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Saudi Government Agencies Discuss Developments in Measuring Digital Transformation

Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) signs memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) signs memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Government Agencies Discuss Developments in Measuring Digital Transformation

Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) signs memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) signs memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Asharq Al-Awsat

More than 900 representatives from 200 Saudi government agencies gathered under the sponsorship of the Saudi e-government program, Yesser, to discuss digitization and how to adapt it to benefit society in the kingdom.

Attendees reviewed features of Yesser’s developed methodology for measuring digital transformation in Saudi Arabia, which focuses on keeping pace with the kingdom’s national strategic framework Vision 2030.

Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is actively working on measuring digital transformation in governance, as an effective tool to monitor the achievements of government agencies.

As the kingdom pushes for establishing an effective citizen-centered digital government, it is supporting and empowering government agencies to improve the quality of their work.

Yesser CEO Ali al-Asiri, speaking at the 9th workshop organized around the measurement of e-government transformation, stressed the developmental importance of evaluating e-government transformation.

He noted that Yesser is measuring e-government transformation to help in realizing the goals and ambitions of Vision 2030 and to make Saudi Arabia a distinctive and leading model with respect to the digitization of government work.

Asiri said that this digital transformation was only possible with strategic vision and policies, ICT infrastructure, connected society and skilled human capital.

The fundamental objective of e-government is to offer public services to citizens in an efficient, real-time, transparent, secure and cost-effective manner.

Asiri highlighted Saudi Arabia’s successful digital transformation to home-based remote work to contain COVID-19.

“We were very successful in working from home and this was possible because of ongoing digital transformation in the Kingdom as part of Vision 2030,” he said, noting that Saudi Arabia has taken great strides in its digital transformation.

Jumping nine places, Saudi Arabia ranked 43 out of 193 countries around the world in the UN’s most recent e-government development index.

Separately, the kingdom’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) signed an MoU with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC).

The MoU is in line with national efforts to encourage cooperation between the public and private sectors in the interest of achieving the goals of Vision 2030.

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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)
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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.