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Saudi Arabia Seeks to Build Integrated Space Sector In Cooperation With International Entities

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover vehicle. (File photo: Reuters)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover vehicle. (File photo: Reuters)
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Saudi Arabia Seeks to Build Integrated Space Sector In Cooperation With International Entities

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover vehicle. (File photo: Reuters)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover vehicle. (File photo: Reuters)

Official information revealed serious efforts by Saudi Arabia to build an integrated space sector aimed at transferring and indigenizing technologies in cooperation with international entities.

The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) said that there were seven main areas of fundamental importance within the strategic goals of Vision 2030, mainly space and aviation, environment, water and agriculture, digital technologies, urban transformation and logistical services.

A report on the prospects for future technologies in the Kingdom, issued by KACST, revealed the state’s efforts to establish a strong and sustainable national space sector and transfer and indigenize technologies through cooperation with international centers and entities.

The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 also aims to make Saudi Arabia a global center for logistics services, the report added.

Moreover, KACST underlined that with the increase in the population and the frequency of climatic shocks to which the agricultural and water systems are exposed, it has become important for the Kingdom to improve the sustainability of its agricultural, water and environmental resources in a way that benefits the national economy as a whole and helps Saudi Arabia track its performance towards its international commitments

The report said that KACST supports development activities in the field of environment, water and agriculture, through active research projects to combat agricultural and animal pests and desertification, in addition to continuous measuring of environmental pollution and projects to preserve wildlife.

It also works in partnership with the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program to develop technologies pertaining to vertical and hydroponic farming and soil improvement.

The Ministry of Energy is the competent authority in charge of the sector’s strategies and activities, which are aimed at reducing carbon emissions, the report noted, adding that the National Industry Development and Logistics Program promotes the use of renewable energy to generate power by developing more than 35 projects throughout the Kingdom.

The report stated that Saudi Arabia was seeking to build national industries that are able to compete locally and globally through national exports, in line with the national vision that aims to develop the industries of equipment, mining, chemicals and industrial machinery to meet the rapidly growing local and regional demand.

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Business

Libya's NOC Says Sharara Crude Pipeline Closure Losses at 130,000 bpd

General view of the Sharara oil field in Libya (Reuters)
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Libya's NOC Says Sharara Crude Pipeline Closure Losses at 130,000 bpd

General view of the Sharara oil field in Libya (Reuters)

Libya's National Oil Corporation said on Tuesday that the Sharara-Zawiya crude loading pipeline closure has led to daily losses of about 130,000 barrels per day, Reuters reported.

An armed military group closed valve seven on the Sharara crude pipeline to Zawiya port on Monday, resulting in a significant decline in production at the Sharara oilfield, the National Oil Corporation said in a statement.

 

 

 

 

Business

Sources: Saudi Arabia Restarts East-West Oil Pipeline

FILE PHOTO: A model of an oil pump is seen in front of a Saudi Arabian flag in this illustration taken January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A model of an oil pump is seen in front of a Saudi Arabian flag in this illustration taken January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Sources: Saudi Arabia Restarts East-West Oil Pipeline

FILE PHOTO: A model of an oil pump is seen in front of a Saudi Arabian flag in this illustration taken January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A model of an oil pump is seen in front of a Saudi Arabian flag in this illustration taken January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Saudi Arabia has restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline and could resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu later on Tuesday, three sources briefed on the matter said.

Drone attacks forced Saudi Arabia to shut its East-West Pipeline on September 13, halting crude loadings at the kingdom's Yanbu port.

The resumption of supplies on Tuesday helped to drive selling on global oil markets, traders said. Brent crude futures fell by more than $2 a barrel to its lowest since September 8.

Two trading sources said traders were getting ready for Saudi oil loadings by moving tankers to Egypt's Mediterranean Port Said for ship-to-ship transfers and also to Sidi Kerir.

Business

EU Strikes New Free Trade Deal with the Philippines

European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic gives a press statement on EU-Philippines trade relations at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, 22 September 2026. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic gives a press statement on EU-Philippines trade relations at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, 22 September 2026. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
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EU Strikes New Free Trade Deal with the Philippines

European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic gives a press statement on EU-Philippines trade relations at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, 22 September 2026. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic gives a press statement on EU-Philippines trade relations at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, 22 September 2026. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

The European Union and the Philippines announced a new free trade deal on Tuesday in the latest bilateral agreement struck by Brussels as it seeks to diversify its economy as tensions persist with traditional trading partners including China, Russia and the United States.

The EU's top trade negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, said that he and Philippine Trade Secretary María Cristina Aldeguer-Roque structured the deal to grow the nearly 30 billion euros (around $35 billion) of annual trade between the 27-nation EU and the Southeast Asian nation of 115 million people.

“It also delivers stronger, more diversified supply chains at the moment when resilience has become a strategic priority,” Šefčovič said.

Trade is dominated by electronics, with the EU exporting aircraft, pork and pharmaceuticals while importing semiconductors, integrated circuits and industrial machinery manufactured in the Philippines.

The Philippines is the third nation from the ASEAN bloc after Vietnam and Singapore to sign a bilateral trade deal with the EU. Negotiations are ongoing between the

European Commission and Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, while a larger free-trade agreement is hoped for in the long term between ASEAN itself and the EU.

“There is a bigger picture here too,” The Associated Press quoted Šefčovič as sayhing. “This agreement sends a clear signal that the EU is reinforcing its engagement with the Indo-Pacific.”

The EU has sought growth and stability in new trade links from Australia to Argentina as the bloc itself is beset by a geopolitical maelstrom, including conflicts in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.

The EU also has been dealing with the need to explore alternative energy sources, heightened tensions with the Trump administration, officials from EU member states accusing Russia of hybrid attacks, and China running a gargantuan trade imbalance and a near-monopoly over critical mineral supplies.

The EU deal with the Philippines roughly tracks with the “ middle powers ” strategy laid out at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Last week, he was the guest of honor in the European Parliament in Strasbourg at the annual State of the European Union speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

She said then that the EU would forge a new kind of “ associated membership ” for Canada.

“In this new world, we must urgently reimagine our partnerships,” von der Leyen said during her speech.