JEDDAH: Saudi women do not need the permission of a male guardian to start their own business, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Investment.
“No need for a guardian’s permission. Saudi women are free to start their own business freely,” ministry spokesperson Abdul Rahman Al-Hussein tweeted on Thursday using an Arabic hashtag that translates as #No_Need.
The #No_Need campaign is an initiative of Taysir, which aims to streamline the necessary procedures to establish a new business.
There is no longer any need to visit a notary to document the founding of a company. The Abshir system means this can all be done electronically.
Saudi women will no longer face more obstacles than a man does to establish their own business and government agencies will no longer require the consent of a guardian for a woman to complete the necessary procedures.
Al-Hussein told Arab News: “Women can practice all their commercial transactions in the Ministry of Commerce and Investment without a guardian or a notary.”
Nojood Al-Qassim, head of the Department of Personal Status, Family Legacies and Women’s and Children’s Rights, pointed out that this latest step toward the empowerment of Saudi women is in line with the government’s overall development drive.
“One of the directives of Vision 2030 is to activate the role of Saudi women in society and to give them their full rights and the rights guaranteed by Shariah,” she told Arab News.
Dima Al-Shareef, a Saudi law consultant, said: “I believe this new approach will open the door to (women) in our homeland to highlight their talents and ideas and translate them into a realistic business with a worthy financial return.”
She added: “We are witnessing a new era in the empowerment of Saudi women, in the commercial sphere in particular.”
Saudi women don’t need male permission to start businesses
Saudi women don’t need male permission to start businesses
Saudi Arabia welcomes ceasefire agreement between Syrian Democratic Forces and Syria state
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has welcomed an agreement between the Syrian state and Syrian Democratic Forces.
In a foreign ministry statement early on Monday, the Kingdom said it had welcomed an deal between Damascus and Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces that was announced by the Syrian government on Sunday.
The agreement entails merging all SDF forces into the defense and interior ministries and means that Kurdish forces will redeploy to east of the Euphrates river.
The 14-point deal would also see the immediate administrative and military handover of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa governorates.
The Syrian state would regain control of all border crossings, oil fields, and gas fields in the region, with protection secured by regular forces to ensure the return of resources to the Syrian government, while considering the special case of Kurdish areas, the state news agency SANA reported.
The ceasefire comes after intense fighting between the SDF and government troops in Aleppo. But SDF troops have now pulled back from there and the Syrian army now controls most areas east of Aleppo.
The Saudi foreign ministry statement also thanked the US for the agreement. Washington is believed to have supported brokering the ceasefire between allies SDF and the Syrian government, who they have also backed diplomatically since the fall of long-time dictator Bashar Assad.
The Syrian state announced on Friday a raft of new directives to recognize Syrian Kurds, including making their language official and bolstering other rights for the minority group.
