Climate Week Sees Affirmation of Arab Region’s Ability to Lead the Field of Renewable Energyhttps://english.aawsat.com/business/4602811-climate-week-sees-affirmation-arab-region%E2%80%99s-ability-lead-field-renewable-energy
Climate Week Sees Affirmation of Arab Region’s Ability to Lead the Field of Renewable Energy
Dr. Abdullah Al-Dardari attends a dialogue session during the Climate Week in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Regional Director of the United Nations Development Program, Dr. Abdullah Al-Dardari, said that the potential possessed by the Arab region qualifies it to lead the transition towards clean and renewable energy, praising Saudi Arabia’s circular economy approach and its efforts to reduce pollution and preserve the environment.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of the Middle East and North Africa Climate Week (MENACW) 2023 in Riyadh, Al-Dardari noted that the field of renewable energy constituted a great opportunity to diversify sources of income, noting that the Arab region faces many difficult environmental conditions, including water scarcity, food security threats, and environmental and climate crises.
The UN official emphasized the presence of a historic opportunity for the region to be an international leader in sustainable economy, as the cost of producing renewable energy has become relatively cheap and competitive compared to traditional energy sources, while the region also possesses financial resources, minds, and a political desire to drive the transition towards clean energy.
Emphasis must be placed on improving the efficiency of traditional energy use, in addition to enhancing the reliance on renewable energy, Al-Dardari said, noting that this includes reducing pollution and emissions and increasing economic and environmental efficiency.
He also pointed out the importance of investing in knowledge, research, development and production to achieve these goals.
Al-Dardari stressed that the region must adapt to current climate changes, and suggested developing genetically modified agricultural products to enable their cultivation in difficult conditions, such as high temperatures, water shortages, and drought.
He also underlined the necessity of working to reduce the waste of resources, saying that studies have shown that a third of the region’s resources are squandered.
“This constitutes an environmental and economic challenge that must be addressed,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The United Nations Development Program works to protect the environment and promote sustainable development in the Arab countries on an ongoing basis, through initiatives aimed at enhancing food security, providing various environmental solutions, and training cadres on best practices that help in completing environmental projects.
The MoU was signed on the sidelines of LEAP 2026 in Riyadh. (SABIC)
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SABIC, Lenovo Sign MoU to Explore Cooperation Opportunities
The MoU was signed on the sidelines of LEAP 2026 in Riyadh. (SABIC)
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global technology company Lenovo on the sidelines of LEAP 2026 in Riyadh, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Wednesday. The agreement aims to explore strategic cooperation opportunities that support innovation in the industrial sector.
The MoU reflects the two companies' commitment to supporting Saudi Arabia's transformation into a global hub for innovation and advanced industries. It establishes a framework to identify areas of cooperation and leverage their expertise to develop advanced industries and innovative technological capabilities in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
Through the cooperation, SABIC and Lenovo will explore opportunities to combine their expertise and capabilities in areas that support industrial development, knowledge transfer, and technological advancement.
Lenovo continues to expand its presence in Saudi Arabia after opening its regional headquarters in Riyadh earlier this year, with plans to establish research and development and manufacturing facilities. The investments aim to strengthen local capabilities, advance knowledge transfer and research, and develop Saudi talent in engineering, advanced manufacturing, and emerging technologies.
Austria Seeking Digital Partnerships, Joint Investments with Saudi Arabiahttps://english.aawsat.com/business/5313920-austria-seeking-digital-partnerships-joint-investments-saudi-arabia
Austrian State Secretary at the Federal Chancellery for Digital Affairs, Constitution and Public Service Alexander Pröll, LL.M., and Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Austria Seeking Digital Partnerships, Joint Investments with Saudi Arabia
Austrian State Secretary at the Federal Chancellery for Digital Affairs, Constitution and Public Service Alexander Pröll, LL.M., and Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi-Austrian relations are heading toward a new phase that transcends political and diplomatic cooperation into viable commercial and research partnerships, as well as executable digital projects. This shift places an increasing focus on artificial intelligence, digital government, secure and sovereign digital infrastructure, applied research, and industrial technology.
Austrian State Secretary at the Federal Chancellery for Digital Affairs, Constitution and Public Service Alexander Pröll, LL.M., told Asharq Al-Awsat that his country was seeking “to help translate the political relationship into concrete business and research partnerships”.
Pröll is in Saudi Arabia to take in the LEAP 2026 conference in Riyadh.
“Meeting directly with Saudi ministers gives us the chance to talk frankly about where our two digital agendas overlap and where we can genuinely work together,” he added.
He hoped that the relationships built this week turn into real projects over the coming months.
Austrian State Secretary at the Federal Chancellery for Digital Affairs, Constitution and Public Service Alexander Pröll during a dialogue session at LEAP 2026. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi-Austrian relations
Pröll said: “Saudi Arabia and Austria have a long-standing and friendly relationship, and I see real momentum building specifically in the digital and technology space.”
“Both our countries are pursuing ambitious, government-led digital transformation agendas - Vision 2030 on the Saudi side, and on ours a clear push toward digital sovereignty, from our Public AI Initiative and our Chatbot ‘ida’ for the federal administration, GovGPT, to our digital identity system, ID Austria,” he went on to say.
“That gives us a genuinely shared language: both countries understand digitalization not just as a technology question, but as a question of capability, resilience and sovereignty.”
The delegation at LEAP 2026 “brings together such a broad Austrian delegation - our national research institution, our federal infrastructure and telecom regulatory bodies, and leading companies in cloud infrastructure and engineering technology - is itself a sign of how seriously we take this partnership,” he noted.
LEAP: From dialogue to projects
Commenting on LEAP, Pröll said: “It is one of the very few platforms where you can have serious conversations with governments, researchers and industry from across the world in the space of a few days.”
“My first objective is to present Austria's approach to digital sovereignty and responsible AI to an international audience - what we have built with GovGPT, our Public AI initiatives, and our push for a European approach to digital infrastructure - and to learn from what Saudi Arabia has achieved at a pace and scale that few countries can match,” he stressed.
“We have brought the heads of our national research institution, our federal real estate and infrastructure company, our telecoms and media regulator, and companies active in cloud and data infrastructure and in engineering and mobility technology. My objective is to open doors for them - to introduce them to the right Saudi counterparts, in government and in industry, and to help translate the political relationship into concrete business and research partnerships,” he said.
AI’s ‘immediate potential’
Pröll said AI is probably the area where he sees the most “immediate potential”.
“Digital government is a good example: we have built GovGPT as a tool to make our public administration more efficient and more accessible, and Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in digitizing government services at scale - there is a lot we can learn from each other on implementation, on user adoption, on what actually works,” he stated.
“On data infrastructure, Austria is investing significantly in expanding our own sovereign compute capacity, and Saudi Arabia is building some of the most ambitious digital infrastructure projects in the world. That is an area where I would like to explore how Austrian expertise - in engineering, in energy-efficient and secure infrastructure - can be part of that story,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Austrian State Secretary at the Federal Chancellery for Digital Affairs, Constitution and Public Service Alexander Pröll during a dialogue session at LEAP 2026. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
AI governance
Pröll raised the question of responsible and trustworthy AI. “I've argued, including at the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance, for a binding international framework for AI governance,” he said.
“I don't see that as a brake on innovation. I see trust as a precondition for AI to be adopted at scale, by citizens and by businesses,” he continued.
“I would like Saudi Arabia and Austria to be part of that conversation together, alongside our work on AI research through institutions, like our Austrian Institute of Technology,” he stressed.
Partnerships and investment
Pröll said that opportunities for Saudi and Austrian companies are not limited to exchanging expertise, but extend to joint research and development, projects, and direct investments.
“Each of the organizations travelling with me brings something specific to the table. Our national research institution works on applied AI, data infrastructure and technology research, and is a natural partner for joint R&D with Saudi research institutions and universities,” he went on to say.
“Our federal real estate company manages public infrastructure at national scale and has real expertise to offer on developing the physical infrastructure that digital and data projects need. Our telecoms and broadcasting regulator can offer a regulatory dialogue on everything from spectrum to platform governance, which becomes more important as both our digital sectors grow,” he noted.”
“We have a company specializing in cloud and data center infrastructure that is actively looking at international markets, and a global engineering technology company with deep expertise in powertrain, mobility and simulation technology that is highly relevant to Saudi Arabia's industrial diversification and mobility ambitions,” he added.
Pröll said: “My hope is that this visit is the start - that these meetings lead to concrete pilot projects, business partnerships, and where it makes sense, direct investment in both directions.”
“I see Austrian companies as reliable, high-quality partners for the technology ambitions of Vision 2030, and I hope Saudi partners will see the same potential we do.”
Austrian State Secretary at the Federal Chancellery for Digital Affairs, Constitution and Public Service Alexander Pröll at LEAP 2026. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Beyond AI
Pröll added that technological cooperation between Austria and Saudi Arabia does not stop at artificial intelligence, pointing to significant potential in quantum technologies and quantum communications.
“Austria has a strong research base in quantum computing and quantum communication, and this is a field where early cooperation between countries can shape the next decade of technological competitiveness,” he explained.
Cybersecurity is another: as our societies digitize, protecting that infrastructure becomes as important as building it, and it's an area where regulatory and technical cooperation go hand in hand,” he revealed.
He also pointed to mobility and engineering technology, “where Austrian companies are global leaders in powertrain development, simulation and testing - directly relevant to Saudi Arabia's ambitions in advanced manufacturing and future mobility.”
Beyond LEAP
Pröll stressed that the most critical step following the Riyadh visit is to ensure that the momentum does not stall once the conference concludes.
“I would like to see this visit translate into a structured, ongoing dialogue - regular contact between our ministries and agencies, and a clear framework for cooperation that the companies and institutions in this delegation can build on,” he said.
“Concretely, I would welcome the chance to follow up with a Saudi delegation visiting Austria, so our partners can see firsthand what we have built and continue these conversations on our home ground,” he remarked.
“What matters most to me is that the relationships built this week don't stay at the level of good intentions, but turn into real projects - in research, in infrastructure, in AI governance - over the coming months,” he added.
Chevron Expands Venezuela Bet with $7 Billion Plan to Double Output in Five Years https://english.aawsat.com/business/5313846-chevron-expands-venezuela-bet-7-billion-plan-double-output-five-years
In this file photo taken on Jan. 26, 2022, the Chevron logo is displayed at a gas station in El Segundo, California. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Chevron Expands Venezuela Bet with $7 Billion Plan to Double Output in Five Years
In this file photo taken on Jan. 26, 2022, the Chevron logo is displayed at a gas station in El Segundo, California. (AFP/Getty Images)
Chevron will invest more than $7 billion to double its crude output from Venezuela to about 600,000 barrels per day in the next five years, as part of a plan to expand joint ventures with state company PDVSA following an energy reform.
The US oil major's expansion, announced on Wednesday, is the culmination of several months of negotiation conducted separately from Washington's announcement of an unprecedented deal to take majority control of about 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves.
Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves, but years of mismanagement, corruption, under-investment and US sanctions have severely weakened its oil industry.
Production peaked at more than 3 million barrels per day in the late 1990s before declining sharply. In recent months it has been around 1.1 million to 1.2 million bpd.
Chevron's expanded agreement gives it the right over nearly half of that production. Lately, it has produced around 290,000 bpd of crude, all of it exported to the US.
The agreements provide enhanced fiscal, commercial and legal terms and include additional acreage in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, Chevron said.
US PUSHES ENERGY INVESTMENT
Following the US capture and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from office in January, US President Donald Trump has pushed a $100 billion reconstruction plan for Venezuela's energy sector, urging US oil companies to invest in the country.
While Chevron's Venezuela operations have continued uninterrupted for at least 100 years, fellow oil producers ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have remained on the sidelines.
Both companies exited the country in 2007 when their assets were nationalized under the previous government of President Hugo Chavez.
Chevron said the investment would support production growth at its three Venezuelan joint ventures, which have increased output by 15% so far this year. Total costs are expected to remain below $20 per barrel, the company said.
Chevron's Petroindependencia joint venture, in which it holds a 49% stake, received rights to develop two new areas in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, expanding its operations in the region.
"Chevron's history in Venezuela spans more than a century, and our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country’s deep resource potential and its ability to compete for investment within our portfolio for decades," said Chevron CEO Mike Wirth.
Chevron has operated in Venezuela since 1923 and has three joint ventures in the country. Petroindependencia and Petropiar operate in the Orinoco Belt, while Petroboscan operates in western Zulia state.
The expanded acreage and improved terms give Chevron a larger position in Venezuela as the US oil major seeks to increase production from the country's vast extra-heavy crude resources.
Italy's Eni, India's ONGC, Colombia's GeoPark and US firm GE Vernova are also expected to sign agreements for energy projects in Venezuela this week.
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