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RIYADH: The appetite for food delivery in the Middle East and North Africa region has continued to grow in 2022 after the pandemic kick-started demand for the services in the region, according to a new report.
According to data in ‘Digital Transformation in MENA 2022’, produced by cloud-based payments platform Checkout.com, over half — 53 percent — of MENA consumers purchased food online in the past year, with 42 percent consumers saying they are buying food online more frequently this year than in 2021.
The online food ordering sector has numerous moving parts that need to come together in each transaction, from the restaurants to drivers and aggregators to payment providers. Close collaboration is therefore vital for the many stakeholders, noted Ramzi Alqrainy, chief technology officer at The Chefz, a leading Saudi-based food delivery app.
“Collaboration allows us to innovate effectively and to reach and serve society in its most inclusive sense. These days, one provider doesn’t need to manage all aspects of a consumer experience from A to Z. We all need to work together. This is the death of ownership,” said Alqrainy.
The findings fit the trend of the region increasingly embracing digital technology.
Data from the report shows that 91 percent of consumers across MENA bought products online in the past year, with fashion and clothing making up 46 percent of all online purchases in the region. A fifth of consumers across the region purchased retail products online more frequently than last year, with 33 percent shopping more often for fashion and clothing online.
Paul Carey, executive vice president of Cards & Payments at Al-Futtaim Group said the figures point to a rapidly developing digital ecosystem that allows government agencies, established companies and start-ups to flourish.
“This is particularly evident in payments, where governments have set up regulatory sandbox infrastructure and made it easier for businesses in the region with more flexible visa options and commercial licensing,” he added.
The survey shows that remittance apps remain the most widely utilized form of fintech in MENA, but as other products increase, so does adoption.
The report found that 82 percent of consumers in MENA use some form of fintech app in 2022, up from 76 percent in 2021.
Innovation has been underpinned by solutions such as Visa’s Account Funding Transactions which pull funds from an account and for use on a prepaid card, top up a wallet, or fund a person-to-person money transfer.
“The secure, reliable, and fast movement of digital money between individuals, businesses and governments is the engine powering today’s global economy”, said Saeeda Jaffar, senior vice President and group country manager for the Gulf Cooperation Council region at Visa.
The findings come from the second phase of Checkout.com’s Digital Transformation in MENA 2022 report.
Part one, which was released in October, included insights from 15,000 consumers in the region, while the latest publication contains interviews with business leaders in the digital economy.
RIYADH: More than 50 cooperation and research partnership agreements were signed between universities and various sectors at the Sustainable Partnerships Conference held in Riyadh.
The two-day conference, held under the theme “Research and Innovation Towards A Prosperous Economy” was part of an initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Education to foster ties between Saudi universities and the industrial and development sectors.
The event hosted 150 ministers, decision-makers, local and international leaders — of which 100 were from the industrial and development sector — and 40 Saudi universities and colleges.
Some 1,000 research products and industrial models for universities were presented, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
On the sidelines of the conference, 40 training workshops specialized in research and innovation were held, along with 25 dialogue sessions, in addition to a presentation of 220 scientific inventions through the “Promising Technologies and Innovations” exhibition for the country’s citizens and graduates of Saudi universities.
The conference also saw the Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih announce a new strategy for research and development would soon be launched in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and minimal resources Bandar Al-Khorayef also addressed the forum, revealing that a budget for research and development will be allocated soon.
Al-Khorayef pointed out that the innovation strategy will enhance Saudi Arabia’s exports, and will contribute to national gross domestic production.
According to SPA, the Ministry of Education sought to use the conference — the first of its kind in the Kingdom — to not only strengthen the links between the higher education sector and industry, but also to identify research and innovation needs of national priority and provide effective solutions to them.
The event was held with a growing focus on Saudi Arabia’s R&D sector, as the Kingdom seeks to diversify its economy away from oil in keeping with the Vision 2030 program.
Saudi Arabia is aiming to become one of the top 10 countries in the Global Competitive Index by the end of this decade, increasing from 24th in 2022.
RIYADH: Saudi energy firm ACWA Power will work with Indonesia’s state-owned electricity provider to develop battery storage for renewable energy facilities and green hydrogen development in the Asian country.
The firm has announced it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara — known as PLN — at the B20/G20 Summit in Bali and coincided with the state visit of thw Kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to Indonesia.
According to the terms of the MoU, ACWA Power and PLN will jointly investigate several avenues of partnership, including a project study for pump storage for a 600-800MW hydroelectricity facility; investigating the possibility of a 4GW battery energy storage system and the development of a green hydrogen/ammonia facility that is powered by hydroelectricity.
Paddy Padmanathan, CEO and vice chairman of ACWA Power, said: “As a nation that is fast tracking economic growth, Indonesia is focussed on advancing sustainable development through strategic partnerships.
“With the signing of this extensive renewable energy and green hydrogen MoU with PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, we are delighted to extend our collaboration and strengthen our presence in the country.
“We look forward to partnering with the government in ensuring that its renewable energy goals are realized.”
Indonesia’s National General Energy Plan states that 23 percent of the country’s power should be generated via renewable energy sources by 2025.
PLN is Indonesia’s sole buyer of electricity produced by independent power projects, including power produced from renewable energy projects.
As of last year, the enterprise owns or operates nearly two-thirds of Indonesia’s power generation industry, which is approximately 65.5GW of electricity.
Darmawan Prasodjo, president director and CEO of PLN, said: “Dealing with climate change is not only a challenge to preserve the environment, but also a business opportunity.
“In the future, there will be many PLN agendas in the energy transition that require the collaboration of all parties. ACWA Power and PLN have built a very strong, long-term and productive partnership.”
The agreement comes after ACWA Power and Indonesian energy firm Pertamina New & Renewable Energy signed a joint development agreement on core utilities supplies to Tuban Grass Root Refinery and Petrochemical Project in Java, eastern Indonesia.
This agreement was also signed on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
RIYADH: ROSHN, Saudi Arabia’s national real estate developer, picked up the ‘Residential Project of the Year’ award at the Construction Week Middle East 2022 Awards held in Dubai — capping a month of prizes for the firm.
ROSHN won its latest gong for its flagship SEDRA development — located in Riyadh’s northern sector and set to add more than 30,000 residential units to the capital’s housing stock, as well as providing 20 million sq. m. of integrated neighborhoods supported by education, health care, infrastructure, and retail outlet facilities.
The firm was also highly commended in the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year’ category at the awards, held on Nov. 24, and picked up the same ranking in the ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ section, for the YUHYEEK Zahra Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign during which ROSHN partnered with the Zahra Association to run a nation-wide awareness and support campaign in October.
Those prizes came just weeks after ROSHN picked up prestigious gongs at the Construction Week KSA 2022 Awards.
In addition to winning ‘Developer of the Year’ for its significant contributions to helping transform the Kingdom’s residential sector in line with Vision 2030, ROSHN CEO David Grover was named ‘Real Estate Icon of the Year’ at the prestigious ceremony held on Nov. 9 in Riyadh.
The firm also gained recognition with the title of ‘Highly Commended Female Leader of the Year’, for Group Chief Marketing Officer Ghada Alrumayan, and was shortlisted for ‘Health and Safety Initiative of the Year’.
Commenting on the awards, ROSHN Group CEO David Grover said, “I am honored to be part of an organization that works day and night to remake and remodel the urban fabric of Saudi Arabia. Not one of these awards would have been possible without our incredibly hardworking team, which is empowering a new generation of Saudi homeowners and boosting overall growth.”
He continued: “We are humbled that our efforts to build integrated communities with high-quality housing are being recognised and as we continue to be fully committed to bringing Saudis the highest living quality standards in support of the government’s drive to increase homeownership.”
Guided by the Vision 2030, ROSHN strives to increase homeownership in the Kingdom, bringing a new concept of living to the market, but also works to ensure that ROSHN projects and partnerships contribute to quality of life of and benefit of Saudi society at large, according to a press release from the company.
LONDON: Oil prices were stable on Friday in thin market liquidity, closing a week marked by worries about Chinese demand and haggling over a Western price cap on Russian oil.
Brent crude futures were up 22 cents, or 0.3 percent, to trade at $85.56 a barrel at 1447 GMT, having retraced some earlier gains.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 43 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $78.37 a barrel. There was no WTI settlement on Thursday due to the US Thanksgiving holiday and trading volumes remained low.
Both contracts were headed for their third consecutive weekly declines after hitting 10-month lows this week.
Brent’s market structure implies current demand is softening, with backwardation, defined by front-month prices trading above contracts for later delivery, having weakened markedly in recent sessions .
For the two-month spread , Brent’s structure even dipped into contango this week, implying oversupply with near-term delivery contracts priced below later deliveries.
China, the world’s top oil importer, on Friday reported a new daily record for COVID-19 infections, as cities across the country continued to enforce mobility measures and other curbs to control outbreaks.
This is starting to hit fuel demand, with traffic drifting down and implied oil demand around 1 million barrels per day lower than average, an ANZ note showed.
Meanwhile, G7 and EU diplomats have been discussing a Russian oil price cap between $65 and $70 a barrel, but an agreement has still not been reached ahead of talks expected to resume on Friday.
The aim is to limit revenue to fund Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine without disrupting global oil markets, but the proposed level is broadly in line with what Asian buyers are already paying.
Trading is expected to remain cautious ahead of an agreement on the price cap, due to come into effect on Dec. 5 when an EU ban on Russian crude kicks off, and ahead of the next meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies on Dec. 4
BRUSSELS: The EU and the GCC have underlined their commitment to expanding cooperation during their sixth joint business forum on Thursday in Brussels.
The Forum organized four panels to discuss climate change, energy security, the environment, and the digital transition in EU and GCC countries.
“This meeting is both welcome and timely, given the very challenging global developments we have faced, and continue to face, in 2022,” said European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis in his keynote speech on Thursday
Dombrovskis continued: “In this challenging environment, the EU is fully committed to strengthening economic ties between our two regional blocs. By developing our areas of mutual interest, by working in a more collaborative way, we can achieve real benefits.
“The EU is guided in this important work by our Communication on a ‘Strategic Partnership with the Gulf, published in May of this year. The strategic aim of this roadmap is clear: we want to broaden and deepen our cooperation with the GCC and its member countries.
“We view the Gulf as a dynamic neighboring region, and an important gateway between Europe, Asia and Africa.
The former Lativian prime minister noted that the EU and GCC account for 20 percent of the global economy, 17.5 percent of global trade, and over half of global foreign direct investment.
He emphasizes that forum discussions should focus on areas of mutual interest, such as an improved trade and investment climate, regulatory and customs cooperation, and sustainable development goals.
Dombrovskis also welcomed the economic diversification strategies of Gulf countries, lauding advancements in artificial Intelligence, biotechnology and genetic engineering to boost local production.
In February, the foreign ministers of the GCC and the EU announced a new strategic partnership and adopted a joint action program (JAP) to solidify this partnership over the next five years
Dr. Adbel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg, Assistant Secretary General for Political and Negotiations Affairs in the GCC told the Forum that the timing was ideal to capitalize on the momentum.
“There is no denying that we are living in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, which has led to energy shortages, food insecurity and an economic slowdown that could lead to a global recession, but this is also the time to act, to deal with those repercussions,” Aluwaisheg said.
Aluwaishege proposed five priority areas for the business-to-business cooperation between the EU and GCC: energy, food security, diversification, projects that stimulate job creation and training and education for the new skills.
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