Finance Saudi Arabia not a member of Brics yet says minister By Pramod Kumar January 17, 2024, 7:03 AM malkassabi/X Saudi minister of commerce Majid Al-Kasabi (second from left) at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos: Saudi Arabia is not yet officially a member of the Brics bloc, the minister has said Saudi Arabia has not formally become a member of the Brics bloc of countries, the kingdom’s minister of commerce has confirmed. “Saudi Arabia has been invited to attend Brics, we have not yet officially joined Brics,” Majid Al Kasabi told the World Economic Forum in Davos. The minister’s statement comes in response to an earlier report by Saudi state TV that the kingdom had joined the bloc, only for the station to remove the report from its social media accounts later, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia and UAE among five new Brics members Russia says expansion will strengthen Brics With Saudi on side, the Brics can change the world Last August the founding members, Brazil, Russia, India, and China, together with South Africa, which joined a year after the bloc came together in 2009, invited six other nations, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and Argentina, to become part of their group. Argentina declined the invitation after President Javier Milei, who took office this month, reversed his predecessor’s membership bid. The five invitees sent senior-level representatives to a Brics “sherpa meeting”, when personal representatives of the leader of a nation come together for negotiations, in Durban, South Africa, and fully participated in the gathering, Bloomberg reported, quoting South Africa’s envoy to the bloc, Anil Sooklal, from December 2023. Sooklal said that the new members will send officials to a sherpa meeting in Moscow on January 30.
Construction Eagle Hills signs contract for Budapest redevelopment Abu Dhabi-based developer Eagle Hills has signed a real estate purchase agreement with Hungary to start work on transforming a rundown area of Budapest. The project, spanning an area of 100 hectares, will have a development cost of more than €12 billion ($12.3 billion), the developer said in a statement. The project is supported by the […] 39 mins ago
Economy Lebanon and Sudan swell Arab countries’ public debt Public debt in Arab countries swelled by nearly $142 billion at the end of 2023, mainly because of a sharp rise in obligations by Lebanon and war-battered Sudan. Total debt increased despite a fall in Egypt’s public, mostly domestic, dues as a result of a large depreciation in the pound against the US dollar. The […] 2 hours ago
Trade UK invests $5bn in Oman in 12 months The United Kingdom pumped more than $5 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) into Oman in the 12 months from October 2023, maintaining its position as the biggest external investor in the country, official data shows. The UK’s cumulative stock of FDI in Oman was 13.7 billion Omani rials ($35.6 billion) by the end of […] 2 hours ago
Oil & Gas ‘It’s costing huge sums’ – Iraq may stop buying Iranian gas Iraq may stop importing natural gas from its neighbour Iran when projects to develop the country’s unexploited gas resources are complete, the country’s oil minister has hinted. Hayan Abdel Ghani told the official Iraqi news agency that the bill for Iranian gas imports was sapping Iraq’s coffers, and the Iranian supplies were no longer secure, […] 3 hours ago
