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‏NEOM Meets with Business Community in the United States

NEOM concluded a series of "Discover NEOM" events with investors and business partners in the United States. (SPA)
NEOM concluded a series of "Discover NEOM" events with investors and business partners in the United States. (SPA)
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‏NEOM Meets with Business Community in the United States

NEOM concluded a series of "Discover NEOM" events with investors and business partners in the United States. (SPA)
NEOM concluded a series of "Discover NEOM" events with investors and business partners in the United States. (SPA)

NEOM has concluded a series of "Discover NEOM" events with investors and business partners in the United States as part of its ongoing efforts to highlight the project’s latest developments and explore investment opportunities, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

CEO of NEOM, Nadhmi Al-Nasr said: "We came to the United States to explore the significant market opportunities that NEOM presents to American corporations, to showcase the great progress NEOM has made and to discuss how we can best support the collaborative international effort to address global challenges."

"The events were attended by over 700 business, financial, investment, environment and sustainability, technology and manufacturing leaders. NEOM looks forward to the meaningful partnerships that will be forged out of our US visit and the investment opportunities it will bring to NEOM and Saudi Arabia supported by the guidance of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman."

During the US visit, NEOM held a special event at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC to honor students on NEOM’s scholarship program, in the presence of the Saudi Ambassador to the US, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud. The event celebrated students from NEOM and Tabuk in a show of support, motivation and empowerment, reflecting the Saudi leadership’s belief in its youth as today’s partners and tomorrow’s leaders.

‏"Discover NEOM" is the name for a series of world events that included a similar event held in London late last year to showcase NEOM and explore investment opportunities with potential partners from all sectors. NEOM plans to expand its events to reach more destinations all over the globe.

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FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.