عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

GACA to Organize Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh Next Month

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA)
The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA)
TT
TT

GACA to Organize Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh Next Month

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA)
The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA)

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) is scheduled to organize the third edition of the Future Aviation Forum 2024 (FAF 2024) on May 20-22 in Riyadh.
The FAF 2024 will be organized under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

It is set to attract more than 5,000 international experts from the aviation industry, leaders of international airlines, and officials from aviation authorities in participating countries.

The FAF 2024 will discuss global aviation issues, air transportation, the development of environmental sustainability in the civil aviation sector, enabling advanced air transport, and enhancing global connectivity.

The forum will focus on boosting the efforts to achieve the national strategic objectives of aviation, which aim to transform the Kingdom into a leading logistics center in the Middle East and provide an attractive investment environment in this vital sector.

It will also bring together the elite of heads of states, CEOs of international airlines, manufacturers, airport executives, and industry leaders to shape the future of international air transport.

The second edition of the forum witnessed the participation of 60 countries, the signing of 52 agreements and memoranda of understanding, the holding of 116 bilateral meetings, and the launch of several important policies and strategies for the civil aviation sector. In addition, many partnerships between the public and private sectors were signed.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

EBRD: War and Weather Weigh on Economic Growth Again

A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)
A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)
TT
TT

EBRD: War and Weather Weigh on Economic Growth Again

A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)
A man walks past destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Masaken neighborhood on the outskirts of Tyre, Lebanon on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Hassan FNEICH / AFP)

War and extreme weather are weighing on economic growth in countries covered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the bank said in a semi-annual report released on Thursday.

The downward revision to 2.8% GDP growth this year and 3.5% in 2025 is a small change, shaving off 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points respectively. But it is the second downward adjustment for the lender's region, which covers emerging Europe, central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

"Travelling through European cities, I see that the mood is very much down," EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik told Reuters, adding that Europe was grappling with expanding conflicts and high energy costs.

"There is a sense that Europe (is in) some crisis."

While energy prices have moderated since their spike after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Europe's gas prices are five times higher than those in the United States, the report showed.

Stagnating mining output in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, and severe droughts in Morocco and Tunisia are also clipping growth, it said.

Javorcik said Chinese stimulus measures could boost commodity-exporting EBRD countries, and that trade barriers had led Beijing to pour billions into Hungary, Serbia and Morocco - foreign direct investment that could rise further if global trade policy blocks more imports from China.

But Javorcik said the expanding crisis in the Middle East - with Israel bombing Hezbollah targets in Lebanon - would deepen Lebanon's political and economic crisis.

"It is quite likely that countries that are in proximity to the conflict in the Middle East will see an increase in the risk premium, so their borrowing costs will be higher," she said.

The EBRD also shaved 1.3 percentage points off Ukraine's expected growth in 2025, to 4.7% due to attacks on energy infrastructure, and said they could also cause inflation to accelerate.

"Imported electricity is more expensive, so it increases the cost. Moreover, there are blackouts, rolling blackouts... That's going to be detrimental for energy-intensive industries."

In Russia, though, the EBRD said growth of 4.7% outpaced expectations in the first half of 2024, driven in part by oil export prices that increased by more than 10% year-on-year.

EBRD analysis showed that the discount that importers paid for Russian oil, which once stood at $20 per barrel, had disappeared, casting doubt on the effectiveness of Western price caps.

"Sanctions are working but they are working slowly," Javorcik said. "It's an effect that is cumulative... and it is going to be slowing down Russia's productivity."