December 31, 2011
The recently concluded US-Saudi Business Opportunities Forum (Dec 5-7, Atlanta) featured an extremely rich assembly of senior government officials, business people and more. Among those who participated form the Kingdom were three serving ministers in the Government plus the Governor of SAMA, the central bank and dozens of other senior officials — all who provided the most complete and authoritative reviews of their respective areas of responsibility in keynote remarks and panel discussions. The Saudi delegation also included Dr. Tawfiq Rabiah, the Director General for the Saudi Industrial Property Authority, or Modon. He too would hold the title of Minister in the Saudi Arabian Council of Ministers with the announcement a week later that he was named to head the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Today we provide for your consideration the remarks of Dr. Rabiah, in his capacity as chief of Modon, in which he touched on growth in the economy, the Saudi industrial strategy and the role of Modon. We suggest you open the embedded slides from Dr. Rabiah’s brief to further illuminate these topics as you review his comments. We have also included the video recording of his presentation.
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December 30, 2011
The United States and Saudi Arabia edged closer to delivery of 84 advanced F-15 fighter aircraft and upgrades to 70 F-15s already in the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) inventory, a defense package worth $29.4 billion, with the conclusion of an agreement this week. According to Pentagon officials the letter of offer and acceptance was signed over the weekend between the parties. The total package announced last year is valued at some $60 billion that includes helicopters and upgrades to naval forces in addition to the aircraft sales and upgrades. The announcement comes during a period of heightened tension in the Gulf as Iranian forces exercised in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz demonstrating a threat to freedom of navigation in the vital chokepoint and causing oil markets to react with an uptick in prices. Defense policy chief, Dr. James Miller, said the sale demonstrated that, “The United States is firmly committed to the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as we have been for nearly seven decades, and that more broadly, the United States and Saudi Arabia have a strong mutual interest in the security and stability of the Gulf.” He added that the “ten-plus years” of support that was part of the agreement showed “sustained commitment between the U.S. and Saudi Governments, and both for Saudi security and U.S.-Saudi relations.”
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