The RAF’s Red Arrows over Doha in 2013. They return this weekend as part of the UK’s campaign to maintain its trade relationship with both sides of the GCC split The Royal Air Force (RAF) Red Arrows will fly over…
Tag: Saudi Arabia
Is GCC split behind the spate of Arabian initiatives?
Women will be in the driving seat in Saudi Arabia from next June We’ll believe it when we see it, but King Salman’s order today that women will be able to get driving licences from next June means it won’t…
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ali al-Thani becomes Qatar’s man to watch
Directly descended from the founder of modern Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ali al-Thani is the grandson, son and brother of previous Qatari rulers. An obscure Qatari sheikh has become in less than a week one of Arabia’s best-known figures. Sheikh Abdullah…
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea tourism plan
Saudi Arabia wants to turn hundreds of kilometres of its Red Sea coastline into a global tourism destination governed by laws “on par with international standards” as part of its plan to transform the economy and reduce its reliance on…
IMF says Saudi current account to return to surplus this year
Saudi Arabia’s current account is projected to move back into surplus in 2017 after recording massive deficits due to lower oil prices in the past two years, the IMF said in a statement released today following the completion of its…
Saudi Arabia’s no longer a country for old kings
Age wearied them: King Abdulaziz, (top left) was in a wheelchair when he met President Roosevelt in 1945; King Saudi (on right in top right photograph) was regularly absent due to to health problems. His successor King…
Saudi Arabia keeps Interior Ministry in the Bin Naif family
All in the Bin Naif family The late crown prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz (left) was interior minister from 1975 until his death in 2012; his eldest son Prince Saud Bin Naif is now governor of the Eastern province and his…
The GCC split was inevitable, it won’t last and Saudi Arabia will come out on top
Three things can be said about the extraordinary action taken this week against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. The confrontation — which has been brewing for more than two decades and involves dozens of points of friction…
IMF calls for Saudi Arabia to ease austerity measures
Saudi Arabia is making progress with its fiscal adjustment programme designed to deal with lower oil prices since 2014 but does not need to meet its self-imposed target of eliminating the budget deficit by 2020, the IMF says in a…
US Syria missile attack seals new partnership with Saudi Arabia
The US missile attack on a Syrian airfield last night comes just over three weeks after Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman met President Trump in the White House in what an advisor to the kingdom’s defence…