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Saudi-Turkish Business Forum Explores Investment, Tourism Opportunities

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz meeting with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih (X)
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz meeting with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih (X)
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Saudi-Turkish Business Forum Explores Investment, Tourism Opportunities

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz meeting with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih (X)
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz meeting with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih (X)

Saudi Arabia and Türkiye are looking to strengthen economic, tourism, and investment ties, tapping into available opportunities to enhance collaboration across various sectors in both countries.

Speaking at the Türkiye-Saudi Arabia Investment and Business Forum held in Istanbul, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih highlighted numerous areas for cooperation with Türkiye.

The minister noted Türkiye’s role as a major food supplier to the Kingdom and emphasized Saudi Arabia’s positive credit ratings, signaling progress towards Vision 2030 goals and its potential for affordable green energy.

Al-Falih stressed the strategic importance of Saudi-Turkish relations, underlining the significant role of private companies from both countries in boosting economic and trade ties.

He also mentioned the increasing presence of Turkish companies in Saudi Arabia, from just 20-30 a few years ago to around 400 last year.

On his part, Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said that Türkiye and Saudi Arabia should seize opportunities to strengthen cooperation in certain areas of mutual interest.

He expressed readiness to collaborate with Saudi Arabia in tourism, construction, and defense industries, with potential projects in Africa.

He highlighted Türkiye’s position as a top tourism destination globally and its support for service exports, offering substantial discounts to encourage exports.

Simsek also mentioned the growing investment flows to Türkiye, expecting further acceleration after the upcoming local elections.

Türkiye also aims to increase its trade volume with Saudi Arabia to $30 billion in the medium term, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz affirmed at the one-day forum.

Yilmaz said the trade volume between the countries reached $6.8 billion in 2023, while Saudi firms have made an investment of $2 billion in Türkiye so far.

“Türkiye provides opportunities for investors in technology, defense, renewable energy, petrochemicals, finance, tourism and housing as part of international investments,” he said.

About his meeting with Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb, Yilmaz said: “While we expressed our satisfaction that the number of tourists coming to Türkiye from Saudi Arabia increased by 70% in 2023, reaching approximately 830,000, we evaluated the importance of the number of our citizens visiting Saudi Arabia from Türkiye increasing more than 3.5 times and reaching 670,000 in 2023.”

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Business

South Korean Airlines Cut Flights Amid Soaring Oil Prices

 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 
 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 
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South Korean Airlines Cut Flights Amid Soaring Oil Prices

 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 
 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 

South Korean low-cost carriers have cut 900 round-trip flights and introduced unpaid leave and other emergency measures as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has driven up fuel prices, industry officials said Sunday.

The flight cuts came as jet fuel prices surged following the US-Iran conflict, Yonhap News Agency reported.

As some airlines have yet to finalize their June schedules, the number of flight reductions is expected to increase further, according to the officials.

Jeju Air, South Korea’s largest budget airline, decided to cut 187 round-trip international flights, equivalent to 4% of its total operations, on routes from Incheon, west of Seoul, to Bangkok, Singapore, and the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and Phu Quoc during May and June.

Since late April, it has also suspended its Vientiane route for two months.

Jin Air cut 176 round-trip flights to destinations, including Guam and Phu Quoc, through the end of this month. Further reductions are expected once its June schedule is finalized.

Among full-service carriers, Asiana Airlines has cut 27 round-trip flights on six routes, including Phnom Penh and Istanbul, through July following the outbreak of the Middle East conflict.

Korean Air, South Korea’s largest carrier, has not yet adjusted its flight operations but said it is closely monitoring the situation under an emergency management system.

Jet fuel prices have surged 2.5 times since the outbreak of the war.

The average Singapore jet fuel price, which is used as the benchmark for fuel surcharges, stood at $214.71 per barrel from March 16 to April 15, up 150% from two months earlier.

Budget airlines are particularly vulnerable due to their weaker financial conditions compared with major carriers.

 

Business

Oil Soars as Trump Rejects Iran's Terms

An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)
An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)
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Oil Soars as Trump Rejects Iran's Terms

An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)
An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)

Oil prices rose in Asian trade on Monday after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran's terms for ending the war in the Middle East, while stocks were mixed.

Trump's repudiation of Iran's response to his latest peace proposal raised the likelihood of further violence and disruptions to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, reported AFP.

"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" said Trump, who is due in China this week where the war will likely loom large in discussions.

"We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday on X.

"President Trump's swift rejection of these counter-demands underscores the wide gulf between both sides, pointing to a risk of prolonged uncertainty rather than rapid de-escalation," said Lloyd Chan at Japanese bank MUFG.

"For oil markets, this suggests a persistent geopolitical risk premium as Hormuz disruptions drag on," Chan said.

Stocks were mixed, with the Nikkei down 0.4 percent and the Hang Seng off 0.34 percent but Seoul's Kopsi was up four percent, boosted by tech stocks.

In Tokyo, Nintendo shares plunged almost 10 percent after the Japanese gaming giant warned Friday of lower profits this year and said it would hike the price of its Switch 2 console.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was due in Japan and South Korea before heading to China for Trump's high-stakes summit with President Xi Jinping, which Beijing on Monday confirmed would take place Wednesday to Friday.

In Japan Bessent was set to meet Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday, with Tokyo's reported recent market interventions to support the yen likely a talking point.

In Seoul the treasury secretary said he would meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

"Economic security is national security," Bessent said on X.

While Washington and Beijing slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's exports a year ago, Trump and Xi agreed on a year-long trade truce in October in South Korea.

Business

Iraq Raises June Basrah Medium Crude Price to Asia to $4.30 a Barrel

Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)
Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)
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Iraq Raises June Basrah Medium Crude Price to Asia to $4.30 a Barrel

Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)
Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)

Iraq has raised the June official selling price for Basrah Medium crude oil to Asia to $4.30 a barrel against the average of Oman/Dubai quotes from the May OSP of $17.30 a barrel, state-owned Iraqi oil marketer SOMO said on Sunday.

Basra Heavy to Asia in the same month was priced at $2.20 a barrel to Oman/Dubai quotes, from $15.20 a barrel set for May.

Iraq has offered term buyers May-loading Basrah crude at steep discounts for loading inside the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely blocked since ‌the Iran conflict began.

The OPEC producer is offering its flagship Basrah Medium crude at discounts of $33.40, or $26 a barrel to its May official selling price, for loading on May 1 to May 10 or May 11 to May 31, ⁠respectively, according to a May 3 notice from state oil marketer SOMO seen by Reuters.

It also offered May-loading Basrah Heavy crude at a discount of $30 per barrel to the May OSP, the document showed.

The cargoes are sold on a free-on-board basis at the Basrah Oil Terminal or Single Point Moorings, both located inside the Strait of Hormuz.

The OSP is determined ‌on ⁠the final destination of the cargoes, it said.

The discounts underscore mounting pressure on Iraqi crude exports as shipping risks persist in the waterway, a ⁠critical artery for global oil flows.

Iraqi crude exports, which averaged 3.33 million barrels per day in 2025, are mostly shipped to Asia, ⁠Kpler data showed.

In April, only two vessels loaded at Iraq's Basra port, one of them has past the Strait ⁠of Hormuz while the other one has not been out, according to Kpler.