Saudi Arabia Plans to Unify Strategy of Saudi-Foreign Business Councils

Deserted streets in the coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)
Deserted streets in the coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)
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Saudi Arabia Plans to Unify Strategy of Saudi-Foreign Business Councils

Deserted streets in the coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)
Deserted streets in the coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)

Business leaders have welcomed Saudi efforts to implement fundamental changes to the regulations of joint business councils with the aim of boosting their role in the future.

The aspired changes seek to enable the councils to overcome the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic and strengthen their capacity to hold successful commercial partnerships and achieve the goals of Vision 2030.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Dr. Kamel Al-Munajjed, Chairman of the Saudi Indian Business Council, said: “The General Authority for Foreign Trade is working to develop the regulations of Saudi foreign business councils in order to keep abreast of developments after the coronavirus pandemic and to accelerate successful commercial partnerships to increase the private sector’s contribution to foreign trade.”

According to Al-Munajjed, one of the most important problems that the joint business councils faced over the past years was the lack of a unified strategy and the absence of unified standards for measuring performance.

He stressed that the development of regulations to overcome the aforementioned obstacles would give a great impetus to the work of the joint councils in contributing to the development of foreign trade and achieving many goals in Vision 2030.

For his part, Mohammed Al-Hammadi - a member of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and former head of a joint Saudi business council - underlined the importance of the planned move by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Authority for Foreign Trade regarding developing a work regulation for Saudi foreign business councils to keep pace with the post-pandemic period.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Hammadi expected that the new regulations would greatly contribute to the development of Saudi foreign relations on the economic, commercial and investment levels.



Gold Jumps, on Track for Best Week in Over a Year on Safe-haven Demand

FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
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Gold Jumps, on Track for Best Week in Over a Year on Safe-haven Demand

FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

Gold prices rose over 1% to hit a two-week peak on Friday, heading for the best weekly performance in more than a year, buoyed by safe-haven demand as Russia-Ukraine tensions intensified.

Spot gold jumped 1.3% to $2,703.05 per ounce as of 1245 GMT, hitting its highest since Nov. 8. US gold futures gained 1.1% to $2,705.30.

Bullion rose despite the US dollar hitting a 13-month high, while bitcoin hit a record peak and neared the $100,000 level.

"With both gold and USD (US dollar) rising, it seems that safe-haven demand is lifting both assets," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Ukraine's military said its drones struck four oil refineries, radar stations and other military installations in Russia, Reuters reported.

Gold has gained over 5% so far this week, its best weekly performance since October 2023. Prices have gained around $173 after slipping to a two-month low last week.

"We understand that the price setback has been used by 'Western world' investors under-allocated to gold to build exposure considering the geopolitical risks that are still around. So we continue to expect gold to rise further over the coming months," Staunovo said.

Bullion tends to shine during geopolitical tensions, economic risks, and a low interest rate environment. Markets are pricing in a 59.4% chance of a 25-basis-points cut at the Fed's December meeting, per the CME Fedwatch tool.

However, "if Fed skips or pauses its rate cut in December, that will be negative for gold prices and we could see some pullback," said Soni Kumari, a commodity strategist at ANZ.

The Chicago Federal Reserve president reiterated his support for further US interest rate cuts on Thursday.

On Friday, spot silver rose 1.8% to $31.34 per ounce, platinum eased 0.1% to $960.13 and palladium fell 0.6% to $1,023.55. All three metals were on track for a weekly rise.