Saudi Arabia

16 June 2022; MEMO: The Saudi royal family has launched a non-profit organisation called the Hevolution Foundation, which plans to invest $1 billion annually in funding anti-ageing research and the biology of extending human lifespan.

20 May 2022; MEMO: An unlikely Royal joined a Saudi delegation to the UAE this week, and readers of the Kingdom's political landscape are viewing the move as a message of family unity from its de facto ruler after fractious years spent building his power base, Reuters reports.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Ahmed is the eldest son of Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the detained brother of the Saudi Monarch, and has no official post.

20 May 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has acquired a five per cent stake in Japanese gaming giant Nintendo, worth $2.98 billion.

According to a filing with Japan's Ministry of Finance yesterday, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought 6.5 million shares in the makers of the iconic Mario and Donkey Kong games.

19 May 2022; MEMO: Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajraf, yesterday welcomed the European Union's adoption of a Joint Communication on a Strategic Partnership with the Gulf.

17 May 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has assured its citizens that there is no shortage of wheat supplies in the country, amid global shortages exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war.

Speaking in a programme called 'In the open' on a Saudi television channel, the Deputy Governor of the Saudi Grains Organisation (SAGO), Zaid Al Shabanat, made the assurance by clarifying that his organisation's strategy is to source grain from multiple countries and continents instead of relying on a single source.

16 May 2022; MEMO: Saudi Aramco Company announced on Sunday, that it attained an increase of 82 per cent in its profits in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same period last year, due to the high oil prices that made it the most expensive company in the world, with respect the market value.

The announcement is a continuation of the good news for the Saudi economy, which is achieving the fastest growth rate in a decade, due to the revenues of the oil sector.

12 May 2022; MEMO: The United Kingdom yesterday announced an exemption of entry visas for all Saudi nationals.

11 May 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's futuristic megacity, NEOM, will hold millions of "Neomians" by the year 2030, according to the project's Head of Tourism.

Speaking to the Emirati newspaper, The National, the NEOM project's Head of Tourism, Andrew McEvoy, said that people are expected to begin arriving to the city in 2024, when "you will see a lot of movement as our first tourism assets begin to open."

10 May 2022; MEMO: The economy of Saudi Arabia is expected to exceed $1 trillion by the end of the year, for the first time in the kingdom's history, according to recent forecasts by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Last month, amid a surge in oil prices, the IMF revised its economic forecast for Saudi Arabia anticipating a 2.8 per cent growth.

10 May 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's Oil and Energy Chief has warned that capacity in all energy sectors is decreasing and becoming ever more limited, as resources such as crude oil and natural gas are in higher demand amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.