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Intl. Companies Intend to Invest in AI, Robotics in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia to adopt AI technology and robotics by providing an attractive local investment environment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia to adopt AI technology and robotics by providing an attractive local investment environment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Intl. Companies Intend to Invest in AI, Robotics in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia to adopt AI technology and robotics by providing an attractive local investment environment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia to adopt AI technology and robotics by providing an attractive local investment environment. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Major international companies intend to invest in artificial intelligence and robotics in Saudi Arabia, senior investors told Asharq Al-Awsat.

AI Investor Abdullah bin Zaid Al-Meleihi said that Saudi Arabia aims at establishing 400 startup companies in artificial intelligence.

He added that the Kingdom was seeking to provide a more attractive environment for foreign investments, pointing to a gathering of Saudi and foreign companies led by the Saudi Excellence Holding Company, which intends to introduce advanced technologies in the field of artificial intelligence and unveil new technologies.

He added that investments in AI are expected to surpass $150 million over the next two years.

For his part, Sem Koksal, CEO and partner of Legacy Technologies, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the quality and nature of Saudi public and private initiatives enhanced the AI technology industry.

He also stressed that the AI sector would increase the attractiveness of foreign investments in the Kingdom.

Dr. Muhammad Al-Shuhail, Advisor to the chairman of Prince Sultan College of Business and a specialist in AI and technology, emphasized a Saudi endeavor to develop the technology sector, in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

While he highlighted Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation process, Al-Shuhail pointed to the construction of smart cities, including NEOM.

The second edition of the Global AI Summit concluded on Friday in Riyadh.

Organized by the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), the summit highlighted the means to maximize the use of the sector’s technologies, along with developments, challenges and solutions in the smart city sectors, human capacity development, health care, transportation, energy, culture and heritage, environment, and economic mobility.

The summit was attended by a large number of experts, specialists and officials in government agencies and global technology companies.

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Lebanon Central Bank Governor Says 'Working Hard' to Prevent Grey-listing

A view of Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon (File photo: Reuters)
A view of Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon (File photo: Reuters)
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Lebanon Central Bank Governor Says 'Working Hard' to Prevent Grey-listing

A view of Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon (File photo: Reuters)
A view of Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon (File photo: Reuters)

Lebanon's acting central bank governor said on Thursday that his institution was still striving to prevent being placed on a "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny by a financial crime watchdog.

Being added to the Financial Action Task Force's grey list would be another major blow to a country in financial tailspin since 2019, with depositors still locked out of most of their pre-crisis savings and many foreign corresponding banks shunning Lebanon's financial system.

Reuters first reported in May 2023 that Lebanon had received a preliminary evaluation warranting grey-listing, with gaps in several categories including its anti-money laundering measures, transparency on beneficial ownership of firms and legal assistance in asset freezing and confiscation.

After the initial assessment, Lebanon was granted a year to address those gaps before a final ruling that is set to be announced at the FATF's plenary in October of this year.

"The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will issue a decision this coming fall and we are still working hard to prevent Lebanon from being placed on the grey list," acting central bank governor Wissam Mansouri said, addressing a meeting of the Union of Arab Banks in Beirut.

Mansouri said Lebanon had received low scores on measures to confiscate illicit wealth or address money laundering, and that the country needed to develop an action plan to address the remaining gaps.

In 2023, a diplomatic source and a financial source familiar with the matter said that the central bank's special investigations commission was lobbying FATF member states in a bid to change the score.

Being put on the FATF grey list could disrupt a country's capital flows, according to the International Monetary Fund, with banks cutting ties to customers in high-risk countries to reduce compliance costs.

Such a listing also risks reputational damage, credit ratings adjustments, trouble obtaining global finance and higher transaction costs.

In Lebanon's case, the listing would represent an indictment of the financial system at a painful time. The country has been slow to make progress on key reforms requested by the IMF in April 2022 as prerequisites for a deal with the fund. The economy has slowed further after more than 10 months of hostilities between armed group Hezbollah and the Israeli military in parallel with the Gaza war.