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Protection of Intellectual Property Helps Saudi Pharmaceutical Industry Attract More Investments

Approving protection of intellectual property prompts an increase in investments in the Saudi pharmaceutical industry. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Approving protection of intellectual property prompts an increase in investments in the Saudi pharmaceutical industry. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Protection of Intellectual Property Helps Saudi Pharmaceutical Industry Attract More Investments

Approving protection of intellectual property prompts an increase in investments in the Saudi pharmaceutical industry. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Approving protection of intellectual property prompts an increase in investments in the Saudi pharmaceutical industry. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Samir Khalil, executive director for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Middle East and Africa (MEA), confirmed that Saudi Arabia’s protection of intellectual property will boost the Kingdom’s pharmaceutical industry.

Khalil also predicted that the size of the Saudi pharmaceutical market, which is the largest in the region, will reach 39 billion riyals ($10.4 billion) by 2024.

Through empowering the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, the Kingdom’s leadership aims to encourage pharmaceutical manufacture, Khalil said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.

He noted that PhRMA and its affiliated companies view positively the Saudi plan for national transformation, known as Vision 2030, especially on how it tackles developing the innovative pharmaceutical sector through attracting more investment and conducting advanced clinical research.

More so, the Global Intellectual Property Challenges Forum, held on the sidelines of the 2020 G20 Riyadh summit under Saudi Presidency, has strengthened existing policies and global cooperation on developing and manufacturing treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus.

Khalil indicated that there are 570 treatments and 51 vaccines for Covid-19 currently being tested in the world.

He stressed that the Middle East and Africa region hosts one of the world’s most dynamic pharmaceutical markets with an accelerating industrial growth.

Noting that Saudi Arabia is one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the region, Khalil said that the Kingdom has witnessed dramatic development over the past years. This was triggered by the increase in population, the rise in GDP and the emergence of more diseases that require treatment.

Speaking on Vision 2030’s strategy for encouraging investment in the pharmaceutical industry, Khalil said: “We have worked over the past years to explore many opportunities to promote policies that contribute to attracting innovation to the region.”

PhRMA's goals focus on helping patients by providing them with the latest innovative medicines and vaccines. The trade group also places great importance on strengthening the concept of protecting intellectual property in the pharmaceutical industry sector. Systems that provide an incubating environment for the protection of innovation are perceived as inviting.

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Alibaba Proposes Hong Kong Share Placement Worth $10 Billion

FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
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Alibaba Proposes Hong Kong Share Placement Worth $10 Billion

FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo

China's Alibaba announced on Sunday a proposed placement of new shares in Hong Kong.

The aggregate placement consideration is HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion), the company added, according to Reuters.

Alibaba said the ⁠deal would mark ⁠the largest-ever primary follow-on offering by a Hong Kong-listed company and the biggest Regulation S ⁠equity offering on record, while ranking as the world's third-largest primary follow-on share sale this year after Alphabet and Intel.

The company said it intends to use 100% of the net ⁠proceeds from ⁠the placement to invest in its full stack AI capabilities, including expanding and enhancing its AI infrastructure.

Business

South Korea Sends 1st Container Ship Through Arctic Route

The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
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South Korea Sends 1st Container Ship Through Arctic Route

The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)

South Korea sent its first trial container ship through the Arctic on Saturday, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.

The Middle East conflict, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has roiled global shipping, sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes.

Sailing from Busan New Port, the "PanStar Acro" container ship is to sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.

"We would like to inform you that the vessel for the Arctic route trial voyage departed" at 9:30 pm (1230 GMT), Seoul's oceans ministry said in a statement sent to AFP.

The ship is headed for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry.

The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship "Dubai Tower", which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Bering Strait before turning west along Russia's Arctic coast.

The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by around 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

South Korea's Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-hon said the Arctic route was "bound to become an alternative" to Middle Eastern shipping lanes -- as geopolitical risks and technological advances make it increasingly competitive.

Marc Lanteigne, a political science professor at the Arctic University of Norway, said the voyage -- coming soon after China's "Dubai Tower" began its own Arctic journey -- showed the Northern Sea Route (NSR) was becoming normalized as a "secondary maritime transit corridor".

A successful voyage would demonstrate South Korea's interest in "developing alternative shipping sea lanes", he told AFP, with concerns that it could fall behind as Chinese firms expand regular services through the increasingly viable Arctic route.

Some experts warn South Korean ships using the Arctic route could risk breaching Western sanctions on Russia -- currently a key security ally of North Korea -- as they would receive Russian navigation and weather services involving payments, albeit small ones.

South Korea's foreign ministry declined to comment when asked by AFP about the concerns involving Russia.

The oceans ministry said this week that "consultations with key relevant countries and agencies" have been completed to "implement administrative procedures necessary" for the voyage.

Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said "strictly speaking, US and EU sanctions are not international law, unlike UN sanctions".

"And with continued uncertainty in the Middle East... South Korea may have few alternatives if the Arctic route proves economically viable," he told AFP.

Lanteigne said China's Northern Sea Route ambitions were more politically driven than South Korea's, with Beijing viewing the polar regions as "strategic new frontiers", raising Western security concerns.

Meanwhile, environmental groups warned growing traffic along the shorter NSR could accelerate Arctic sea ice loss already driven by global warming.

Major carriers including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes.

The NSR is believed to be accessible only during the time of year when the ice is melted enough to allow transits without icebreakers.

"The Northern Sea Route has become increasingly viable as the Arctic warms about four times faster than the global average, leading to a sharp decline in sea ice," South Korean environmental group Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center said in a statement last year.

"But making the route commercially viable would require further warming, putting the policy at odds with efforts to combat climate change."

Business

Canada to Impose Retaliatory Across a Raft of US Sectors, Carney Says

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Canada to Impose Retaliatory Across a Raft of US Sectors, Carney Says

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday that starting September 8 Canada would impose tariffs on imports from the United States across a raft of sectors in retaliation for President Donald Trump's new 50% tariffs that came into effect from midnight.

After days of intense negotiations, the two countries failed to reach a ‌trade deal late ‌Friday, worsening an already ‌delicate relationship ⁠between the two ⁠long-term trade partners and allies and complicating the future of a highly successful continental free trade pact called the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.

Trump's new tariffs hit a slew of sectors including furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing ⁠rods, hockey equipment and cover some $20 billion ‌of Canadian exports south ‌of the border.

These duties do not ‌give exemption to Canadian products under the USMCA, ‌which have shielded most of Canadian exports to the USin the last 18 months.

"Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar ‌in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses," Carney said at ⁠a ⁠news conference.

These retaliatory tariffs will hit sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics and will also include products currently subject to the unjustified Section 232 and 338 tariffs, Carney said in a spirited speech from the Parliament building in Ottawa.

"We cannot accept what they have offered, and we will not give what they have asked," Carney said.