155 civil servants arrested as anti-corruption drive continues

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Corruption probes see 155 civil servants arrested

Good morning, wonderful people. We have a reasonably light issue for you this morning as we prepare for an extended weekend here at Enterprise World Headquarters™.

** PROGRAMMING NOTE- EnterpriseAM Saudi is off tomorrow (Thursday, 4 July). We take a small handful of publication breaks in summer, around holidays, and in the final week of the year to retool and plan new things. We’re doing that tomorrow and will be back in your inbox on Sunday morning at the usual time.

UP FIRST- Confirmation that 155 civil servants have been arrested on corruption charges has sent shockwaves through a number of government ministries. Investigators from the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (better known as Nazaha) took 155 government employees into custody last month in some 924 investigations, the Saudi Gazette reports citing Nazaha.

The allegations: The officials face a range of charges for alleged financial crimes including bribery, abuse of power, forgery, and money laundering. Some of those arrested have since been released on bail.

The ministries: Interior, health, education, housing, commerce, transport and logistics and culture as well as municipal, rural affairs and housing.

THE MESSAGE- The palace has been sending clear messages that graft (in the US sense of the word) won’t be tolerated as the government spends bns of SAR on economic growth and diversification projects. It has stepped up news coverage of arrests and regulatory enforcement and taken a high-profile heads, including the arrest of then-Royal Commission for AlUla chief Amr AlMadany in January.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The eight-week Esports World Cup will open today and run through Sunday, 25 August Riyadh’s Boulevard City. It will see the world’s best esports clubs competing for a pool of USD 60 mn — the largest purse in esports.

WEATHER- Expect hazy sunshine in Riyadh with a daytime high of 43°C. Madinah is set for windy weather with a high of 40°C, while Jeddah can expect daytime high of 41°C.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

Tomorrow is the last day for property owners in five Riyadh neighborhoods to register their assets without threat of a fine, the Real Estate General Authority (Rega) said in a statement.

You can still register a property after the deadline passes, Rega said, but could be face a fine.

The neighborhoods in question: New entries in the national Real Estate Registry (RER) include Al Hada and areas in Sidra, Al Shuala, Al Fursan, and Al Nukhba.

BACKGROUND- The RER is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund and aims to establish a real estate registry across the Kingdom to make it easier for individuals and corporations to know who has a clear title to a property when buying or selling.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT-

Narrowing the gap in GDP per capita between different regions of the Kingdom could boost the economy: Market consultant Arthur D. Little suggested in its latest viewpoint report (pdf) that closing the GDP per capita gap between established centers such as Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah and growth centers such as Aseer and Al Qassem by only 10% could generate SAR 27 bn additional contribution to GDP every year.

IN CONTEXT- Annual GDP per capita in major urban centers averages around SAR 107k, while in growth centers it’s around SAR 73k.

It’s easier said than done: The report outlines five major enablers for this ambitious target including developing local market competitive advantages, devising a clear governance framework, developing talent, along with financing infrastructure projects, and fresh investment incentives

DATA POINTS-

Loan guarantees to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) under the Kafala program jumped 4.6% y-o-y in 1H 2024 to SAR 6 bn, according to local media reports (here and here), citing data from Kafala. The program backed loans worth SAR 8, an 11.7% increase over the first half of last year.

About Kafala: Kafalah is a loan guarantee program for SMEs that seeks to facilitate their access to financing products. It primarily targets SMEs that have the growth potential, yet lack the necessary collateral to secure loans from financial institutions. Kafalah offers 10 products to SMEs (You can find the details for each product here).

PSA-

June 2024 tax filing deadlines, per the Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority:

Wednesday, 10 July: Deadline to file withholding tax returns for June 2024;
Monday, 15 July: Last day to submit excise tax returns for May and June 2024;
Wednesday, 31 July: Deadline to file VAT for June and for 2Q 2024.

And a friendly reminder: Businesses have six more months to submit their tax returns if they want to take advantage of a tax-fine waiver scheme put in place by Zatca. It has extended the deadline to file to 31 December, 2024.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Picking up exactly where we left off yesterday, the global business press remains squarely focused on fallout from the US presidential debate and a court ruling on Trump’s presidential immunity.

Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hushmoney trial was delayed to 18 September, only weeks before US voters go to the poll, Reuters reports. The delay comes after the controversial Supreme Court ruling on his immunity from prosecution for “official acts” while in office. At question is whether the judge will now have to throw out evidence that bolstered prosecutors’ case.

Meanwhile, Biden is still blaming his debate performancejet lag as more Democrats raise concerns around his health and ability to serve a second term. See:

Biden’s lapses are said to be increasingly common and worrisome (NY Times)
Biden faces doubts from Democrats about his 2024 re-election (Reuters)
Scoop: Inside House Democrats’ anti-Biden vent session (Axios)
Biden’s damage control is faltering (Semafor)

The bottom line: As Biden digs in, some top Democrats want him out of the race this week, writes CNN.

IN THE BUSINESS PRESS- It looks like a Paramount-Skydance merger is still on the cards despite earlier bids falling through. Shareholders have agreed with Paramount’s parent firm, National Amusements, on new merger terms that will see Skydance pay some USD 1.75 bn for the sale. The news sent Paramount’s shares up 9% in after hours trading. (CNBC | Reuters | WSJ)

AND- Tesla’s shares also rose 10% yesterday on better-than-expected deliveries.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

This year’s edition of security-focused expo Intersec Saudi Arabia will run from Tuesday, 1 October to Thursday, 3 October at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center.

Stc shareholders to vote on sale that will help create the region’s largest telecoms infrastructure company

The fate of the Public Investment Fund’s acquisition of stc-owned Tawal will be decided this month when the telecom giant’s shareholders meet on Wednesday, 24 July, to vote on the transaction, according to a filing to the exchange (pdf)

The transaction: PIF is looking to take a controlling stake in the Telecoms Towers Company (better known as Tawal), but stc will still have exposure

The outcome isn’t really in question: PIF owns 64% of stc.

Signoff will bring us one step closer to the emergence of the region’s largest telecom infrastructure company: The PIF and stc will work together to consolidate Tawal and another infrastructure player, Golden Lattice Investment (Glic), in a new entity that will own and manage a portfolio of c. 30k towers across five countries. The new entity will have annual revenues in the USD 1.3 bn range.

Ownership structure: The PIF will hold a 54% stake in the new company, followed by stc (43%), while other minority shareholders will hold a combined 3%. Stc will also have to inject SAR 533 mn into the new entity for its shareholding amount to settle at 43%, bringing the capital of the new entity at SAR 1.2 bn, according to our calculations.

The mechanism: The acquisition of Tawal will be done by means of a share swap where stc along with the minority owners of Glic will take stakes in the new entity, while stc will also receive SAR 8.7 bn that it plans to use to finance its “growth and expansion strategy along with maximizing its shareholders’ return.”

This has been in the works since 2022: A PIF consortium bought a 60% stake in Zain KSA’s Glic back in 2022 for SAR 3 bn, which landed the consortium a 60% majority stake in the telecom towers company. Later that year, The PIF made a non-binding offer to buy a 51% stake in Tawal with a view to combining the two.

(Editor’s Note: This story was updated on 24 July 2024 to note that PIF owns 64% of stc, not of Tawal.)

PIF-owned Sirc launches waste-to-fuel project, looks to benefit from plastic credits

Saudi gets “transformative” waste-to-fuel project: A joint venture between the Saudi Investment Recycling Company (Sirc) — a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund — and German waste management firm MVW Lechtenberg & Partner Middle East along with Norwegian blockchain firm Empower have launched a waste-to-fuel plant, Trade Arabia reports.

What we know: The project aims to process some 3 mn tons of municipal solid waste per year to produce refuse-derived fuels (RDF) in six governorates. The fuel will be acquired by six cement producers estimated to have a total cement clinker production capacity of 20 mn tons per year. Some 35% of the processed waste will be converted to RDF, while 14% will be recycled. It is set to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 1.8 mn tons per year when fully operational.

REFRESHER- What’s RDF? RDF is a type of fuel produced from various forms of waste including non-recyclable plastics and tyres as well as biodegradable matter. Non-combustible materials are separated from the burnable waste, which then gets shredded and burned. This is the second time Sirc and MVW Lechtenberg have worked on RDF together.

How it works: Empower is providing blockchain technology track the waste from collection to burning — important if the backers want to claim a green footprint for the project. It will integrate plastic credits certified by GPN Corporation’s GPx traceability standard.

Uh, plastic credits, Enterprise? Plastic credits are a financing mechanism that give companies incentives to keep or take plastics out of the environment. By certifying that it is pulling a certain amount of plastic out of the environment, Sirc-Lechtenberg project can then sell plastic credits to any company that produces plastic, allowing the latter to offset that part of its production.

Sirc is on a roll: The PIF-owned company signed an MoU earlier this month with Greece’s Hellenic Environmental Center to establish environmental treatment centers for ship recycling services in Saudi. It acquired a 60% share in Masab Plastic Factory Company last year. Its global environmental services management company Reviva also partnered with the Saudi Ports Authority to establish a recycling complex for marine and industrial waste at Jeddah Islamic Port.

Cabinet approves Saudi Tourism Authority’s associate membership in UN Tourism

Cabinet approved yesterday the Saudi Tourism Authority joining the United Nations’ World Tourism Organisation as an associate member, state news agency SPA reported. No further details were provided.

Crown prince at the table: The weekly meeting — the first since late May — was led by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah. King Salman chaired the last meeting virtually in May after recovering from a brief illness.

Also approved at yesterday’s cabinet meeting:

Mandating the energy minister to discuss and sign an MoU with Kyrgyzstan on energy;
Mandating the foreign minister to discuss and sign a draft cooperation agreement with Montenegro;
Mandating the health minister to discuss and sign an MoU on healthcare with Egypt;
Mandating the environment, water and agriculture minister to discuss and sign an MoU with Jordan on the environment;
An MoU for mineral resources with Senegal;
An MoU for minerals with Egypt.

Trump Tower Jeddah is still getting attention

No single story is dominating coverage of Saudi in the foreign press, but plans for the first Trump Tower in Saudi are still getting ink from AFP and The Independent.

Fiscal strains resulting from spending on gigaprojects pushed the Kingdom’s sovereign-risk score down during 1H 2024, Bloomberg reported. “Elevated spending on Vision 2030-related giga-projects reduces the scope for expenditure consolidation in the medium term,” Goldman Sachs economist Farouk Soussa wrote in a report. The report showed sovereign-risk scores for Saudi and Israel fall the most in emerging markets due to the Gaza war and fiscal pressures.

REMEMBER- Policymakers have accepted modest deficits as the price of continuing to invest in growth: Finance Minister Mohamed Al Jadaan signaled the government will continue to run deficits to support the “government’s strategic expansionary spending” even as it paced out some components of select gigaprojects.

Meanwhile, half of the drop in global seaborne oil flows in June were from Saudi, signaling officials were keeping some barrels at home to supply power plants as demand for air conditioning rises in the summer, Bloomberg reported. Global seaborne flows fell 1.08 mn barrels per day last month.

Sipchem awards EPC contracts worth SAR 701.5 mn for expansion of chemicals plants

MANUFACTURING-

#1- Tadawul-listed Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) has awarded EPC contracts worth SAR 701.5 mn (USD 187 mn) for the expansion of a chemicals manufacturing facility owned by an affiliate company, it said in a disclosure to Tadawul. The 40-month contracts were awarded to South Korean construction engineering firm SGC E&C and SGC Arabia. It will help boost production capacity by 70k tons to bring total capacity to 290k tons annually. The chemical products is a key input in the manufacturing of solar power encapsulants, hot melt adhesives and others, according to Sipchem.

#2- Arabian Pipes to supply pipes for Jafurah gas field expansion: Tadawul-listed Arabian Pipes was awarded a SAR 293 mn, 10-month contract earlier this week to supply steel pipes to local contractor Denys Arabia for the second phase of Aramco’s Jafurah gas field development, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. Denys Arabia is a joint venture between Belgian construction group Denys and local contractor Civil Works Company.

What’s Jafurah? The Jafurah gas field is the largest unconventional, non-oil-associated gas field in the Kingdom and is the largest shale gas development outside the US. The field is expected to produce 630k barrels of gas liquids and condensates a day and over 420 mn standard cubic feet of ethane a day by 2030. Aramco signed earlier this week contracts worth over USD 25 bn for the development of the second phase of Jafurah as it looks to boost natural gas production by 60% in 2030 from 2021 levels.

RETAIL-

Less expensive furniture from Ikea: Alsulaiman Group (ASG), the Ikea franchisee for Saudi, will invest SAR 70 mn to launch more affordable products in the market this year, according to a statement. It will offer 3k new lower price goods under its strategy to ensure “products reach customers at affordable prices without compromising on stringent quality requirements.” The discounted range will be offered at Ikea’s nine showrooms in Saudi or online.

REMEMBER- ASG has big plans for Ikea here: It plans to open 21 new Ikea branches by 2029, bringing the total number of outlets here to 30 from nine today, according to company officials earlier this year.

EXPANSION WATCH-

#1- Egyptian asset manager Azimut expects to make its Saudi debut by early 2025, once it secures approval from the Capital Market Authority, CEO Ahmed Abo El Saad told Asharq Business. The asset manager intends to focus on “asset management, whether in equities or fixed-income instruments,” according to Abo El Saad.

#2- Egyptian lighting manufacturer Futek is looking to set up a plant to make energy-efficient lighting fixtures in the Kingdom, CEO Mohamed Helal told Egyptian newspaper Al Borsa.

#3- Egypt-born health-focused e-commerce marketplace WellPal has set up shop in Saudi, it said in a post on Linkedin. No further details were provided but WellPal’s Co-Founder and CEO Mohamed Ali (Linkedin) said in statements that the platform has moved its headquarters and operations to Riyadh. Information about the potential investments earmarked for the local market were not disclosed, but Ali said a major investment would be announced soon.

About WellPal: The e-commerce platform offers a range of healthy foods products from local and international brands including nuts, coffee, honey, herbs, natural spices, and dates.

FINANCIAL SERVICES-

Jadwa Investment said it expects the potential sale of its Al Yaum Tower in Dammam to have a negative short-term impact on the financials of its Jadwa REIT Saudi Fund, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. If completed, the sale of the corporate tower — which is estimated to be worth SAR 190 mn — will see short-term losses amounting to SAR 11.1 mn. However, the fund manager said it expects a positive impact on the long term from the transaction.

MINING-

Tadawul-listed Al Masane Al Kobra Mining (Amak) said it was awarded a manganese ore exploration license from the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. The five-year license covers exploration works spanning an area of 20.7 square km in Al Baha province.

This is Amak’s third exploration license in less than a week: It received in late June from the ministry two exploration licenses in Jabal Qaran and Al Hijra which hold reserves of gold, copper and zinc.

REFRESHER- The ministry unveiled earlier this year a fresh incentives package worth SAR 685 mn as part of efforts to expand the sector and tap reserves of gold, phosphate and others. The nation’s untapped mineral resources are now worth as much as USD 2.5 tn, or 90% more than the last forecast in 2016, officials said in January.

AGRICULTURE-

Iyris (formerly RedSea) will sell its SecondSky-brand greenhouse covers in the UAE under an exclusive agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Sherwood Middle East, a subsidiary of UAE agritech company Silal, according to a statement.

What’s special about the product: The technology developed by iyris is a heat-blocking roof that blocks near infrared heat radiation, helping lower energy consumption by over 40% and water use by 30%, Iyris says. It aims to improve yield and quality of crops amid scorching heat.

AUTOMOTIVE

PIF-backed EV maker Lucid is rolling out summer incentives in a bid to attract Saudi buyers. The incentives run until the end of August. You can learn more about them here (pdf).

Nearly USD 9 bn worth of locked-up BTC is about to hit the market — what does it mean for prices?

Some USD 8.7 bn worth of locked-up BTC is about start hitting the market — that can’t be good for the price of the cryptocurrency, can it? Creditors of collapsed Japanese BTC exchange Mt. Gox may start to see BTC and BTC cash trickling into their accounts as early as this week, dumping fresh supply into the market, CNBC reports. About 140k BTC is about to be released, Coindesk adds.

The impetus to sell will be significant because BTC is worth a whole lot more than when these folks lost access to their funds. Creditors getting BTC from Mt. Gox starting this week have been waiting for a decade — Mt. Gox collapsed when BTC was at USD 600 per coin. It’s north of USD 61k now.

What happened at Mt. Gox? It went bankrupt after a 2014 hack saw it loss somewhere between 650k and 950k BTC — worth more than USD 58 bn today. (Most traders think about 750k coins went missing.)

Take it and run? Many of those getting payments this month will sell out of the asset class and “enjoy the fact that having their assets stuck in the Mt. Gox bankruptcy was the best investment they ever made,” John Glover, chief investment officer at Toronto-based crypto startup Ledn, told CNBC.

And there’s the risk that lower summertime liquidity in the market could see all that coin land with a thud that depresses prices: Pundits worry the inflow will start as many in the market have their eyes on the beach, not their trading screens.

BACKGROUND- Mt. Gox is an acronym for Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange. It was created to trade cards from the fantasy-themed game Magic: The Gathering and morphed into the world’s largest crypto exchange, handling c. 70% of the world’s BTC transactions in the currency’s earliest days. It went bankrupt after the biggest of a series of hacks it suffered between 2010 and 2014.

ALSO WORTH KNOWING- Apple has just joined OpenAI’s board “in an observer role,” the Financial Times writes. The agreement came after Apple agreed to integrate ChatGPT into iOS 18, its next operating system now in beta testing and due to the market this fall.

It’s a weird move for a bunch of reasons: For starters, Apple rival Microsoft is (effectively — it’s complicated) a 49% owner of OpenAI. And Apple and OpenAI can’t exactly be said to share the same values when it comes to things like intellectual property rights and privacy.

Apple’s Phil Schiller will have a non-voting observer seat on the board — the same as Microsoft does.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Major Asian benchmarks are mostly in the green in early trading this morning, with the ASX 200, Nikkei, and Hang Send all in the green, the Kospi flat, and the Shanghai Composite in the red. Futures for the top European benchmarks are up slightly in overnight trading, while Wall Street futures are largely flat after the S&P 500 closed above 5.5k yesterday for the first time.

Somewhere, a bear is hungry: BCA Research is one of a handful of outfits suggesting the US economy could fall into recession later this year or early next, sending the S&P 500 down by as much as 30%. (Fox Business | MarketWatch)

TASI	11,606	-0.5% (YTD: -3.0%)
MSCI Tadawul 30	1,446	-0.8% (YTD: -6.7%)
NomuC	26,109	-0.8% (YTD: +6.4%)
USD : SAR (SAMA)	USD 3.75 Sell	USD 3.75 Sell
Interest rates	6% repo	5.5% reverse repo
EGX30	27,986	+0.1% (YTD: +12.4%)
ADX	9,088	+0.3% (YTD: -5.1%)
DFM	4,063	+0.2% (YTD: +0.1%)
S&P 500	5,509	+0.6% (YTD: +15.5%)
FTSE 100	8,121	-0.6% (YTD: +5.0%)
Euro Stoxx 50	4,906	-0.5% (YTD: +8.5%)
Brent crude	USD 86.24	-0.4%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.46	+1.1%
Gold	USD 2,339.50	+0.3%
BTC	USD 61,915	-1.6% (YTD: +47.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL: TADAWUL-

The TASI fell 0.5% yesterday on turnover of SAR 6.4 bn. The index is down 3.0% YTD.

In the green: Liva (+6.7%), Smasco (+5.8%) and Al Etihad (+4.6%).

In the red: Anaam Holding (-5.7%), ANB (-4.1%) and Tadawul Group (-3.8%).

THE CLOSING BELL: NOMU-

The NomuC fell 0.8% yesterday on turnover of SAR 32.9 mn. The index is up 6.4% YTD.

In the green: Apico (+10.4%), Knowledge Tower (+8.9%) and Saudi Top (+8.5%).

In the red: Pan Gulf (-10.0%), Leaf (-9.1%) and Burgerizzr (-5.7%)

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Shareholders of Tadawul-listed ins. provider Bupa Arabia have approved the board’s recommendation to distribute SAR 600 mn in dividend at SAR 4 per share for FY 2023, according to a disclosure to Tadawul. The distribution date was set for Wednesday, 17 July, according to a separate disclosure.

CALENDAR

JULY

4 July-25 August: (Thursday-Sunday): Esports World Cup, Boulevard Riyadh City, Riyadh.

12 July (Friday): PFL MENA 2, The Green Halls, Riyadh.

10-11 July: (Wednesday-Thursday): Global EV & Mobility Tech Forum, Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center, Riyadh.

July 24 (Wednesday): Stc shareholders to vote on PIF acquisition of Tawal.

21-30 July (Sunday-Tuesday): International Chemistry Olympiad, King Saud University, Riyadh.

AUGUST

12-15 August (Monday-Thursday): The Saudi Food Expo, Riyadh.

18 August (Sunday): New academic year begins.

27-29 August (Tuesday-Thursday): Saudi Fashiontex Expo, Riyadh.

SEPTEMBER

2-4 September (Monday-Wednesday): Saudi Warehousing & Logistics Expo, Riyadh.

2-4 September (Monday-Wednesday): Saudi Wood Expo, Riyadh.

3-5 September (Tuesday-Thursday): 24 Fintech, Front Exhibition & Conference Center, Riyadh.

9-11 September (Monday-Wednesday): International Manufacturing Congress, Riyadh.

10 September (Tuesday): Saudi Arabia Investors Forum, Riyadh.

10-12 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Saudi Sports Show, Riyadh.

10-12 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Global AI Summit, Riyadh.

11-12 September (Wednesday-Thursday): The Saudi Event Show, Riyadh.

16-19 September (Monday-Thursday): Foodex Saudi, Riyadh.

17-19 September (Tuesday-Thursday): EV Auto Show, Riyadh.

17-19 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Hotel & Hospitality Expo, Front Exhibition & Conference Center, Riyadh.

18-19 September (Wednesday-Thursday): Saudi Maritime & Logistics Congress, Dammam.

18-19 September (Wednesday-Thursday): IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2024, Riyadh.

24-26 September (Tuesday-Thursday) Saudi Infrastructure Expo, Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center, Riyadh.

23 September (Monday): National Day (national holiday).

29 September (Sunday) – 1 October (Tuesday): Jeddah Construct Expo, Jeddah.

OCTOBER

1-3 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Intersec Saudi Arabia 2024, Riyadh.

5-7 October (Saturday-Monday): Middle East Education & Training Exhibition 2024, Jeddah.

21-22 October (Monday-Tuesday): Smart Ports & Logistics Transformation Summit, Riyadh.

21-22 October (Monday-Tuesday): Aussie Expo, King Abdullah Financial District Conference Center, Riyadh.

29-31 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Investment Initiative Conference, Riyadh.

31 October (Thursday): No-visa travel for Saudis to Montenegro on charter flights expires.

NOVEMBER

2-9 November (Saturday- Saturday): WTA Finals, Riyadh.

4-7 November (Monday-Thursday): Saudi Build, Riyadh.

26-28 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Saudi Electricity Expo, Riyadh.

11-14 November (Monday-Thursday): Cityscape Global, Riyadh.

18-20 November (Monday-Wednesday): The Heavy Equipment and Truck Show, Dammam.

25-27 November (Monday-Wednesday): World Investment Conference, Riyadh.

26-28 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Saudi Electricity Expo, Riyadh.

DECEMBER

1 December (Sunday): Opec+ to meet.

2-13 December (Monday-Friday): Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Riyadh.

11 December (Wednesday): FIFA Congress, which will decide the hosting countries for the FIFA World Cup 2030 and 2034

23-26 December (Monday-Thursday): Aqarat Expo, Riyadh.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2024:

The AFC Champions League Elite

2025

FEBRUARY 2025

10-13 February (Monday-Thursday): Leap 2025, the Kingdom’s premier tech investment conference.

14-15 February (Friday-Saturday): Formula E, Diriyah.

JUNE 2025

26 June (Thursday): 2024-2025 academic year ends.

2026

UN Trade and Development Global Supply Chain Forum to take place in Saudi Arabia.

2027

The World Water Forum takes place in Riyadh.

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