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Int’l Companies Race over Investment, Partnership Deals for Saudi Ports

DP World and the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) announced the signing of a 30-year agreement with an investment value of more than SAR 500 million ($133.33 million) to build a state-of-the-art, port-centric Logistics Park at the Jeddah Islamic Port, (Asharq Al-Awsat)
DP World and the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) announced the signing of a 30-year agreement with an investment value of more than SAR 500 million ($133.33 million) to build a state-of-the-art, port-centric Logistics Park at the Jeddah Islamic Port, (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Int’l Companies Race over Investment, Partnership Deals for Saudi Ports

DP World and the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) announced the signing of a 30-year agreement with an investment value of more than SAR 500 million ($133.33 million) to build a state-of-the-art, port-centric Logistics Park at the Jeddah Islamic Port, (Asharq Al-Awsat)
DP World and the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) announced the signing of a 30-year agreement with an investment value of more than SAR 500 million ($133.33 million) to build a state-of-the-art, port-centric Logistics Park at the Jeddah Islamic Port, (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services and Chairman of the Board of Saudi Ports Authority Saleh Al-Jasser revealed that work is underway on several partnerships with the private sector to operate stations and marine services in Saudi ports.

Al-Jasser added that international transport line and container operators are racing to invest in Saudi Arabia’s logistics field.

According to the minister, there are investments in 59 of the Kingdom’s logistics areas. These areas cover seaports, land ports, and airports.

As for air transport, the sector is looking to expand its capacity from 100 million passengers to a whopping 330 million passengers, Al-Jasser told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Moreover, the Kingdom’s aviation sector will move from relying on a single carrier to having two strong air companies connecting Saudi Arabia to around 250 destinations worldwide.

Al-Jasser explained that Saudi Arabia is working to implement its national strategy for transport and logistics services.

The strategy covers all types of air, land, sea and rail transport, roads, and logistics services, and extends services to the Kingdom such as customs services, food, medicine, and other security measures.

Al-Jasser’s remarks were made during the signing ceremony of a new deal to establish a new fully integrated smart logistics park in Jeddah Islamic Port at an investment of over SR500 million ($133 million).

The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) on Sunday signed an agreement with DP World, a world leader in global supply chain solutions.

This is Mawani's fifth such deal following a series of agreements signed with local and global leading companies in maritime transport and logistics including Maersk, CMA CGM, LogiPoint and Bahri.

The agreement was signed by President of the Saudi Ports Authority Omar bin Talal Hariri and Group Chairman and CEO of DP World and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, in the presence of Al Jasser and several other leaders from the transport and logistics entity.

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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.