Gulf in the News – October 3, 2013

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Maria Pantelis

Saudi investments in foreign securities hit SR1.92 trillion

Saudi Arabia has invested 73 percent of its total reserves in securities of foreign countries, according to a financial report. Saudi total assets reached SR2.62 trillion last August while the invested portion in foreign securities reached SR1.92 trillion, the report prepared by Al-Eqtisadiah daily, said. The Kingdom has steadily increased investments in foreign securities and jumped tenfold in a nine-year period at SR1.92 trillion in August compared to SR202 billion in January 2005, the report said quoting the latest data released by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA). Saudi investments in (foreign) securities reportedly increased by 21 percent compared to the levels of August 2012, which stood at SR1.6 trillion and 1.3 percent compared to figures of July 2013 at SR1.9 trillion.

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Gulf in the News – October 2, 2013

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Maria Pantelis

Feasibility studies for GCC railway project under way

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

Two international firms will conduct feasibility studies for the proposed multibillion-riyal railway project that would link the six-member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), it was revealed at a recent meeting here of the GCC transport ministers. Bahraini Minister of Transport Kamal bin Ahmad said the two companies would conduct technical, consultative and engineering studies. He did not specify a timetable for the start of the project. Bin Ahmad said that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain’s ministries of finance and transport agreed to appoint the General Organization of the King Fahd Causeway as the body to choose the company that would oversee the project. The Bahraini minister said the technical specifications for the project have been drawn up.

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Gulf in the News – October 1,2013

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Maria Pantelis

A grateful farewell to Saudi Arabia

Source: Saudi Gazette (Read full story)

In 2009, President Obama spoke in Cairo of his hopes for “a new beginning in the Islamic world, one based on shared interest, mutual trust and mutual respect.” That sentence has guided me over these last four years. Our cooperation with Saudi Arabia has never been stronger, our shared interests never closer, and the foundation of our relationship never more solid. In 2009, there were 23,000 Saudi students in the United States. We committed ourselves to making sure that no student missed a class because they could not get a visa appointment, and this started a long, deliberate process to retool the visa process in our Embassy in Riyadh and our Consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran. Today there are over 71,000 Saudi students in the United States, half of all the Saudis who are studying abroad, with both numbers growing.

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