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Saudi Arabia’s AlUla Conference: A Global Platform for Shaping Future of Emerging Markets

The closing session with Georgieva and Aljadaan last year (AlUla Conference)
The closing session with Georgieva and Aljadaan last year (AlUla Conference)
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Saudi Arabia’s AlUla Conference: A Global Platform for Shaping Future of Emerging Markets

The closing session with Georgieva and Aljadaan last year (AlUla Conference)
The closing session with Georgieva and Aljadaan last year (AlUla Conference)

Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the second annual AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies, to be held on February 8 and 9 in AlUla Governorate.

The conference is organized in partnership between the Ministry of Finance and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with broad participation from finance ministers, central bank governors, policymakers, leaders of international financial institutions, and economic experts from around the world.

The conference will take place amid rapid transformations in the global economy, requiring emerging-market economies to strengthen their resilience and seize new opportunities to ensure sustainable growth and improve living standards, contributing positively to global economic stability.

The conference underscores the strength of the strategic partnership between the Ministry of Finance and the IMF, and it reflects the Kingdom’s growing role in supporting international economic dialogue and enhancing global cooperation.

Minister of Finance Mohammed Aljadaan stressed that hosting the conference reflects the Kingdom’s continued commitment to supporting international efforts aimed at strengthening global financial and economic stability.

He noted that emerging-market economies are a pivotal component of the global economic system due to their direct impact on global growth and stability.

“AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies provides a unique platform for exchanging views on global economic developments and discussing policies and reforms that support inclusive growth and enhance economic resilience, through broader international cooperation to address shared challenges,” Aljadaan said.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva noted that the conference offers a vital platform for emerging economies to discuss how to navigate risks and seize opportunities ahead.

She highlighted that sweeping global transformations — driven by technology, demographic shifts, and geopolitics — created a more complex and uncertain policy environment, underscoring the need for sound macroeconomic and financial policies to strengthen resilience.

Conference participants will exchange expertise, coordinate policies, and support economic reform pathways, enabling emerging-market economies to benefit from global economic transformations and achieve more inclusive and sustainable growth.

The conference also aims to raise international awareness of the challenges facing emerging-market economies, highlight successful experiences in developing innovative solutions, strengthen international cooperation, support investment attraction, and help improve living standards and achieve economic prosperity.

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Business

Macron Announces 93 Bn Euros in ‘Choose France’ Investments

France's President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint statement with Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, June 1, 2026. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint statement with Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, June 1, 2026. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)
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Macron Announces 93 Bn Euros in ‘Choose France’ Investments

France's President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint statement with Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, June 1, 2026. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint statement with Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, June 1, 2026. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)

President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that he was expecting foreign investments amounting to 93 billion euros ($108 billion) at a conference dubbed "Choose France", including on artificial intelligence and data centers.

Money already pledged as part of his annual investment meeting would surpass the sum of 87 billion euros raised over the past eight years combined, he said.

"This edition of Choose France alone will make it possible to crystallize a record amount of 93 billion euros in confirmed investments, for more than 15,000 jobs. It is obviously by far a record edition, and it is historic," Macron said.

This year's pledges include 45 billion euros from Japanese tech investor SoftBank, Macron said. Its founder, Masayoshi Son, said over the weekend that the money would be spent by 2031 on data centers in northern France.

They would also be spent on "artificial intelligence, on data centers" as well as semiconductors, critical minerals, tractors and trucks, steel and healthcare, the president said.

Macron said these projects would make it possible "to make France by far the leading country hosting data centers" and "computing capacity in Europe", as well as a "forward base for the production of AI robots, and for industrialization through AI".

"We are clearly in the process of closing the gap we had in terms of computing capacity in Europe," compared with the United States and China, he added.

Business

Saudi Fund for Development Moves to Globalize Private Sector, Expand Local Content Abroad

The Saudi capital (SPA) 
The Saudi capital (SPA) 
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Saudi Fund for Development Moves to Globalize Private Sector, Expand Local Content Abroad

The Saudi capital (SPA) 
The Saudi capital (SPA) 

The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) is intensifying strategic efforts to integrate Saudi private-sector companies into major international development projects financed by the Kingdom, in a move designed to expand the global footprint of Saudi businesses and strengthen local content abroad.

The initiative targets Saudi contractors, engineering firms, suppliers, and consulting companies, enabling them to secure operational shares in international markets while prioritizing Saudi-made products and services beyond the kingdom’s borders. The effort aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 goals to diversify income sources and enhance non-oil economic growth.

The current portfolio of projects includes several international tenders across multiple continents. Among the most prominent are the construction and outfitting of the National Blood Transfusion Center in the Comoros, as well as the fifth phase of the Saudi Program for Well Drilling and Rural Development in Uganda.

Additional opportunities include major agricultural and environmental projects in Tunisia, notably the second phase of the Integrated Agricultural Development Project in Ghazala, Joumine, and Sejnane. Other tenders involve coastal protection works to combat marine erosion along the stretch from Gammarth to Carthage, in addition to a polyethylene pipeline distribution network project.

In the academic sector, the fund is also offering Saudi firms the opportunity to compete for civil works contracts related to the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus project in Antigua and Barbuda.

The SFD has invited interested Saudi companies to access tender documents through its official website, emphasizing that it is coordinating directly with relevant authorities to provide technical and logistical support for local investors once procurement procedures are completed.

The move builds on the fund’s longstanding support for the private sector through the Saudi Export Program, which provides credit facilities and financing guarantees aimed at boosting Saudi exports and increasing the participation of national companies in overseas development projects.

The fund has also conducted assessments of the key challenges facing Saudi firms operating abroad, following requests for investors to identify obstacles hindering local content expansion and the prioritization of Saudi products in international projects.

Over the past five decades, the Saudi Fund for Development has financed nearly 800 development projects and programs worth more than SAR 81 billion ($21.6 billion) in over 100 developing countries. The scale of these investments reflects growing opportunities for Saudi contractors, engineering consultancies, and suppliers to expand their international presence and investment reach worldwide.

 

 

Business

Turkish Economy Expands 2.5% in Q1, Pace of Growth Slows Further

Supporters wave Turkish national flags as the leader of Republican People's Party (CHP) delivers a speech during a protest against allegations of vote buying at the CHP congress in November 2023, at their party headquarters in Ankara on May 22, 2026. (AFP)
Supporters wave Turkish national flags as the leader of Republican People's Party (CHP) delivers a speech during a protest against allegations of vote buying at the CHP congress in November 2023, at their party headquarters in Ankara on May 22, 2026. (AFP)
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Turkish Economy Expands 2.5% in Q1, Pace of Growth Slows Further

Supporters wave Turkish national flags as the leader of Republican People's Party (CHP) delivers a speech during a protest against allegations of vote buying at the CHP congress in November 2023, at their party headquarters in Ankara on May 22, 2026. (AFP)
Supporters wave Turkish national flags as the leader of Republican People's Party (CHP) delivers a speech during a protest against allegations of vote buying at the CHP congress in November 2023, at their party headquarters in Ankara on May 22, 2026. (AFP)

Türkiye's economy grew 2.5% year-on-year in the first quarter, slightly below poll forecasts according to official data on Monday, with growth slowing for a third consecutive quarter.

The continued slowdown in growth in the January-March period partially coincided with the Iran war, which sent energy prices soaring and revived inflationary pressures. The conflict's impact on growth going forward remains unclear.

The strongest branch of economic activity during the first quarter was information and ‌technology, which ‌grew 9.5%, while agriculture, forestry and fishing ‌grew ⁠4.6%, Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) ⁠data showed. Industry shrank 0.8%.

The lira was little changed at 45.9160 against the dollar after the data.

TUIK said first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.1% from the previous quarter on a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis,

In a Reuters poll, economic growth was estimated to have slowed to ⁠2.7% in the first quarter, while ‌in 2026 as a ‌whole the economy is expected to expand by 3.15%.

There was ‌no revision to the 2025 growth rate of ‌3.6%, the data showed. After growing 4.7% in the second quarter last year, growth slowed to 3.8% and then 3.4% in the following two quarters.

First-quarter estimates from nine economists ‌in the poll ranged from 2% to 3.7%.

Economists are closely monitoring the central bank's response ⁠to ⁠the inflation, which surged to 4.18% month-on-month in April for an annual rate of 32.87%. In its second inflation report of the year, the central bank raised its year-end inflation interim target from 16% to 24%, while signaling that all options remain on the table for its next interest rate decision.

The bank sold billions of dollars in foreign reserves in the latter part of May after a court ruling ousted the leader of Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).