KSA offers India $ 625 bn investment opportunities

March 8, 2013
Jeddah, Mar 8: Saudi Arabia is offering investment opportunities worth $ 625 billion to Indian businessmen in vital sectors such as infrastructure, petrochemicals, electricity, IT, tourism, natural gas production, agriculture and education.

“We had successful meetings with Indian business leaders and executives in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Lucknow,” said Abdul Rahman Al-Rabiah, chairman of Saudi-India Joint Business Council (JBC) who is currently leading a high-level Saudi trade delegation to India.

“It was excellent,” Al-Rabiah told Arab News when asked about the result of the March 5-8 business visit organized by the Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The Saudi delegation will return to the Kingdom today (Friday).

“The governments of the two countries have done their job of facilitating two-way business engagements. Our relations with India go back hundreds of years. Yet, the results in terms of business exchanges are not to the level we would like to see,” Al-Rabiah told a JBC meeting in New Delhi.

Al-Rabiah, who was leading a delegation representing sectors such as fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, housing, power, petrochemicals & refinery, steel, metals, mining and mechanical equipment, urged Indian companies to take advantage of investment and growth opportunities in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is “the youngest nation in the world (67 percent Saudis are below the age of 27) which would need schools, hospitals, industries to meet their growing aspirations.” There is a lot of room for Indian companies with their high technology and experience to participate in the Kingdom’s development, he said, adding that the present $ 400 million Indian investment was insignificant compared with the potential.

Saudi Ambassador to India Saud M. Al-Sati said the two countries should engage in more business and trade by cashing in on the opportunities. He said that between 2000 and 2012, investments by Saudi companies in India were a mere $ 40 billion. This, he added, should rise significantly as Saudi and Indian companies engage with each other and build long-term business partnerships.investment

Rakesh Bakshi, senior executive committee member, FICCI & chairman & managing director of RRB Energy Ltd., said renewable energy offered tremendous scope for Indian and Saudi companies to work together as “India has the institutional framework and the technology to develop and promote renewables. We do not believe in re-inventing the wheel. Our companies have the know-how and experience to modify the wheel and suit it to your requirements in the most inhospitable of climatic conditions.”

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy also met the Saudi delegation and said his government was looking for larger investments from Saudi Arabia and was keen on mutual cooperation in industrial development. “We’ll extend all incentives and facilities to Saudi industrialists.”

After a power-point presentation by Saudi delegation, the chief minister said his state is the perfect platform for investment with its long coastline, skilled manpower and various incentives being offered by the government. The Saudi delegation invited the chief minister along with industrialists from Andhra Pradesh to visit Saudi Arabia.

Abdul Qader Memon Sait, a member of the managing committee of Saudi Indian Business Network, commended the growing economic relations between the two countries. Speaking to Arab News, he spoke about the plan to woo more than $ 100 billion investment from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries by India.

“There are billions of riyals of deposits by Saudi individuals remaining idle in Saudi banks, which can be invested in Indian mutual funds and equity market,” Sait said, adding that Saudis would receive profits up to 20 percent for such investments.

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News Network
April 15,2020

Dubai, Apr 15: Saudi Arabia reported 493 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5869, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.

According to the ministry of health, the number of recoveries today are 42 cases, making total of recoveries in the kingdom 931. And 71 critical cases in intensive care.

The ministry also confirmed 6 deaths bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 79.

Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew and lockdown on the cities of Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf and throughout the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar. This week the curfew was extended until further notice.

Overall, Saudi Arabia has reported one of the lowest rates of infection in the region, with around 5,000 cases in a population of over 30 million. Mecca was one of the first Saudi cities to be placed under a full-day curfew, and authorities took unprecedented precautions, suspending religious tourism in February and closing mosques across the country in March.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Riyadh, Apr 27: The government of Saudi Arabia has signed a SR995 million (approx. Dh972m) contract with China to provide Covid-19 tests for nine million people in the Kingdom.

The Saudi Press Agency, SPA, reported that the decision came "as a result of a phone call made today (Sunday) between the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Chinese President Xi Jinping."

The contract includes providing necessary equipment and supplies, making available of 500 Chinese specialists and technicians who are specialised in performing tests, establishing six large regional laboratories throughout the Kingdom; including a mobile laboratory with a capacity of performing 10,000 tests per day. Saudi cadres will also be trained to conduct daily tests and comprehensive field tests, under the new agreement

The contract was co-signed by the National Unified Procurement Company and Chinese company Huo-yan Laboratories by Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Advisor at the Royal Court, on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia, and Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom Chen Weiqing, as a representative of the Chinese Government.

The contract is one of the largest contracts that will provide diagnostic tests for the novel Coronavirus.

Tests were also purchased from several other companies from the United States, Switzerland and South Korea, bringing the number of available tests to 14.5 million, covering around 40 percent of Saudi Arabia's population, SPA added.

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News Network
May 3,2020

Jeddah, May 3: Saudis and expats who spread rumors on social media could be jailed for up to five years and fined SR3 million ($800,000) under measures to counter false information regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

The move follows warnings by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health, Ministry of Interior, General Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques and other government entities that people should rely on trusted news sources and not third parties for information on the Kingdom’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Saudi Public Prosecutor warned that legal action will be taken against individuals who spread misinformation and rumors.

On Saturday, media spokesman for the Riyadh region police, Col. Shakir Al-Tuwaijri, highlighted a video circulating on social media in which a person spreads rumors about steps taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Other false claims include a planned change in curfew hours, warnings of food shortages, and a suggestion that health authorities are deliberately concealing the number of cases in the Kingdom.

In a recent case, a Riyadh resident claimed to know when worshippers will be allowed to return to the Grand Mosque.

All suspects have been arrested and face legal action, police said.

Dimah Al-Sharif, a Saudi legal counsel and member of the International Association of Lawyers, urged people to be responsible regarding content they access on social media.

“Receivers should not save such content or share it with others, and should delete it if possible since they, too, will be liable,” she said.

“Under Saudi laws to counter cyber-crime, we are not allowed to produce, prepare, send or save any unauthorized content or rumors.”

Individuals who breach regulations can be jailed for up to five years and face fines of SR3 million, as well as confiscation of the device(s) used in the crime, she said.

In addition, the judicial ruling will be published in newspapers at the offender’s expense.

The Kingdom’s Public Prosecution Office took to social media to warn users about the consequences of spreading rumors and misinformation.

@bip_ksa tweeted: “Receiving information from its official sources is a moral obligation and commitment, and legal responsibility. Do not fall victim to malicious rumors and news from anonymous sources that violate the procedures and effort, and cause terror regarding the Coronavirus, in order to avoid strict criminal accountability in this regard.”

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