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Saudi Arabia Seeks New Markets, Promising Investments in Africa

Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Seeks New Markets, Promising Investments in Africa

Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi during the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Minister of Commerce, Majid al-Qasabi underscored the Kingdom's readiness to support cooperative efforts to achieve economic and social development in Arab and African countries.

Speaking at the 3rd meeting of the Governance Council of the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program (Jusoor) in Cairo, Qasabi stressed that Vision 2030 seeks to open new markets and promising investments, drawing attention to the Kingdom's historical stances and confirming its interest in Africa.

He said Africa is rich in its natural and human resources and its prominent geographical location, making it suitable for investments, despite the challenges its countries face in infrastructure, environment, investment, and trade barriers.

Africa boasts about 60 percent of the world's minerals, allowing the Jusoor program an opportunity to identify and confront these challenges, work to open markets further, and exchange intra-trade between Arab and African countries, announced Qasabi.

He praised the initiative to support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) led by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation of the Islamic Development Bank in partnership with the World Trade Organization and the African Economic Commission, citing other initiatives led by the institution.

Meanwhile, Gambian Trade Minister, Seedy Keita revealed that Riyadh and Banjul seek to sign new enhanced bilateral agreements in trade and human resources, focusing on agriculture, transport, and tourism.

Both sides want to sign an agreement to employ Gambian workers in the Saudi labor market, said Keita, stressing that his government had clearly announced its support for Saudi Arabia to host the Expo 2030.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat during his recent visit to Riyadh that the Saudi government enjoys solid diplomatic support from Gambia at all international forums.

Regarding his visit to Saudi Arabia, Keita explained that he is seeking to boost trade relations between the two countries.

Gambia's total imports from Saudi Arabia amounted to less than $500,000 annually, and the volume of exports is much less, said the minister, adding that his visit aims to increase the volume of trade, tourism, and human resources.

Keita believes that the two countries have a great political will to invest in their relations in various ways.

The minister concluded that AfCFTA is a massive opportunity for any form of investment in Gambia and will enable investors to access a regional market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion.

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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, the Treasury Department said, as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.
The move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, effectively kicks Gazprombank out of the US banking system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its US assets, Reuters reported.
Gazprombank is one of Russia's largest banks and is partially owned by Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been urging the US to impose more sanctions on the bank, which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.
The fresh sanctions come days after the Biden administration allowed Kyiv to use US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. On Tuesday, Ukraine fired the weapons, the longest range missiles Washington has supplied for such attacks on Russia, on the war's 1,000th day.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 50 small-to-medium Russian banks to curtail the country's connections to the international financial system and prevent it from abusing it to pay for technology and equipment needed for the war. It warned that foreign financial institutions that maintain correspondent relationships with the targeted banks "entails significant sanctions risk."
"This sweeping action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and fund and equip its military," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "We will continue to take decisive steps against any financial channels Russia uses to support its illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine."
Gazprombank said Washington's latest move would not affect its operations. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Along with the sanctions, Treasury also issued two new general licenses authorizing US entities to wind down transactions involving Gazprombank, among other financial institutions, and to take steps to divest from debt or equity issued by Gazprombank.
Gazprombank is a conduit for Russia to purchase military materiel in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury said. The Russian government also uses the bank to pay its soldiers, including for combat bonuses, and to compensate the families of its soldiers killed in the war.
The administration believes the new sanctions improve Ukraine's position on the battlefield and ability to achieve a just peace, a source familiar with the matter said.
COLLATERAL IMPACT
While Gazprombank has been on the administration's radar for years, it has been seen as a last resort because of its focus on energy and the desire to avoid collateral impact on Europe, a Washington-based trade lawyer said.
"I think that the current administration is trying to put as much pressure and add as many sanctions as possible prior to January 20th to make it harder for the next administration to unwind," said the lawyer, Douglas Jacobson.
Officials in Slovakia and Hungary said they were studying the impacts of the new US sanctions.
Trump would have the power to remove the sanctions, which were imposed under an executive order by Biden, if he wants to take a different stance, Jacobson said.
After Russia's invasion in 2022, the Treasury placed debt and equity restrictions on 13 Russian firms, including Gazprombank, Sberbank and the Russian Agricultural Bank.
The US Treasury has also worked to provide Ukraine with funds from windfall proceeds of frozen Russian assets.