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Finland Looks for Strategic Partnership with Saudi Arabia in Hydrogen, Green Energy Fields

Finnish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Anu-Eerika Viljanen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Finnish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Anu-Eerika Viljanen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Finland Looks for Strategic Partnership with Saudi Arabia in Hydrogen, Green Energy Fields

Finnish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Anu-Eerika Viljanen (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Finnish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Anu-Eerika Viljanen (Asharq Al-Awsat)

At a time when Finland is looking forward to maximizing its strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, a Finnish diplomat revealed that Helsinki is looking to intensify student exchange, tourism, investments, and trade with Riyadh in the coming period.

Huge projects included in Saudi Arabia’s national transformation plan, Vision 2030, offer large-scale business opportunities for various Finnish companies, noted Anu-Eerika Viljanen, the Finnish ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

“Finland will be an excellent partner in achieving the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 in a number of areas,” Viljanen told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Viljanen emphasized that Finland is a global leader in information and communication technology, digitization, education, health care, renewable energy solutions, the games industry, and hospitality.

“Our economies and commercial sectors complement each other,” explained Viljanen.

Saudi Arabia is the most important export destination for Finland in the Gulf region, she revealed, adding that her country's exports to the Kingdom amounted to 298 million euros in 2021.

According to Viljanen, new areas of cooperation between the two countries include: games, electronic sports, health, and well-being. Saudi Arabia and Finland, however, are looking forward to intensive cooperation in various other sectors soon.

Moreover, the tourism sector plays a fundamental role in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which has generated a wide range of various short and long-term projects under construction in Saudi Arabia.

“There is plenty of room for an increase in tourism from Finland to Saudi Arabia and vice versa,” noted Viljanen, revealing that cooperation in the fields of electronic industries, technology, mining, green economy, hydrogen, and renewable energy was also progressing.

“All these areas hold great potential for cooperation between our two countries,” she asserted.

“Finnish companies have strength in areas of AI and digitization such as 5G networks, bio-networks, circular economy, green energy production, mining technology and mineral processing in a sustainable way,” added Viljanen.

Viljanen’s statements come at a time when several successful high-level visits were conducted between Saudi Arabia and Finland.

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Positive Outlook for Saudi Stock Market Next Week

A trader monitors the screen at the Saudi Exchange in Riyadh. (AFP)
A trader monitors the screen at the Saudi Exchange in Riyadh. (AFP)
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Positive Outlook for Saudi Stock Market Next Week

A trader monitors the screen at the Saudi Exchange in Riyadh. (AFP)
A trader monitors the screen at the Saudi Exchange in Riyadh. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) ended the second week of March with a slight decline for the third consecutive week, closing down 0.73% at 11,725.88 points, compared to the previous week's close of 11,811.11 points.

In an analysis of the market performance during the week ending March 13, Dr. Suleiman Al-Humaid Al-Khalidi, a financial market analyst, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the market experienced a sharp decline not seen in years, coinciding with a drop in global markets, particularly in the US, where $2 trillion in value was wiped out in a single day.

This accounted for roughly 60% of the total market value of the Saudi stock market.

Al-Khalidi noted that the key player in the Saudi market is the banking sector, especially Al-Rajhi Bank's shares, which showed resilience and did not follow the downward trend. This was attributed to the strong profits reported by the banking sector in 2024.

The primary factors contributing to the market’s decline include global economic pressures, particularly US tariffs on most global economies, ongoing global uncertainty, and the Federal Reserve's tight monetary policies, he explained.

These factors have significantly impacted liquidity flows into financial markets. Additionally, fluctuations in global oil prices, despite recent stability, have also played a role.

This downturn has been accompanied by caution among sovereign wealth funds, investment institutions, and some portfolios in injecting new liquidity or altering their positions until there is more clarity in the financial markets, he went on to say.

Moreover, Al-Khalidi said that the Saudi stock market has not accurately reflected the true strength and size of the Saudi economy, which has grown to SAR 4 trillion, up from SAR 600 billion in 2016, before the launch of Vision 2030.

Additionally, the country’s GDP has reached approximately $1.1 trillion.

Looking ahead to the market's performance in the coming week, he noted that there are strong support levels at 11,550 points, followed by 11,450 points.

These levels could help shift the market toward an upward trajectory and better reflect the robust growth of the Saudi economy.

Al-Khalidi emphasized that the banking and energy sectors could play a leading role in driving the market higher, pushing the index beyond this week’s closing levels.

He also pointed out that some stocks are hitting new lows, presenting significant investment opportunities for those seeking safe havens with steady returns in the Saudi market.