For Saudi Arabia, PPPs represent a critical means to accelerate major projects and attract investment, but they may highlight weaknesses, such as workforce limitations and lack of expertise to execute certain goals.
The financial windfall from oil and gas exports may boost regional officials’ ambitious economic diversification plans but doesn’t make them foolproof.
While pursuing long-term economic reform and diversification, Saudi Arabia needs to show that the kingdom is an attractive, business-friendly place; yet recent moves have worried investors over the business environment, and raised some concerns over the impact on oil policy.
In the Gulf Arab states, a region with a population of over 50 million, there is only one B Corp. Luxembourg, a microstate with fewer than 600,000 people, has two.
Saudization, or the reservation of certain jobs and sectors for Saudi nationals, is part of the government’s effort to transform its private sector.
On December 6, 2017, the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington partnered with Raytheon to host the second annual UAE Security Forum.
Social commerce is a new phenomenon. In “The Social Commerce System,” it is defined as “the expansion of e-commerce in the social networks on the Internet, in which social factors are significant, and consumers use the right to create content through the media via forums, ratings, reviews, and recommendations on different platforms.” At its core, Boutiqaat is similar to other e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba, and Souq.
The vast reorganization of fiscal policy in the Gulf Arab states has upended decades of practice in cyclical government spending tied to oil revenue.
Government bonds are a popular remedy to budget deficits across the Gulf Cooperation Council states right now.
Saudi Arabia's soft power initiatives may help the kingdom advance its economic interests in Iraq and help strengthen Iraq’s ties with a key Gulf Arab neighbor.
Learn MoreThrough its careful examination of the forces shaping the evolution of Gulf societies and the new generation of emerging leaders, AGSIW facilitates a richer understanding of the role the countries in this key geostrategic region can be expected to play in the 21st century.
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