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Saudi Industry to Build Digital System That Attracts Quality Investments

The sessions of the 21st annual meeting of the Saudi Economic Association (SEA) kicked off on Monday in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The sessions of the 21st annual meeting of the Saudi Economic Association (SEA) kicked off on Monday in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Industry to Build Digital System That Attracts Quality Investments

The sessions of the 21st annual meeting of the Saudi Economic Association (SEA) kicked off on Monday in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The sessions of the 21st annual meeting of the Saudi Economic Association (SEA) kicked off on Monday in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources unveiled an endeavor to build a digital system that would contribute to attracting quality investments in the industrial and mining sectors.

This came during the sessions of the 21st annual meeting of the Saudi Economic Association (SEA), which kicked off on Monday, under the patronage of Eng. Abdullah Al-Sawaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Participants discussed the digital transformation of the public and private sectors, along with its strategies, road map, and the means to help telecommunication companies benefit from the opportunities that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eng. Mohammad Al-Muhanna, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources for digital transformation, underlined the ministry’s efforts to make the Kingdom a hub for quality investments in industry and mining, by building a digital system based on dedicated platforms that enrich interaction and effective participation within the sector.

For his part, Ali Al-Wehaibi, the Director General of Planning and Digital Excellence at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development for digital transformation, noted that the solutions pursued by his ministry in overcoming the pandemic focus on developing electronic platforms, including friendly settlement services, in addition to enhancing remote work.

He explained that his ministry submitted a study that included several recommendations on the means to develop long-term and short-term plans to deal with epidemic risks, expand infrastructure and communication systems, and create a legal and legislative environment that regulates digital transactions.

A second panel discussion, entitled “Digital Transformation of the Private Sector”, was attended by Dr. Abdullah Dahlan, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Business and Technology in Jeddah, Engineer Yasser Al-Farhan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Advanced Systems and Technologies Company, and Engineer Raed Al-Fayez, Deputy Governor for the IT and emerging technologies at the Communications and Information Technology Commission, as well as Mashael bin Saedan, founder and CEO of Al Saedan for Development and a member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Economic Association.

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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.