Saudi Arabia suspends entry for Umrah pilgrimage over coronavirus fears
Restrictions are temporary and will be continuously reviewed by the health authorities
Nearly 7 million Umrah pilgrims visit the Kingdom each year
Updated 27 February 2020
SPA
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has placed a temporary ban on Umrah pilgrims in an attempt to ensure public safety by preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
Most foreign pilgrims often visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah before or after the completion of their religious duties in Makkah, this has also been halted.
It is one of a number of precautionary restrictions announced early on Thursday as health authorities in the Kingdom closely monitor the spread of the virus. Tourist-visa holders from countries judged to pose a particularly high risk of spreading the virus will also be denied entry.
In addition, Saudi nationals and citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council nations will not be able to use a national identity card to travel to and from the Kingdom for the time being. Exceptions to this shall be granted to Saudis returning home, and citizens of GCC countries who are in the Kingdom and want to return to their home countries, provided that they left or entered the Kingdom using a national identity card.
Health authorities at entry points will verify which countries travelers visited before arriving in Saudi Arabia and apply all necessary precautionary measures.
Saudi officials stressed that the restrictions are temporary and will be continuously reviewed by the health authorities. They reiterated the Kingdom’s support for and implementation of international efforts to limit the spread of the virus, and the Foreign Ministry urged citizens not to travel to the countries worst affected by the coronavirus.
Opinion
This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)
Nearly 7 million Umrah pilgrims visit the Kingdom each year, the majority of whom arrive at airports in Jeddah and Madinah.
Earlier, it emerged that seven Saudis are among the latest coronavirus cases in Bahrain and Kuwait. The Bahraini Ministry of Health on Wednesday said six Saudi women has tested positive for the virus.
They had arrived at Bahrain International Airport on a flight from Iran. The total number of confirmed cases in the country stands at 26. Studies at schools and universities have been suspended for two weeks in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.
Kuwait announced the first case of a Saudi citizen infected by the virus. The man, who had arrived in the country from the Iranian city of Mashhad, has been placed in quarantine for 14 days. There have been 26 confirmed cases of the virus to date in Kuwait.
The Saudi Ministry of Health has been providing neighboring Arab countries with advice and guidelines for controlling infectious diseases such as the coronavirus and dealing with health emergencies.
Dr. Hani bin Abdul Aziz Jokhdar, the deputy minister of public health, said that the guidelines were based on Saudi Arabia’s experience of protecting the health and well-being of pilgrims during Hajj season.
He led the Kingdom’s delegation at a meeting of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Ministers for Health on Wednesday at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
Eight years since its launch, Saudi Vision 2030 is already well ahead of schedule
Launching Vision 2030 in 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman vowed to improve the Kingdom’s business environment
Today, the economy is creating employment opportunities for citizens and long-term prosperity for the nation
Updated 6 min 20 sec ago
MANAL AL-BARAKATI
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s transformation has involved many authors: The government, Saudi citizens, the private sector, and international partners. Their combined efforts have meant that by 2023 — the Vision 2030 midpoint — the plan was already ahead of schedule.
Eight years since its launch, the social reform and economic diversification blueprint’s promise is quickly being realized, with 87 percent of its 1,064 initiatives deemed completed or on track.
At its core, Vision 2030 is built upon three pillars: Building “a vibrant society,” “a thriving economy,” and “an ambitious nation,” rolled out with a phased approach, allowing the Kingdom to adapt, evolve, and become more agile.
As Saudi Arabia approaches the end of phase two — and the start of the 2025 implementation phase — the economic strategy, which was not without its doubters early on, is no longer a mere idea but a genuine transformation.
Eight years since the Kingdom's social reform and economic diversification blueprint was launched, 87 percent of the 1,064 initiatives are deemed completed or on track. (Getty Imaes/AFP)
By the end of 2023, some 197 of Vision 2030’s 243 key performance indicators had been fully achieved. Of those, 176 exceeded their targets.
A similar trend is evident across various socio-economic domains, prompting the nation to reconsider and set higher ambitions and targets for 2030.
A technicolor economy
Launching the economic diversification plan in 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman vowed to improve the Kingdom’s business environment, allowing the economy to flourish and drive employment opportunities for citizens and long-term prosperity for the nation.
From increasing foreign direct investments, growing the number of small and medium-sized enterprises and opening up new streams in fields like tourism and entertainment, the nation documented a record contribution from non-oil earnings.
Opinion
This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)
By the end of 2023, revenues surpassed $121.8 billion and contributed 50 percent to the real gross domestic product.
The Kingdom’s non-oil GDP amounted to over $503.6 billion, soaring past the baseline of over $404.9 billion and edging close to the target goal of $515.6 billion.
This comes as Saudi Arabia has implemented a series of economic and regulatory undertakings to stimulate private sector growth and attract foreign investment. These reforms include easing restrictions on foreign ownership in various sectors, streamlining business regulations and privatizing state-owned enterprises.
These ongoing shifts and Riyadh’s strategic location at the crossroads of three continents made it a valuable investment destination for global businesses. In 2023, more than 180 companies obtained permits to open regional offices in the Saudi capital.
Saudi Arabia's economic diversification plan has allowed the economy to flourish and drive employment opportunities for citizens. (Supplied)
Concurrently, the private sector’s contribution to the total GDP amounted to 45 percent, marking a notable increase from the baseline of 40.3 percent and moving closer to the Vision’s target of 65 percent.
Echoing this notion, foreign direct investment showed notable growth, contributing 2.4 percent to the country’s GDP.
The Kingdom’s sovereign wealth entity, the Public Investment Fund, had assets under management of over $749 billion in 2023, surpassing the annual target of approximately $720 billion.
These successes prompted the Kingdom to rank first in the Middle East and North Africa region for venture capital investment in 2023, capturing 52 percent of the total capital deployed in the area with a value of $1.4 billion.
Furthermore, the economic participation and opportunities sub-index has increased to 0.637 from the baseline of 0.33, surpassing the annual target of 0.592.
An equitable workforce
Saudi Arabia achieved its lowest unemployment rate of 7.7 percent in 2023, compared to 12.3 percent in 2016, surpassing the 2023 target of 8 percent and nearing the Vision 2030 mark of 7 percent.
Yet, the nation’s most notable employment achievement remains characterized by a previously unsung section of its labor force, with female participation now standing at an all-time high of 35.5 percent, surpassing the 2030 goal.
Saudi Arabia has seen a growing number of women taking on leadership roles in various sectors, including government, business, academia, and media.
This success was further attributed to a government that has actively worked to expand job opportunities for women across a wide range of sectors, including healthcare, education, and finance as well as technology and hospitality.
Furthermore, Vision 2030 encourages female entrepreneurship and the growth of small businesses owned and operated by women. Initiatives such as loan programs, business incubators, and networking events provide support and resources for aspiring female entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses.
This led the nation to announce that it will be amending its previously highlighted Vision 2030 target for female participation.
SME boom
Small and medium enterprises, which are positioned to become a vital part of economic development in the Kingdom and an enabler to achieving Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, have recorded over 200 percent growth since the launch of the national plan.
This growth encapsulated SR10 billion ($2.67 billion) in financial aid for SMEs and 6.7 million employees in the sector by the end of 2023.
In 2022, the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank was established by the Council of Ministers as one of several development funds and financial institutions affiliated with the National Development Fund.
The SME Bank aims to increase financing provided to the sector and enhance institutions’ contributions to providing innovative funding solutions that help achieve stability for this sector.
Therefore, the Vision’s initiatives have further supported several programs, centers, and services provided by the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, also known as Monsha’at.
Among them is the “Tomoh” program, a community for fast-growing SMEs, aiming to stimulate their growth through services and programs. Tomoh contributed to listing 18 enterprises in the Saudi Stock Exchange parallel market “Nomu.”
Wars in Gaza and Sudan ‘drive hunger crisis affecting 280 million worldwide’
New report on global food insecurity says outlook for 2024 is ‘bleak’
Updated 25 min 50 sec ago
Arab News
JEDDAH: More than 280 million people worldwide suffered from acute hunger last year in a food security crisis driven by conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, UN agencies and development groups said on Wednesday.
Economic shocks also added to the number of victims, which grew by 24 million compared with 2022, according to a report by the Food Security Information Network.
The report, which called the global outlook for this year “bleak,” is produced for an international alliance of UN agencies, the EU and governmental and non-governmental bodies.
Food insecurity is defined as when populations face food deprivation that threatens lives or livelihoods, regardless of the causes or length of time. More geographical areas experienced “new or intensified shocks” and there was a “marked deterioration in key food crisis contexts such as Sudan and the Gaza Strip,” said Fleur Wouterse, a senior official at the UN’s Food and Agricultue Organization.
Since the first report by the Global Food Crisis Network covering 2016, the number of food-insecure people has risen from 108 million to 282 million, Wouterse said. The share of the population affected within the areas concerned had doubled from 11 percent to 22 percent, she said.
Protracted major food crises are ongoing in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Syria and Yemen. “In a world of plenty, children are starving to death,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
“War, climate chaos and a cost-of-living crisis, combined with inadequate action, mean that almost 300 million people faced acute food crisis in 2023. Funding is not keeping pace with need.”
According to the report, situations of conflict or insecurity have become the main cause of acute hunger. For 2024, progress would depend on the end of hostilities, said Wouterse, who said aid could rapidly alleviate the crisis in Gaza or Sudan, for example, once humanitarian access to the areas was possible.
The 44-year-old decided on his dramatic change of mind after a day of meetings
Updated 42 min 52 sec ago
AFP
BARCELONA: Xavi will remain as coach of Barcelona, the Spanish giants told AFP on Wednesday, despite having announced in January that he planned to quit at the end of the season.
Spanish media reported that the 44-year-old, who had signed a contract extension until 2025 last autumn, decided on his dramatic change of mind after a day of meetings with club president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco.
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted American and Israeli ships
The Iran-aligned group said it targeted the US ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent Israeli navigation,” Sarea said
Updated 4 min 42 sec ago
Reuters
CAIRO/DUBAI: Houthi militants in Yemen have attacked what they said were two American ships and an Israeli vessel, the group’s military spokesman said on Wednesday, the first such attack in more than two weeks.
The Iran-aligned group said it targeted the US ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean, the spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said in a televised speech.
Yemen’s Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea region since November in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent Israeli navigation or any navigation heading to the ports of occupied Palestine in the Red and Arabian Seas, as well as in the Indian Ocean,” Sarea said on Wednesday.
Separately, British maritime security firm Ambrey said earlier on Wednesday that it was aware of an incident southwest of the port city of Aden, an area where the Houthis often target ships they say are linked to Israel or the United States.
The vessel reported an “explosion in the water” approximately 72 nautical miles east-southeast of Djibouti, an updated advisory from Ambrey said.
Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping through the Suez Canal, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa. The United States and Britain have launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Myanmar rebel group withdraws troops from key town on Thai border
Updated 24 April 2024
Reuters
MYANMAR: A Myanmar rebel group has withdrawn its troops from a town along the Thai border following a counteroffensive by soldiers of the ruling junta from whom the resistance fighters had wrested the key trading post this month, an official said on Wednesday.
The Karen National Union made a “temporary retreat” from the town of Myawaddy, a spokesperson said, after the return of junta soldiers to the vital strategic area that is a conduit for annual foreign trade of more than $1 billion.
“KNLA troops will ... destroy the junta troops and their back-up troops who marched to Myawaddy,” said Saw Taw Nee, referring to the group’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic fighting forces.
He did not say what its next move would be, however.
Fighting had flared as recently as Saturday in Myawaddy, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee in a single day as rebels fought to flush out stranded Myanmar government troops holed up at a border bridge crossing.
On Wednesday, Thailand said the fighting had eased and it hoped to re-open its border crossing as trade had been hit. It said most civilians had returned and 650 remained.
“The situation has improved significantly,” spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told a briefing. “Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the situation, which is highly uncertain and can change.”
Thailand has received reports that negotiations may be starting between rival groups on the Myanmar side, Nikorndej said, without elaborating.
He added that Thailand had proposed to Laos, the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, that it could host a meeting seeking to end the Myanmar crisis.
