AlUla hosts Nobel laureates at first Hegra conference

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Updated 30 January 2020
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AlUla hosts Nobel laureates at first Hegra conference

  • It aims to provide clear and influential solutions for the future of education, health, agriculture and economics

ALULA: More than 20 Nobel laureates and over 100 prominent scientists and thought, community, and political leaders from all over the world have arrived in AlUla in northwestern Saudi Arabia to take part in the first Hegra Conference of Nobel Prize Laureates 2020.

The conference is hosted by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) in Maraya Hall. The hall has been recently renovated to serve as a new regional and international center for recreation, arts and conference events.

The conference’s theme, “Knowledge Transfer: A Shared Heritage,” reflects the historical role of AlUla as a crossroads where different cultures, civilizations and peoples came together thousands of years ago.

It also sheds light on the importance of knowledge transfer as a fundamental principle of humanity.

Visiting Nobel Peace Prize laureates include former Polish president Lech Wałęsa, former Northern Ireland first minister Lord David Trimble, and the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus.

Among prominent participants and speakers at the conference are Princess Dana Firas, president of Petra National Trust, which hosted the last conference of Nobel Prize laureates, and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

The conference will discuss global issues related to unity, international cooperation, innovation, sustainability, heritage preservation and building a common vision for the future.

It aims to provide clear and influential solutions for the future of education, health, agriculture and economics.

The Conference of Nobel Laureates has been held regularly since 2004 and run by Richard Attias and Associates.


Saudi, Pakistan defense chiefs discuss ‘measures needed to halt’ Iranian attacks on Kingdom

Updated 07 March 2026
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Saudi, Pakistan defense chiefs discuss ‘measures needed to halt’ Iranian attacks on Kingdom

RIYADH: Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Pakistan’s  Chief of Defense Forces Asim Munir discussed Iran’s attacks on the Kingdom, amid the escalating military conflict in the Middle East. 

“We discussed Iranian attacks on the Kingdom and the measures needed to halt them within the framework of our Joint Strategic Defense Agreement,” Prince Khalid wrote on social media early on Saturday.

“We stressed that such actions undermine regional security and stability and expressed hope that the Iranian side will exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation.”

The US and Israel began a large-scale military campaign against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has since attacked a number of sites across the Gulf.

Tehran has also attacked US and Israeli military assets as the war as escalated, impacting lives in the peaceful Arabian Gulf peninsula and risked shaking the global economy as Iran continued restricting energy shipping along the Strait of Hormuz.

The Saudi Defense Ministry said a number of drones had been shot down that were targeting the Shayba oil field in the Empty Quarter on Saturday.

A drone attacked the US embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday causing a minor fire, but no one was hurt in the incident.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement”  in September, pledging that aggression against one country would be treated as an attack on both.

Separately, Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif, the Saudi interior minister, received a call from his Pakistani counterpart Raza Naqvi, who condemned the blatant attacks targeting the Kingdom and affirmed his country’s solidarity in confronting any threats to the Kingdom’s security and stability, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.