Kuwaiti Cabinet Briefed on Railway Connection Project with Saudi Arabia, Stresses its Importance

The cabinet stressed the importance of the railway connection project between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
The cabinet stressed the importance of the railway connection project between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
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Kuwaiti Cabinet Briefed on Railway Connection Project with Saudi Arabia, Stresses its Importance

The cabinet stressed the importance of the railway connection project between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
The cabinet stressed the importance of the railway connection project between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

The Kuwaiti cabinet on Tuesday was briefed by the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, Noura Al-Mashaan, on the railway connection project between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Mashaan presented the project during the cabinet’s weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah at the Bayan Palace, Kuwait’s official news agency, KUNA, said.

The cabinet stressed the importance of the project, which will contribute to organizing and activating sustainable railway connectivity and enhance trade exchange and economic growth between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti media quoted a government source as saying that Saudi Arabia's Transport and Logistics Minister Saleh al-Jasser will visit Kuwait this week to discuss the rail link project, its implementation stages and other details.

The Saudi Arabia-Kuwait 650km-long railway network will shorten travel time between the two countries to three hours.

This project is separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rail link project.

The route of the railway will start from Al Shaddadiya in Kuwait, stretching all the way to Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. The project is expected to be completed in four years.

On November 16, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Public Works entered into an agreement with the SYSRTA alliance to conduct a comprehensive study on the financial, economic, and technical feasibility of the railway connection between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The Kuwaiti Public Works Ministry said its undersecretary Eid Al-Rashidi signed with Vice President of the Shared Services at Saudi Railway Company Salah Alomair an agreement aimed at organizing and activating sustainable rail linkage between the two countries in order to achieve safe and effective rail transport, KUNA said.



Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Taiwan is investigating who is responsible for modifying the pagers that were turned into explosives in the hands of the Lebanese people, including members of Hezbollah.

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang told Asharq Al-Awsat that 260,000 pagers were exported from his country between 2022 and 2024, and 16 percent of them were sent to the United States and Europe.

He expressed his regret that the pagers were planted with explosives that were used in the attack in Lebanon last month, clarifying that the devices were not directly exported from Taiwan to Lebanon.

He explained that the components of the device are made of material that is not liable to explode.

Apollo Gold, the Taiwanese company that exported the pagers between 2022 and 2024, has never received any complaints that its devices have caused harm or exploded.

The attack in Lebanon has raised several questions and they are being probed by authorities in Taiwan, he went on to say.

One thing is for certain, the devices were not harmful in the shape they were exported from the country, stressed Chang.

Asked about whether the attack may harm Taiwan’s economy, he replied that his country’s industry sector has a strong reputation that will be difficult to undermine given the trust it has from clients.

The size of the sector and Taiwan’s investments cannot be measured by a small number of pagers, as they only make up a mere fraction in the country’s trade relations with countries all over the world, he stressed.

Separately, Chang revealed that Taiwan was considering cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the chip industry, saying he was optimistic over the broad potential for cooperation in the technology sector.

There are no limits to the cooperation between them, he added.

Taiwan constantly wants to maintain the relations and discuss opportunities for joint investments, he stated.

Taiwan was among the first countries to leap to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in all fields to help the Kingdom achieve its Vision 2030 that is spearheaded by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Chang said.