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has launched its US$7.5bn aluminum smelter project financing to banks. The deal is part of a general uptick in project funding activity in the kingdom from a low point last year when just US$1.9bn of new commercial project funding was raised in the kingdom according to Thomson Reuters data. This year at least US$20bn will be financed. Ma’aden and its joint venture partner Alcoa (AA.N) are splitting the Raz Al-Zour plant financing into two between the smelter which will total US$5bn and the rolling mill, which will total US$2.5bn..” [Complete Report]
Citigroup’s Return to Saudi Arabia May Need More Than Alwaleed [Apr 29]
“Citigroup Inc. is aiming to open for business in Saudi Arabia six years after selling its stake in a bank there. Returning might not be as easy as departing. Since leaving the country in 2004, the company has said it would like to regain a foothold. Saudi officials, though, are protecting banks from new competition, according to Jean- Francois Seznec, visiting associate professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. ‘They’re not as in love with U.S. banks as they used to be,’ Seznec said by telephone from Riyadh, the Saudi capital. ‘The competitive environment is really key to this. Citibank was very successful here in the past.’.. ..The U.S. company, in which filings show Alwaleed held 218 million shares as of November 2008, first started a business in Saudi Arabia in 1955..” [Complete Report]
Capt. Grant, Pilot for King Abdulaziz, Passes Away at 102 [Apr 29]
“Captain Joseph Wade Grant, the American who served as pilot for King Abdulaziz Al Saud and the Royal Family in the mid-40s, has passed away. He was 102 years old. He died Tuesday night (April 27, 2010) at his home in the United States, friends of the veteran pilot said in an e-mail to Arab News. No other details were immediately available.. ..In the spring of 1945, he was assigned to deliver a Douglas DC-3 airplane, a gift from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to King Abdulaziz. Offered to stay in the Kingdom and be a pilot for the Royal Family, he agreed and stayed for two years. He would later help found Saudi Arabian Airlines. Grant considered his stay in Saudi Arabia as a momentous time of his long life. ‘My time in Saudi Arabia was the greatest gift I could have ever been given. At the time, I didn’t realize what an opportunity it was — I thought I was just doing my job,’ he was quoted saying in an interview last year. Just last week, he said, ‘One of the great men of the last century was King Abdulaziz. When you were with him, you knew that you were with a man of vision and power – what a man.’..” [Complete Report]
