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RIYADH: With the aim of attracting the world’s top educational institutions to open branches in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Education is working on legislation to amend the country’s education regulations.
The government, represented by the Agency for Private University Education, is busy reviewing executive and organizational rules of the Private University Education Regulations.
The initiatives fall under the umbrella of the university system, which will contribute to a strategic transformation in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 objectives.
The ministry wants to increase private sector involvement and attract foreign investments, which will have a role in improving the outputs of university education and entering global competitiveness.
The total number of students enrolled in private colleges and universities has reached 86,000 in 15 universities – including nine non-profits, and 42 licensed private colleges in the Kingdom, according to the most recent figures released by the Statistics Center of the ministry.
There are a total of 409 academic programs, which enhance the chances of successful investment in this sector.
The Agency for Private University Education monitored the most important challenges that some private university institutions were having with regard to investing within the Kingdom.
Numerous meetings were held with the relevant authorities to study the investment opportunities available in university education and the possibility of marketing them abroad, as well as to address the difficulties and challenges faced by investors.
According to research by global consulting firm L.E.K, released at the Education Investment Saudi held in Riyadh on Dec. 7, 2022, rapidly increasing household disposable income and growth in the youth demographic also shows significant headroom for a return on investments in the Kingdom’s schools.
The analysis revealed that the Kingdom is the largest education market in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, with as many as 8.3 million students enrolled in schools and higher education facilities.
However, Saudi Arabia has a lower share of enrollment in private schools compared to other GCC countries, according to Chinmay Jhaveri, partner at L.E.K. Consulting’s Global Education Practice.
“This leaves significant room for growth in the region,” Jhaveri explained in December, adding: “As a part of Vision 2030, the government aims to transition to a knowledge-based economy, with education as a critical component, the market is expected to become more favorable for private operators.”
The education sector is one of the main pillars of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan, with a special focus on enabling the private sector to play an active role in developing it.
ABU DHABI: The seventh annual Global Energy Forum, organized by the Atlantic Council, has opened in Abu Dhabi.
Among the senior figures taking part are US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, US Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein and UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Grant Shapps.
Held as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the event will set the global energy agenda for the year ahead, including looking at the challenge of managing energy security priorities and decarbonization efforts, the Emirates News Agency reported on Saturday.
This year’s forum is of particular importance as critical climate and energy strategy issues take center stage in the run-up to the UN’s Climate Change Conference of the Parties, which the UAE will also host.
Other participants include Ditte Juul Jorgensen, director-general for energy at the European Commission, and Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency.
The forum is convened in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., Mubadala Investment Co., TAQA, and Emirates Nuclear Energy Co., with CNBC as its international media partner.
LONDON: Asian spot liquefied natural gas prices fell for the fourth week in a row on mild weather and ample inventories, with further downward pressure expected due to the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
The average LNG price for February delivery into northeast Asia was $23 per million British thermal units, down $2, or 8 percent, from the previous week, industry sources estimated.
The average price for March delivery is estimated at $20.60 per mmBtu.
“Prices continue to soften with demand still relatively low. At current levels there has been some spot activity but the upcoming Asian holidays will apply downward pressure,” said Toby Copson, global head of trading and advisory at Trident LNG.
“(At) sub-$20, I see some optionality given freight is low compared to recent highs, so this makes for favorable conditions for FOB buyers looking to arbitration into Asia as it is holding a premium,” he said.
In Europe, the start of the year has seen a decline in gas and LNG prices, partly due to a continuation of unseasonably mild weather across the continent, putting less stress on gas inventory levels and sending the benchmark gas price at the Dutch TTF hub down 14 percent since the end of 2022.
“Unless we see a late winter cold snap, the market is expecting storage levels to remain healthy as we come out of winter, which should in turn limit panic around the summer restocking season,” according to Tobias Davis, head of LNG Asia at brokerage firm Tullett Prebon.
S&P Global Commodity Insights (SPGCI) assessed its daily Northwest Europe LNG Marker price benchmark, for cargoes delivered in February on ex-ship basis, at $19.241/mmBtu on Jan. 12, a discount of $2.2/mmBtu to the February gas price at the Dutch gas TTF hub, according to Ciran Roe, global director of LNG.
“March JKM and April JKM derivatives on Jan. 12 are a minus $0.60-2/mmBtu discount to the TTF months. This has eased pressure on the European LNG differentials and means Europe isn’t being outbid for LNG at the moment,” Roe said.
BERLIN: Germany is in talks with Iraq over the possibility of importing natural gas from the oil-rich country, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday, as Berlin scrambles to diversify its energy sources to replace a drop in Russian fossil fuel shipments.
“We also talked about possible gas deliveries to Germany and agreed to stay in close contact,” Scholz told journalists in a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in Berlin.
Scholz did not give further details on the volumes of gas Germany hopes to import from Iraq.
Baghdad has offered opportunities to German companies to invest in using Iraq’s natural gas and the gas generated as a byproduct from oil production, Al-Sudani said, adding that Iraq wants to deliver gas through a pipeline via Turkiye to Europe.
Iraq continues to flare some of the gas extracted alongside crude oil because it lacks the facilities to process it into fuel for local consumption or exports.
RIYADH: Finland’s “cutting-edge” mining technology can help Saudi Arabia achieve its excavation goals, a minister from the European nation told Arab News as she praised the opportunties available to foreign companies in the Kingdom.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Nina Vaskunlahti – Finland’s deputy minister for international trade – revealed she had met with the Gulf’s largest mining firm Ma’aden to discuss opportunities for closer working.
The meeting with the Saudi-based firm is one of a number of examples of the growing relationship between the two countries, following a visit from a 40-strong delegation from the Kingdom to Finland at the end of 2022, led by Minister of Commerce Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi.
“Finland has cutting-edge technologies in mining equipment, in machinery, in digitalization, in circular economy solutions,” said Vaskunlahti, adding that her country has “new technologies, new ideas that we think would fit the Saudi needs as far as the Vision 2030 is concerned.”
She highlighted a number of Finnish businesses already working in the Kingdom’s mining sector, including a firm with the technology to clean municipality wastewater so it can be reused in mining processes.
When asked about the number of memorandums of understanding signed between firms from the two countries, the deputy minister said: “This week, for instance, I can think of at least maybe around five or six, which is not too bad.
“The Finnish Geological Survey – they have five projects going on here already. Yesterday (Wednesday) we met with Ma’aden and we were discussing new opportunities. So our survey people will get in touch with Ma’aden relevant contacts over there and look what possibly can be done.”
When asked how much more the relationship can develop, Vaskunlahti replied: “Well, of course, for me it’s difficult to say how many more companies will be coming here.
“It also very much depends on the companies’ own decisions. It depends on the investment climate and the opportunities that Saudi Arabia can offer.
“What I have seen and witnessed in four days is that there are plenty of opportunities for Finnish companies and there are companies that have been operating here for the last 20, 30, 40 years.”
Vaskunlahti was keen to stress the changes she was seeing in the Kingdom, and said: “I am impressed at the speed that the country is changing.
“I am impressed by how many impressive women I have met and how their number in the workforce has increased and how influential they are and how they are pushing things forward.”
The second edition of the Future Minerals Forum began on Jan. 10 with a ministerial roundtable, followed by two days of meetings and addresses involving more than 200 speakers from around the world.
The forum came as Saudi Arabia was deemed to be on track to become a “global leader” in the mining industry thanks to the Kingdom’s “welcoming investment climate” according to a report from The Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School for Mines in the US, issued in December.
RIYADH: Angola is ready to work with Saudi Arabia in the field of mining as the African country looks to excavate minerals including copper, nickel and lithium, according to its ambassador.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Frederico Manuel dos Santos e Silva Cardoso talked up the relationship between his country and the Kingdom, saying investment could flow between the two nations.
As well as the mining sector, he also flagged up infrastructure developments as a possible area of cooperation.
His comments came just days after the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Angola signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost economic ties between the countries.
The MoU includes plans for delegation visits, and exchanging information on markets and investment opportunities.
“Angola is also engaged in diversifying the economy,” said Cardoso, referencing Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 drive to move the Kingdom’s economy away from oil.
“We can work in several fields on mining. For example, Angola has copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, diamonds, and also has ornamental rocks that could be areas that we could work (on) together,” he added.
On infrastructure work, the ambassador said: “We have opportunities for projects of PPP – Public-private partnership.
“This is one of the areas that we are working on in order to put both countries working together.”
Relations between Angola and Saudi Arabia have strengthened in recent years, with the Southern African country opening an embassy in Riyadh in 2021.
Bilateral relations between the Kingdom and Angola began in 2007 and were reinforced in 2019 with the visit of a high-level delegation from Saudi Arabia to the Southern African nation.
Referring to the recent MoU, Cardoso said it was “the first step” to helping strengthen relations between private businesses in the two countries.
“This MoU will establish the main lines for the cooperation between both sides and is going to be a way to make Angola better known in Saudi Arabia, and to make Saudi Arabia known by the Angolan businessmen. I think that this is an opportunity to put Angolan and Saudi businessmen working together directly in order to find opportunities in both countries,” he added.
Looking ahead, the ambassador said Angola and the Kingdom could look to find ways of “promoting and protecting the investment that could be done by each country”.
“We are ready to negotiate, case by case, the opportunities of investments in Angola,” Cardoso explained.
“We have to work on the framework of legal MoUs or legal contracts because we have to establish a basic platform in which both countries will work. For example, we are working in order to establish a legal agreement to avoid double taxation,” he said.
Saudi Arabia seeking to amend private education regulations in bid … – Arab News
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