RIYADH: Nestled in the heart of Saudi Arabia's southwestern region of Asir, Aqabat Shaar is one of the most iconic highways, celebrated for its breathtaking natural scenery and vital tourist attractions.
This mountainous area, known for its rugged terrain, used to pose significant challenges to access and mobility, which led to the creation of a road that has become indispensable to residents and visitors alike, linking the region to neighboring areas and governorates.

A mere 23 kilometers from Abha city, the road through Aqabat Shaar connects the highlands of Sarat Asir with the coastal plain of Tihama. This crucial artery not only reduces travel time, but also plays a pivotal role in bolstering tourism in the region. Furthermore, it enhances the Kingdom’s standing as a global logistics hub by facilitating the seamless movement of trucks transporting a wide array of goods.
The construction of Aqabat Shaar began over 40 years ago, under the reign of the late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz. This monumental project involved cutting through solid rock, creating 11 tunnels, and erecting 32 bridges, resulting in a road approximately 14 kilometers long. The endeavor was a marvel of engineering at the time, designed to navigate the challenging topography and ensure reliable access.
The road recently underwent significant development to enhance its utility and safety. The Roads General Authority spearheaded a comprehensive maintenance project incorporating the latest international technologies and standards. This effort entailed a temporary closure of the road, which reopened last year to much acclaim.

The recent maintenance work on Aqabat Shaar focused on achieving the highest standards of quality and safety. Enhancements included the installation of modern lighting, clear road markings, informative signs, and warning vibrations. Additionally, concrete barriers were erected to improve road safety, ensuring that the road meets the increasing demands of the region’s expanding network.
Aqabat Shaar is not just a road; it is a testament to human ingenuity and determination carving a path through some of the most formidable terrain in Asir. It is a vital conduit for travel, commerce, and tourism that serves and connects communities while showcasing the natural splendor of the region.
As it evolves with ongoing developments, Aqabat Shaar remains a beacon of progress, illuminating the way forward for Asir's dynamic future.
 

JEDDAH: About 80 countries including Saudi Arabia reached a historic agreement on Friday on rules governing global digital commerce, including recognition of e-signatures and protection against online fraud.

“We negotiated the first global rules on digital trade,” EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said after the deal in Geneva following five years of negotiations.“This will facilitate e-transactions, boost innovation, and integrate developing countries into the digital economy,” he said.

Britain said the agreement would commit all participants to making customs documents and processes digital and recognizing e-documents and e-signatures, and put in place legal safeguards against online fraudsters and misleading claims about products.

Once in place, the deal “will make trade faster, cheaper, fairer and more secure,” Britain said in a statement.

The text of the agreement says the parties will seek to limit spam and protect personal data, as well as offer support to least-developed countries.
Ninety-one of the World Trade Organization’s 166 members took part in the negotiations, including Saudi Arabia, China, Canada, Argentina and Nigeria.
Digital commerce is growing far faster than its traditional counterpart.
The OECD group of economically developed nations says it estimated that in 2020, e-commerce already made up a quarter of global trade, making it worth just under $5 trillion.
Despite its growing importance, “no common set of global rules exist,” said British Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
Finalizing the negotiations “is a huge step forward in correcting that and ensuring British businesses feel the benefit.”

The talks were launched in 2019, with around 90 negotiating countries — representing 90 percent of the WTO membership — including heavy-hitters like the United States, the European Union and China.
Australia, Japan and Singapore, which have jointly been leading the Initiative on Electronic Commerce talks, presented a joint statement during a closed-door meeting at the WTO confirming that “after five years of negotiations, participants had achieved a stabilized text.”
But actual implementation of a deal could still be years off.
A small number of negotiating countries have yet to sign on, including the United States, Brazil, Indonesia and Turkiye, the declaration said.
“The text released today ... represents an important step forward for the WTO in a sector of growing importance to the global economy,” US ambassador and Deputy US Trade Representative Maria Pagan said in a statement.
But the United States considers that “the current text falls short and more work is needed,” she said, pointing in particular to an “essential security exception.”
The co-conveners of the talks have in recent months stressed the importance of landing a deal, stressing it could facilitate electronic transactions, promote digital trade and foster an open and trusted digital economy.
“This would be the first-ever set of baseline digital trade rules,” Singapore’s ambassador to the WTO Tan Hung Seng said in April.
“It would contribute to the growing e-commerce in our countries by providing greater legal predictability and certainty, against the backdrop of increasing regulatory fragmentation,” he said.
In Friday’s statement, UK Science Secretary Peter Kyle said the agreement aimed “to help people use technology safely by protecting them from fraud, while driving economic growth through the digitalization of trade so it’s faster and more secure.”

Preferential treatment

The agreement also includes a component providing preferential treatment to developing countries.
In addition to paving the way for digitalising customs documents and processes, the text also seeks to make permanent a long-held moratorium exempting electronic transactions from customs duties.
The moratorium has been in place since 1998, and has been extended at each WTO ministerial meeting since. It is currently set to expire in 2026.
“Once in force the agreement will permanently ban customs duties on digital content,” the British statement said.
The aim is to incorporate the digital trade rules into the WTO legal framework, but that would require consensus backing from all members, including those not part of the deal.
That could be tricky at a time when countries like India and South Africa are balking at what they see as a proliferation of plurilateral agreements within the WTO rather than the all-but-impossible multilateral deals backed by all members.
One solution, observers say, could be for the signatories to move the agreement to another international body. But if they do that, they would not be able to rely on the WTO’s mechanism for resolving trade disputes.

(With Agencies)