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RIYADH: The Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources issued 30 new industrial licenses in July — a 67 percent drop on the number handed out in June.
The furniture industry was issued with seven licenses, as were the food products, and manufacturing products of formed metals, industries.
Other non-metallic minerals firms received three licenses each, Saudi Press Agency reported.
A report issued by the National Center for Industrial and Mining Information indicated that the total number of industrial licenses issued by the ministry since the beginning of this year amounted to 531.
The number of existing and under construction factories in the Kingdom until the end of the same month reached 10,685, with investments amounting to SR1.367 trillion ($363.3 billion).
The report also showed that with the issuance of new licenses the volume of investment in July alone amounted to SR973 million.
It also indicated that small enterprises acquired most of the new industrial licenses during the same month with a rate of 86.67 percent, followed by medium enterprises with 13.33 percent.
National factories recorded the largest percentage of the total licenses issued by type of investment, by 73.33 percent, followed by foreign enterprises by 20 percent, and joint investment enterprises by 6.67 percent.
The report also showed that the new industrial licenses were distributed among five administrative regions, topped by the Riyadh region with 15 licenses.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al-Ibrahim on Friday stressed the Kingdom’s commitment to renewing global cooperation and achieving the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaking during the conclusion of the G20 development ministers’ meeting in Belitung, Indonesia, Al-Ibrahim said that the two-day forum was an opportunity to work together more closely and put forward concrete actions to support developing countries and foster inclusive, resilient, socially, economically and environmentally sustainable recovery efforts.
As the world’s fastest-growing economy, the Kingdom was proud to renew and reaffirm its commitment toward achieving these goals, he said.
Al-Ibrahim said that participants at the meeting stressed the need to activate joint and comprehensive action to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development within the framework of the work achieved throughout Indonesia’s presidency of the G20.
“International cooperation is a key priority for the Kingdom, and we remain more committed than ever to work closely with our international partners to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs,” he said.
“To do this, we must restore faith in the multilateral framework, and we are fully aligned with the G20 ministerial vision statement’s claim that multilateralism is not an option but a necessity if we want to create a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable world.”
Saudi Arabia has already taken steps to accelerate its path toward achieving the UN 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Rapid and decisive measures taken by the Kingdom’s government have enabled the country to limit the impact of COVID-19 on the economy.
In June, the Ministry of Economy and Planning and the UN resident coordinator’s office in Riyadh signed the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.
CAIRO: With 70 percent of the world’s desalination plants located in the Middle East, the sector needs innovation driven by entrepreneurial talent.
Nearly two-thirds of the region’s population live in areas lacking sufficient renewable water sources. Some countries in the Middle East rely on water desalination to produce up to 90 percent of drinking water.
Moreover, water desalination requires vast amounts of energy to complete the process, and the role of innovation is starting to increase in reducing the operational cost and environmental impact caused by water issues.
Abu Dhabi-based startup Manhat is already pitching in to decrease the environmental impact with its patented solar energy-based water desalination products.
• Abu Dhabi-based startup Manhat is already pitching in to decrease the environmental impact with its patented solar energy-based water desalination products.
• The company’s technology is based on placing sealed constructs on open water surfaces where water evaporates due to solar radiation.
The company’s technology is based on placing sealed constructs on open water surfaces where water evaporates due to solar radiation.
“Our technology mimics the natural water cycle with zero carbon footprint or brine rejection. The water can be immediately used to irrigate crops which will benefit coastal countries and mitigate the looming threat of rising sea levels due to climate change,” Saeed Alhassan, founder of Manhat, said in a statement.
Global desalination plants are expected to emit 218 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2040, which calls for the importance of government and private sector investments in solutions for the water industry.
In a report by the Clean Energy Business Council in the Middle East and North African region, several barriers arise for startups trying to enter the clean-tech industry.
The report indicates that governmental barriers play a huge role in shaping the ecosystem. Firstly, the region’s regulatory structure limits entrepreneurs’ ability to explore new opportunities in the sector.
In addition to complex administration and market barriers, the region needs a regulatory framework that will spur innovation and privatization of the sector.
Moreover, venture capital investments made into startups in the industry are also meager compared to other sectors like e-commerce and fintech.
The report calls out to venture capitalists to start recognizing the potential opportunities that regional startups might offer by building innovation hubs within universities.
Saudi Arabia is one of the countries in the region that has seen startups grow out of universities like water desalination company, QualSens.
QualSens was established at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as it aims to monitor and enhance the water desalination process using its technology.
“We combined different approaches to building a smart sensor that detects and identifies the fouling developed in the system and helps the operator mitigate it. The objective is to decrease the energy demand required for the production of drinking water,” Luca Fortunato, Co-founder of QualSens, said in a statement.
Although startups are still far from impacting the water desalination sector in the Middle East, governments and large corporations are starting to recognize the importance of innovation for sustainable water production.
Paddy Padmanathan, the CEO of ACWA Power, one of the largest water desalination companies in the region, had said earlier that innovation and entrepreneurship would play a crucial role in addressing the looming water crisis.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will host the Future of Desalination International Conference from Sept. 11-13 in Riyadh to discuss opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in the desalination sector.
Many policymakers, developers, contractors, researchers and innovators will attend to discuss the sector’s future.
Since its beginning in 1932, the Kingdom has been a prominent world player in the water desalination industry globally.
• The current production of desalinated water in the Kingdom amounts to more than 7.9 million cubic meters per day, representing 55 percent of the Gulf region and 22.2 percent of the global desalination, according to a report.
• The scarcity of freshwater resources has made desalination crucial to achieving water self-sufficiency in the Kingdom, and the situation is critical as industry reports cite that water consumption is forecast to reach 12.3 million cmpd by 2040.
The current production of desalinated water in the Kingdom amounts to more than 7.9 million cubic meters per day, representing 55 percent of the Gulf region and 22.2 percent of the global desalination, according to a report released by the Saline Water Conversion Corp.
The scarcity of freshwater resources has made desalination crucial to achieving water self-sufficiency in the Kingdom, and the situation is critical as industry reports cite that water consumption is forecast to reach 12.3 million cmpd by 2040.
Saudi Arabia began the development of independent water and power projects in 2002 with the participation of the private sector through the build-own-operate and the build-own-operate-transfer models, according to the Saudi-US Business Council.
Some of the notable projects include the Shuqaiq plant, which has an output of 450,000 cmpd and supplies nearly 2 million people.
In 2015, the SWCC began operations at the $7.2 billion Ras Al-Khair desalination plant, adding more than 1 million cmpd to the national supply, the US-Saudi Business council reported. The project also includes a 2,400-megawatt power plant, making it the first of its kind built to such a scale.
Alkhobar plant, which began operations in September 2020, produces 210,000 cmpd water.
SWCC will also open six desalination plants by 2024 in various cities, including Al-Shuqaiq, Al-Shoaiba, Jubail and Alkhobar. Two of these plants will be operational by late 2022.
Each plant will have a power consumption of fewer than 1.7 kilowatts per cubic meter, reducing the water production cost from SR1.54 ($0.42) to SR1.3 per cubic meter.
“With production at such a minimum cost, it will increase the sector’s contribution to the national gross domestic product,” SWCC governor Abdullah Al-Abdul-Karim told Arab News.
In March 2022, Saudi ACWA Power became the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant, according to a statement issued by the company.
Located in the Kingdom, Rabigh 3 IWP, the SR2.6 billion project started supplying as much as 600,000 cmpd for up to 1 million homes in Makkah and Jeddah.
“At the moment, we have a portfolio of 6.4 million cmpd, and the desalination plants are currently in construction and operation. So, ACWA Power, a Saudi company, is now on the top of the world as a desalination producer,” said Tariq Nada, vice president for water and technical services, ACWA Power.
The company is building a larger plant in Abu Dhabi, which is expected to become operational in the last quarter of 2022.
The RO plant, named Taweelah, will have a production capacity of 909,000 cmpd.
RIYADH: Saudi companies led the pack in the annual list of Forbes Top 100 Arab Family Businesses with 37 entries, followed by the UAE and Kuwait with 25 and eight entries, respectively.
According to the Forbes press release, these three countries constituted 75 percent of the top 20 in the list. In addition, all family businesses in the top 10 were diversified companies with operations in multiple sectors.
The Olayan family, which runs one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest conglomerates, was ranked the No. 1 Arab family business for the second year in a row.
Founded in 1947, the Olayan Group comprises more than 50 companies and affiliated businesses. Egypt’s Mansour Group and UAE’s Al-Futtaim Group were the other two groups that clinched the podium finish.
Olayan Financial Co.’s investments in the public sector make the largest portion of the group’s portfolio, as it owned 20.3 percent of the Saudi British Bank in July 2022.
• The release stated that of the top 100 family-run companies in 2022, eight were owned by Arab billionaires.
• Algeria-based Cevital Group’s founder Issad Rebrab had a net worth of $5.1 billion as of August 2022, making him the second richest Arab in the world.
Mansour Group has also been in the spotlight for its humungous reach spanning 100 countries with over 60,000 employees and total revenues exceeding $7.5 billion.
Through its investment arm, ManCapital, Mansour Group has shares in global companies like Spotify, Uber, Airbnb, Meta, Twitter and others.
Other Saudi companies also made it to the top 10, with Al Muhaidib Group ranking fourth, Abdul Laitf Jameel in seventh and Rashed Abdul Rahman Al Rashed and Sons Group ranking 10th.
From a geographical standpoint, Qatar-based companies had seven entries, Egypt had six, Oman six, Bahrain had four, Jordan had two, Morocco had two and Algeria, Lebanon, and Yemen all had one entry each.
At the ninth position, Al Faisal Holding is the only newcomer to this year’s top 10 businesses, up from 11th place in 2021, the press note said. In May 2022, it launched a new subsidiary offering production services, Metaserra, a joint venture with Turkey’s Doludizgin.
Diversified business corporations dominated the ranking with 89 entries. For instance, Al Futtaim Group has built a legacy out of its operations in the automotive, finance, real estate, retail and healthcare sectors.
The group operates in over 20 countries with 35,000 employees and has significant shareholdings in Emirates Investment Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai and the Dubai Insurance Co.
Abdullah Al Futtaim and his family also had a net worth of $2.5 billion in August 2022.
The release further stated that of the top 100 family-run companies in 2022, eight were owned by Arab billionaires. For instance, Algeria-based Cevital Group’s founder Issad Rebrab had a net worth of $5.1 billion as of August 2022, making him the second richest Arab in the world.
To construct this list, Forbes Middle East only considered private businesses or holding companies jointly owned or operated by Arab families. The conglomerates were ranked on their holding size and performance, business activity, age, legacy, and how diversified the business is in terms of geography and sector.
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s $620 billion sovereign wealth fund is expected to tap international debt markets for a debut green bonds issue as soon as next week, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Public Investment Fund is at the center of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious reform plans being spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to wean the economy off oil.
The crown prince said in December that it would invest about $40 billion in the local economy this year, after spending about $22 billion last year.
Reuters reported in July last year that PIF was setting up a financing framework that would allow it to raise green bonds.
PIF in February announced a green finance framework that showed net proceeds from a debt sale would go toward eligible projects, including in renewable energy, clean transport and green buildings.
PIF has been monitoring the market for months to find a window to issue, three sources said, amid enduring volatility that has rattled markets for much of this year as central banks use aggressive tightening to try to tame decades-high inflation.
That window could come as soon as next week, depending on market conditions, or possibly in October, two of the sources said.
The deal is expected to raise billions of dollars, sources have said.
Fitch Ratings and Moody’s in February assigned PIF an ‘A’ and ‘A1’ credit rating, respectively.
The banks on the deal are expected to be ones that have lent to PIF, two sources said.
PIF started raising bank debt in 2018 with an $11 billion facility, followed in 2019 by a $10 billion loan which it then repaid in 2020.
Those loans were provided by what PIF has called its core banking group comprising Bank of America, BNP Paribas , Citi, Credit Agricole, HSBC, JPMorgan, Mizuho, MUFG, Standard Chartered and SMBC.
In March last year, the wealth fund raised $15 billion from 17 banks comprising most of the core banking group as well as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs, Intesa Sanpaolo , Morgan Stanley, Natixis and Societe Generale .