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Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan Sign Agreement to Invest in Renewable Energy

Participants at the Saudi-Kyrgyz Business Forum in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Participants at the Saudi-Kyrgyz Business Forum in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan Sign Agreement to Invest in Renewable Energy

Participants at the Saudi-Kyrgyz Business Forum in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Participants at the Saudi-Kyrgyz Business Forum in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

A high-level Kyrgyz delegation discussed in Riyadh on Sunday means of bolstering ties with Saudi Arabia.

Both sides signed five agreements that will increase trade exchange and launch joint investments in the energy, renewable energy, food and electronic industries, agriculture, transport, culture, sports and tourism sectors.

First Deputy Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Arzybek Kozhoshev underscored the importance of providing an investment environment that attracts foreign investors, including Saudi partners, and boosting mutual trade as a top priority of his country’s economic policy.

He revealed that 50 Kyrgyz companies from various sectors are taking part in the Saudi-Kyrgyz Business Forum, which kicked off on Sunday.

Participants aim to establish and develop ties with Saudi companies, Kozhoshev said, stressing that Kyrgyzstan hopes to attract major Saudi companies to invest in the fields of agriculture, renewable energy, science, education, tourism, telecommunications, culture and halal industries.

He underlined his country’s economic capabilities, mainly in the tourism sector, noting that Saudi nationals can visit Kyrgyzstan without a visa for a period of up to 60 days. He said that around 7,000 Saudis visited Kyrgyzstan in 2019.

Nursultan Oronbayev, General Adviser to the Kyrgyz Minister of Trade, told Asharq Al-Awsat that his country looks forward to expanding its cooperation strategy with the Kingdom and targets increased investment and trade exchange in several fields.

He said both sides agreed to open direct flights between Riyadh and Bishkek, while remarking that the coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected economic growth.

He added however, that his country is currently recovering from the health crisis and economic growth has so far exceeded five percent.

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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.