RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Oman on Monday signed two agreements to enhance cooperation in land and air transport.
“The memorandums of understanding aim to exchange experiences between the two sides and enhance cooperation in these sectors,” the Kingdom’s Ministry of Transport and Logistics said in a statement after the signing in the capital, Riyadh
The agreements were signed in the presence of Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistics Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser and Oman’s Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology Saeed Al-Maawali, during his visit to the Kingdom.
The two ministers also held a meeting to discuss strengthening joint cooperation between the two countries.
The Ministry of Transport and Logistics is working to consolidate cooperation between the Kingdom and the sultanate in the transport and logistics sectors by taking advantage of both countries’ strategic locations to achieve Saudi Arabia’s objectives for transport and services.
Saudi Arabia and Oman sign deal to develop land, air transport
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Saudi Arabia and Oman sign deal to develop land, air transport
Saudi minister at Davos urges collaboration on minerals
- The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals
LONDON: Countries need to collaborate on mining and resources to help avoid geopolitical tensions, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
“The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals, the concentration in different areas of the world,” Bandar Alkhorayef told a panel discussion on the geopolitics of materials.
“The rational thing to do is to collaborate, and that’s what we are doing,” he added. “We are creating a platform of collaboration in Saudi Arabia.”
The Kingdom last week hosted the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. Alkhorayef said the platform was launched by the government in 2022 as a contribution to the global community. “It’s very important to have a global movement, and that’s why we launched the Future Minerals Forum,” he said. “It is the most important platform of global mining leaders.”
The Kingdom has made mining one of the key pillars of its economy, rapidly expanding the sector under the Vision 2030 reform program with an eye on diversification. Saudi Arabia has an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral wealth and the ramping up of extraction comes at a time of intense global competition for resources to drive technological development in areas like AI and renewables.
“We realized that unlocking the value that we have in our natural resources, of the different minerals that we have, will definitely help our economy to grow to diversify,” Alkhorayef said. The Kingdom has worked to reduce the timelines required to set up mines while also protecting local communities, he added. Obtaining mining permits in Saudi Arabia has been reduced to just 30 to 90 days compared to the many years required in other countries, Alkhorayef said.
“We learned very, very early that permitting is a bottleneck in the system,” he added. “We all know, and we have to be very, very frank about this, that mining doesn’t have a good reputation globally.
“We are trying to change this and cutting down the licensing process doesn’t only solve it. You need also to show the communities the impact of the mining on their lives.”
Saudi Arabia’s new mining investment laws have placed great emphasis on the development of society and local communities, along with protecting the environment and incorporating new technologies, Alkhorayef said. “We want to build the future mines; we don’t want to build old mines.”
