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Saudi Arabia to Merge Red Sea Project with Amaala

Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
    Milan, Dubai - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Arabia to Merge Red Sea Project with Amaala

Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

John Pagano, CEO of the Red Sea Development Company and the Amaala project - two prominent pillars of the tourism transformation within the Kingdom Vision 2030 - revealed that Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project, one of the largest resort tourism projects in the world.

Amaala and the Red Sea projects, which are being built on the Red Sea coast, are part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify the Kingdom’s economy by promoting new sectors such as tourism. The two projects are also environmentally friendly and will rely on renewable sources of energy.

The planned “green” financing for the Amaala project would follow a larger loan raised earlier this year for the Red Sea Project.

“We will come to the market probably sometime next year with a financing for Amaala specifically related to the first phase of the project,” Pagano told Reuters on Tuesday.

He said the loan was likely to be between 5 and 10 billion riyals and follows the 14 billion riyals raised by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) earlier this year, Reuters reported.

According to the agency, the Red Sea project loan was provided by four Saudi banks to finance 16 new hotels. The Amaala financing will be for nine hotels in the first phase of the project, Pagano said, adding the plan is to open those facilities in 2024.

Meanwhile, Amaala Company reported that it had awarded more than 230 contracts with a total value of 3.6 billion riyals (one billion dollars) for local and international companies.

In a statement on its official Twitter account, the company said that 78% of the contracts were awarded to Saudi companies as part of its commitment to Saudi Vision 2030 and its contribution to supporting the Saudi economy.

Amaala and The Red Sea Project, wholly owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, will most likely merge into the Red Sea Group by the end of this year.

“The coming together of the two organizations is a natural evolution,” Pagano said.

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IMF Appoints First Mission Chief to Syria in 14 Years

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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IMF Appoints First Mission Chief to Syria in 14 Years

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) police officer directs delegates as people arrive to the building during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The International Monetary Fund has appointed Ron van Rooden as head of its mission to Syria, Syria's Finance Minister Mohammed Yosr Bernieh said in a written statement, making him the first country mission chief since war erupted there 14 years ago.
Bernieh said van Rooden's appointment came "following our request" and he shared a post on LinkedIn, showing himself shaking hands with van Rooden while attending the annual IMF-World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, D.C.
"This important appointment marks an important step and paves the way for constructive dialogue between the IMF and Syria, with the shared objective of advancing Syria's economic recovery and improving the well-being of the Syrian people," Bernieh wrote, according to Reuters.
The IMF press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A source familiar with the IMF's decisions on Syria confirmed van Rooden's appointment.
According to the IMF's website, Syria has had no transactions with the fund in the last 40 years. The last IMF mission trip to Syria was in late 2009, more than a year before protests against then-leader Bashar al-Assad erupted.
Assad's crackdown triggered a full-scale war that left much of the country destroyed before he was ousted in a lightning offensive by the opposition last December.
The new leaders have been keen to re-establish Syria's ties regionally and internationally, rebuild the country and secure the lifting of tough US sanctions to kickstart its economy.
Bernieh and Syria's central bank chief Abdelkader Husrieh are attending the annual spring meetings in Washington, the first time a high-level Syrian government team attends the meetings in at least two decades, and the first official visit by Syria's new authorities to the US since Assad's fall.
On Tuesday, the Saudi finance minister and the World Bank co-hosted a roundtable on Syria. Bernieh, in a separate LinkedIn post, described the roundtable as "very successful" and said there was "unprecedented" interest in supporting Syria's reconstruction.
A top official from the United Nations Development Program told Reuters last week the agency is planning to deliver $1.3 billion in support to Syria over the next three years.