'Friends of Sudan' Postpones Donors’ Conference to Next June

Sudanese civilians wave their national flags during celebrations of the signing of the Sudan's power sharing deal, in Khartoum, Sudan (Reuters)
Sudanese civilians wave their national flags during celebrations of the signing of the Sudan's power sharing deal, in Khartoum, Sudan (Reuters)
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'Friends of Sudan' Postpones Donors’ Conference to Next June

Sudanese civilians wave their national flags during celebrations of the signing of the Sudan's power sharing deal, in Khartoum, Sudan (Reuters)
Sudanese civilians wave their national flags during celebrations of the signing of the Sudan's power sharing deal, in Khartoum, Sudan (Reuters)

The “Friends of Sudan” group promised to offer great support for the transitional government in Sudan to overcome the obstacles facing the country's transitional period and decided to postpone the donors' conference to June.

Sudanese Minister of Finance Ibrahim al-Badawi said: “Friends of Sudan” had agreed in the Stockholm meetings to hold the donors' conference on June 2020 and promised to disclose the sums expected to be donated to assist the government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

The Minister described the Stockholm meetings as “successful”, adding that the coming donors' conference will be held following the meeting of the societal economic conference in Sudan, scheduled for March.

Badawi affirmed that Sudan's partners and friends have promised to provide considerable support to the country, indicating that he participated earlier in meetings organized by ''Friends of Sudan'' in Sweden.

The meetings would be followed by another one in Paris during which specified commitments are expected to be announced for the donors' conference scheduled for the first half of next June, according to the Minister.

Badawi stressed that donor countries can now extend their contribution after consultations with concerned ministries.

The “Friends of Sudan” was established in 2018 as an informal group, then it gained official status after the outbreak of the revolution in 2019. It includes a group of countries and organizations committed to joint action to provide support to the transitional government in the country.

Meanwhile, a member of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, Siddiq Tawer, inaugurated Tuesday the 5th International Mining Business Forum and Exhibition in Khartoum, with the participation of 55 international companies.

Tawer called for promoting the mining sector in Sudan by taking advantage of modern technologies, adding that this year’s conference takes place in light of new political and economic conditions after the December revolution.

The official pointed out that the civil mining is one of the challenges that affect the environment, and this sector needs to be managed in a special way that provides alternatives to transition to a more productive and harmless field for the environment and health of workers.

He cautioned against using the cheap technology that destroys the environment, explaining that the transitional government's strategy focuses on training and providing job opportunities for young people.

The three-day forum is organized by the Sudanese Ministry of Energy and Mining, represented by the Public Authority for Geological Research, and seeks to develop the sector and attract investments.

Also at the conference, the Sudanese Minister of Energy and Mining, Adel Ali Ibrahim hoped 2020 will be a year for mining, stressing that with efforts between the relevant authorities, the mining sector will occupy the leading and pioneering role in the Sudanese economy.



Google Cloud CEO to Asharq Al-Awsat: Our Data Centers Are Crisis-Resilient, Not Bound by Borders

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Google Cloud CEO to Asharq Al-Awsat: Our Data Centers Are Crisis-Resilient, Not Bound by Borders

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

At Google Cloud Next in Las Vegas, Thomas Kurian, chief executive of Google Cloud, responded to a question from Asharq Al-Awsat about attacks on hyperscale cloud data centers amid regional tensions by moving quickly beyond physical protection. The issue, he suggested, is no longer simply how to defend infrastructure, but how to ensure customers are not left dependent on one location when disruption occurs.

Kurian said Google Cloud has managed through global conflict scenarios for many years and has built not only physical safeguards, but also a private global network with extensive redundancy linking its data centers.

The company can shift workloads away from affected locations and replicate them globally because its cloud regions operate as a unified and consistently synchronized architecture, he explained. For customers, he argued, that means they are not tied to a single physical site.

His response moved the discussion from infrastructure protection toward a broader strategic question: whether cloud architecture itself has become part of business continuity planning.

From experimentation to operations

That framing also offered one of the clearest ways to understand Google Cloud’s broader message at Next 2026. Throughout the event, attended by more than 30,000 participants, the company sought to underscore that enterprise AI is moving from experimentation into what it calls the agentic enterprise.

Google Cloud said roughly 75 percent of its customers already use its AI-powered products. Some 330 customers processed more than one trillion tokens over the past 12 months, while more than 35 customers surpassed 10 trillion tokens. The company also said its frontier models now process more than 16 billion tokens per minute, up from 10 billion in the previous quarter.

The purpose of those figures was to signal that AI is no longer a side experiment, but an operational layer companies want to use across their businesses.

Integration and openness together

Perhaps most revealing in the private Q&A with Kurian was what he suggested about where competition is heading. He argued that Google Cloud’s distinguishing advantage lies in combining proprietary chips, frontier models, infrastructure and tools, allowing the company to optimize the entire stack, from computing power to the efficiency of AI agents.

The broader argument was that the next phase of AI will not be determined only by who has the strongest model, but by who can design the broader system around it most effectively. At the same time, Kurian paired this with another point equally important to enterprise customers: openness. He stressed that he does not expect companies to rely exclusively on Google Cloud and said the company has deliberately kept its architecture open.

He pointed to support for multiple models, Google’s own chips, close collaboration with NVIDIA, compatibility with different data platforms and partnerships with third parties in security.

That matters because enterprises want the efficiency of deep integration without being locked into a closed environment. Google Cloud is signaling it can provide a vertically integrated stack while still operating across diverse enterprise technology environments.

Sovereignty at the forefront

Sovereignty also emerged as a major theme. Asked whether European customers would receive the full product offering, Kurian said the broader product is already available in Europe in compliance with sovereignty regulations, hosted across multiple sites including Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom.

Though the answer focused on Europe, its significance extends beyond the continent. Enterprise customers, including Saudi Arabia, increasingly want advanced AI services without giving up control over where their data is hosted and processed. That is not a side issue, but part of the architecture of trust itself.

Connectors make the difference

Kurian also addressed another practical issue tied to one of enterprise AI’s real bottlenecks.

Asked who would build the connections between Gemini Enterprise and the many applications companies already use, he said Google Cloud is doing so itself. The company already offers more than 100 connectors covering document repositories, software-as-a-service applications and databases.

He added that Google Cloud also provides a framework for building connectors and supports standards such as Bring Your Own MCP for custom-built systems.

The significance of that point lies at the heart of why many enterprise AI projects struggle: a model may be impressive in isolation, but it only becomes useful when it connects to where work actually happens — documents, business applications, records and databases.

AI and defense

The cybersecurity portion of the discussion was no less significant.

Kurian said Google Cloud recognized some time ago that as models improve at understanding software, malicious actors would use them to analyze code, discover vulnerabilities and attack systems. In his view, the response must also be driven by AI.

He described one layer focused on analyzing and repairing a company’s own code, pointing to a new model called Code Defender that helps fix vulnerabilities.

A second layer focuses on external threats, including threat hunting and threat intelligence. He pointed to Dark Web Intelligence announced at the conference, saying it can prioritize the threats customers should defend against with about 90 percent accuracy.

He also linked this logic to Google Cloud’s acquisition of Wiz, describing a layered model in which a red agent probes systems for weaknesses, a blue team identifies the needed fixes and a green layer carries out remediation.


Saudi Industry Minister Discusses Boosting Industrial Cooperation with Oman

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef and President of Oman's Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones Qais Al-Yousef meet in Riyadh on Monday. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef and President of Oman's Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones Qais Al-Yousef meet in Riyadh on Monday. (SPA)
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Saudi Industry Minister Discusses Boosting Industrial Cooperation with Oman

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef and President of Oman's Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones Qais Al-Yousef meet in Riyadh on Monday. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef and President of Oman's Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones Qais Al-Yousef meet in Riyadh on Monday. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef met in Riyadh on Monday with President of Oman's Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones Qais Al-Yousef for talks on boosting industrial cooperation and developing joint investments between their countries.

They tackled means to strengthen cooperation in the fields of industrial cities and special economic zones, in addition to developing strategic partnerships that enhance industrial integration between the two countries in a manner that supports regional supply chains and boosts the competitiveness of the Saudi and Omani economies.

They stressed the importance of expanding industrial and investment partnerships, exchanging expertise and experiences in developing industrial infrastructure, and enabling high-quality investments in priority industrial sectors. This aligns with the objectives of the two countries’ national visions, contributing to sustainable economic development and achieving shared interests.

The meeting comes within the framework of strengthening economic relations between Saudi Arabia and Oman and advancing cooperation in the industrial sector to achieve the goals of economic development and industrial integration between them.


Gold Hits Three-Week Low with US-Iran Talks, Central Bank Decisions in Focus

A jeweller holds gold bars in Cairo, Egypt, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A jeweller holds gold bars in Cairo, Egypt, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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Gold Hits Three-Week Low with US-Iran Talks, Central Bank Decisions in Focus

A jeweller holds gold bars in Cairo, Egypt, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A jeweller holds gold bars in Cairo, Egypt, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)

Gold fell to a three-week low on Tuesday, as elevated oil prices kept inflation concerns high, while investors awaited key central bank decisions this week to see if the Middle East conflict has altered the interest rate outlook.

Spot gold was down 1.1% at $4,628.63 per ounce, ‌as of 0746 GMT, ‌its lowest level since April 7. ‌US ⁠gold futures for June ⁠delivery fell 1.1% to $4,642.90.

US President Donald Trump is unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal on resolving the two-month war, a US official said, dampening hopes for a resolution to the conflict that has disrupted energy supplies, fueled inflation, and killed thousands.

"Geopolitical headlines are still the main driver (of gold prices). In the ⁠event of a deal (between the US and Iran) ‌or an interim deal, the ‌dollar should weaken, and gold will likely break out to the upside," ‌said Edward Meir, analyst at Marex.

The dollar gained, ‌and oil prices rose above $111 a barrel, as the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway remained largely shut.

Higher crude oil prices can stoke inflation by raising transportation and production costs, increasing the likelihood of higher ‌interest rates.

While gold is considered an inflation hedge, high interest rates make yield-bearing assets ⁠more attractive, weighing ⁠on its appeal.

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady on Tuesday but three of its nine-member board proposed hiking borrowing costs, signaling policymakers' concerns over inflationary pressures from the Middle East conflict.

The US Federal Reserve is also widely expected to hold interest rates steady at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday.

Investors will be focusing on other central bank decisions this week, including those from the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada.

Spot silver fell 2.9% to $73.28 per ounce, platinum lost 1.6% to $1,951.33, and palladium was down 1.6% at $1,453.38.