Saudi Arabia Participates in ‘Summer Davos,’ Launches an Innovative Challenge

The opening ceremony of the 14th annual meeting of the New Champions, known as Summer Davos, in northern China. (EPA)
The opening ceremony of the 14th annual meeting of the New Champions, known as Summer Davos, in northern China. (EPA)
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Saudi Arabia Participates in ‘Summer Davos,’ Launches an Innovative Challenge

The opening ceremony of the 14th annual meeting of the New Champions, known as Summer Davos, in northern China. (EPA)
The opening ceremony of the 14th annual meeting of the New Champions, known as Summer Davos, in northern China. (EPA)

Saudi Arabia intends to launch an innovative challenge for the participants of the 14th edition of the annual meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Davos Summer.

Summer Davos opened in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Tuesday.

The Saudi Ministry of Economy and Planning said it would officially announce ten winners of the creative challenge to enhance food security and improve the supply of healthy and nutritious foods in arid regions.

Last January, the Ministry launched the Food Ecosystems and Arid Climates Challenge in collaboration with UpLink, the WEF open innovation platform, to crowdsource transformative solutions to enhance food security in countries impacted by low rainfall, drought, and desertification.

The challenge is a global call for food entrepreneurs, start-ups, social ventures, and small-medium-sized enterprises to submit solutions incorporating low or high technologies.

The winning cohort will be eligible to access CHF100,000 to scale and implement their venture in regions with arid climates while enhancing their visibility and access to networking opportunities.

The Saudi delegation, which includes six ministers and six deputy ministers, is led by Minister for Economy and Planning Faisal al-Ibrahim, and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Abdullah al-Swaha.

About 1,500 Participants from business, government, international organizations, and academia confirmed their participation in the event themed "Entrepreneurship: The Driving Force of the Global Economy."

On the sidelines of the conference, Ibrahim will hold several high-level bilateral meetings with senior officials participating to discuss boosting economic ties, issues of common interest, and the latest economic developments at a global level.



Egypt's Headline Inflation Inches Up in September

A woman shops at a supermarket in Cairo. Reuters
A woman shops at a supermarket in Cairo. Reuters
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Egypt's Headline Inflation Inches Up in September

A woman shops at a supermarket in Cairo. Reuters
A woman shops at a supermarket in Cairo. Reuters

Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation climbed for a second month in September, rising to 26.4% from 26.2% in August, data from the country's statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Wednesday.

Month-on-month, prices rose by 2.1%, reversing a 0.4% decline in July. Food prices rose by 2.6% compared with 1.8% in August. September food prices were 27.7% higher than they were a year earlier, Reuters reported.

Recent inflation has been driven in part by fuel hikes of 10-15% near the end of July, a 25-33% jump in metro ticket prices at the beginning of August and a 21-31% increase in electricity tariffs in August and September.

Inflation had been declining gradually from September's record high of 38.0%, turning the central bank's real overnight borrowing rate, at 27.25%, positive in July for the first time since January 2022.

A poll of 19 analysts had forecast urban inflation would ease to 25.9% in September.

Egypt has tightened monetary policy under an $8 billion International Monetary Fund financial support package signed in March which also required it to increase many domestic prices and devalue its currency.