Saudi MODON Attracts Investments Worth $34.6 Mn to Localize Aircraft Industries

A view of an exhibit at the World Defense Show 2024 in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A view of an exhibit at the World Defense Show 2024 in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi MODON Attracts Investments Worth $34.6 Mn to Localize Aircraft Industries

A view of an exhibit at the World Defense Show 2024 in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A view of an exhibit at the World Defense Show 2024 in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON) has attracted investments worth $34.6 million to localize military aircraft industries, including drones, and provide repair, maintenance, and overhaul services for ships.

The investment is one of the authority’s objectives to promote investment opportunities in industrial cities among major local and international companies.

MODON signed two contracts to allocate two ready-made factories with an area of 700 square meters and investments of $13.3 million in manufacturing military aircraft, parts and pieces of military and civil aircraft, and drones.

It concluded a contract to allocate a logistics land area of 3,000 square meters and investments of $8 million for ship repair and maintenance.

The contract also stipulates repair, maintenance, and overhaul services for spare parts for military vehicles, aircraft, ships, water filtration devices, ship and train engines, and valves.

MODON participated in a pavilion in the second edition of the World Defense Show 2024, held in Riyadh between February 4 and 8.

The event was held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, to represent the industrial sector and highlight the qualitative opportunities, capabilities, and incentives to enable military industries to align with the National Industrial Strategy.

According to MODON, the benefits of investing in its 36 industrial cities throughout the Kingdom include the availability of a labor force, advanced infrastructure, and logistical solutions that help achieve a competitive and sustainable industrial economy.



Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.