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Saudi Arabia Leads Efforts to Boost Mining Industry in Middle East

A workshop is held ahead of the Future Minerals Summit in cooperation with the Saudi Geological Survey. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A workshop is held ahead of the Future Minerals Summit in cooperation with the Saudi Geological Survey. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Leads Efforts to Boost Mining Industry in Middle East

A workshop is held ahead of the Future Minerals Summit in cooperation with the Saudi Geological Survey. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A workshop is held ahead of the Future Minerals Summit in cooperation with the Saudi Geological Survey. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has been working to boost and develop the mining industry to attract foreign investments.

It will host the Future Minerals Summit (FMS) in Riyadh from January 11 to 13, 2022.

This is the first-ever event to offer a “one-stop-shop” for investors, miners and other industry stakeholders interested in learning more about the mining potential of the Middle East, Central Asia, and North and East Africa.

The summit is expected to serve as a global platform to attract foreign direct investment to the local market and the region by forging partnerships, exchanging technical knowledge and advanced technologies in the field of mining.

The event seeks to present the region as a global mining hub and raise the level of awareness of the importance of the mining industry in the Kingdom and the region.

Its organizers aim for the summit to be the pivotal starting point for charting the future of mining and its contribution to the development of societies.

Director of Communications at FMS Tariq al-Qwaifel told Asharq Al-Awsat that the mining field includes experts and investors who look for their investment opportunities through experts specializing in this industry.

They usually meet in various forums held in several world countries that bring together investors and experts in the sector and industry leaders to identify the opportunities that investors are looking for, he explained.

Qwaifel said January's summit is a precedent in the Middle East, Central Asia, and North and East Africa region.

Therefore, the idea to hold the summit under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the support of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, arose to allow the Kingdom to become a pioneer in this industry.

“By announcing the event, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources aimed at turning the event into an international forum for investors in these regions to explore all the opportunities available in this sector.”

Saudi Arabia also is convening a Ministerial Roundtable in Riyadh a day before the summit kicks off to define the future of mining across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

Ministerial representatives of 25 governments will meet to address key questions and highlight the greatest opportunities across these regions.

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China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China announced Friday that it would expand visa-free entry to citizens of nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy.
Starting Nov. 30, travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
That will bring to 38 the number of countries that have been granted visa-free access since last year. Only three countries had visa-free access previously, and theirs had been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The permitted length of stay for visa-free entry is being increased from the previous 15 days, Lin said, and people participating in exchanges will be eligible for the first time. China has been pushing people-to-people exchange between students, academics and others to try to improve its sometimes strained relations with other countries, The Associated Press reported.
China strictly restricted entry during the pandemic and ended its restrictions much later than most other countries. It restored the previous visa-free access for citizens of Brunei and Singapore in July 2023, and then expanded visa-free entry to six more countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — on Dec. 1 of last year.
The program has since been expanded in tranches. Some countries have announced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, notably Thailand, which wants to bring back Chinese tourists.
For the three months from July through September this year, China recorded 8.2 million entries by foreigners, of which 4.9 million were visa-free, the official Xinhua News Agency said, quoting a Foreign Ministry consular official.