Saudi Arabia News

Demand for oil in 2011 to rise but prices will remain.

2011-01-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

RIYADH: Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi said that although he expects demand for oil in 2011 to rise, he also believes prices will remain at last year's rates.

He said oil demand would reflect global economic conditions in general, varying from region to region. He predicted that oil demand is expected to continue to decline in countries with mature economies, good to excellent living conditions and dwindling populations, particularly in Western Europe and Japan, while the United States might experience a slight increase in demand as a result of its improving economy.
The global economy, he said, will grow by four percent this year, almost the same as the pre-crisis growth. Industrialized countries are expected to grow by 2.5 percent annually, while emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil grow at higher rates, some of them more than eight percent during this year.
He hoped that large numbers of people from industrialized countries would continue to rise from poverty and experience better living conditions. Estimates indicate that more than 200 million people will join the middle class this year in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.
The minister said the policy is implemented under the directions and direct supervision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
The policy, he said, has eight main drivers, namely moderation, cooperation with the rest of the world, stability of the global oil market, serving the local market, focus on the administrative side, concentration on environmental aspects, focus on technology and looking at oil as part of the energy industry.
Describing the Kingdom's petroleum policy as characterized by moderation and endeavor to promote peace, justice, international cooperation, regional and international stability and human prosperity, he said: "We also have strong ties with the companies and countries that import Saudi oil and we closely track the movement of global oil demand. In the 50s and 60s, Europe was our main market, then in the 90s our export focus shifted to the United States as a result of the growth in its oil demand. Now Asia is our main market, representing the destination of approximately 60 percent of our oil exports, a percentage that is expected to rise during the coming years.”

Saudi Arabia

2010-12-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

Saudi Arabia, monarchy in southwestern Asia, occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is a land of vast deserts and little rainfall. Huge deposits of oil and natural gas lie beneath the country’s surface. Saudi Arabia was a relatively poor nation before the discovery and exploitation of oil, but since the 1950s income from oil has made the country wealthy. The religion of Islam developed in the 7th century in what is now Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, and it has been ruled by his descendants ever since.

Riyadh Skyscrapers

Saudi Arabia is bounded on the north by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait; on the east by the Persian Gulf and Qatar; on the southeast by the United Arab Emirates and Oman; on the south by Yemen; and on the west by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The country’s border with the United Arab Emirates is not precisely defined. Saudi Arabia has an area of about 2,240,000 sq km (about 864,900 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Riyadh.

Foreign Trade

2010-10-28T01:54:00.000-07:00

Saudi Arabia’s exports—dominated by petroleum products—easily outweigh its imports of items such as foods, machinery, vehicles, textiles, and raw materials including plastics, chemicals, and rubber. In 2002 Saudi Arabia exported commodities amounting to $63.7 billion, while imports amounted to only $37 billion. The United States is the country’s largest trading partner, followed by Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Relations

2010-10-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest contributors of development aid, both in term of volume of aid and in the ratio of aid volume to GDP.

Much of Saudi Arabia's aid has gone to poorer Islamic countries or Islamic communities in non-Islamic countries. This aid has contributed to the spreading of Islam of the sort found in Saudi Arabia, rather than fostering the traditions of the receiving ethnic groups. The effect has been the erosion of regional Islamic cultures through standardization. Examples of the acculturizing effect of Saudi aid can be seen among the Minangkabau and the Acehnese in Indonesia, as well as among the people of the Maldives.
On the 18 December 2008, the William J. Clinton Foundation released a list of all contributors. It included The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which gave between US$10–25 million.
In addition, Saudi Arabia remains one of the United States' allies in the region, and relations between the two countries go back as far as 1931 when the US first extended diplomatic recognition. In 1945 President Roosevelt and King Abdulaziz bin Saud met on board a ship to discuss relations between the two countries. Since then, the two have maintained close relations for economic and political reasons.

Embassies must defend Saudis detained abroad

2008-07-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

Embassies must defend Saudis detained abroad
Arab News

TAIF: Saudi diplomatic missions will appoint lawyers to defend Saudi citizens who are arrested on any charges during their stay abroad and will pay bail for them under new regulations approved by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Al-Madinah newspaper reported yesterday.

The daily said starting next year, the budget of the Foreign Ministry would include provisions under the title, "Expenses of catering to the judicial requirements of Saudi citizens abroad."

It said the amount of money required would be decided by the Foreign and Finance ministries and the allocation would be used to pay the fees of lawyers, bail and other costs until the citizen is released and sent home.

The Saudi missions will follow up with the legal entities in countries concerned to make sure that the citizens receive a fair trial before they are either acquitted or convicted, the new regulations stipulate.

According to these regulations, the citizen will pay back the money spent on him abroad after returning to the Kingdom if he was arrested for negligence or for deliberate mistakes. He will also have to pay any financial settlements related to the alleged crime.

The diplomatic missions will send comprehensive reports about any such cases to the Foreign Ministry. They will also continue to provide citizens with legal counseling and help them choose qualified lawyers for civil contracts, personal affairs and correspondence with foreign governments.

The Foreign Ministry is being requested to contract an experienced American law firm with strong ties to other legal entities in order to assist with legal cases involving Saudi citizens in the United States.

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2008-07-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

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2008-07-07T04:49:00.000-07:00

Blast in Pakistan capital kills more than 10

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By MANAL AHMAD

The Associated Press

July 06, 2008

A suicide attacker detonated explosives near a police station in Pakistan's capital on Sunday, killing more than 10 police officers, officials said.

The blast occurred in a kiosk in front of the police station, said Naeem Iqbal, a police spokesman. Television footage showed wounded security forces being taken away and ambulances rushing to the area.

Just moments before the explosion, an Associated Press reporter passed by the scene and saw more than 20 security forces gathered nearby.

After the blast, a traffic intersection in the area was splattered with blood. Body parts were scattered as far as about 50 yards from the scene, and shattered glass also covered the area, which police cordoned off.

Rana Akbar Hayat, a senior government official, told reporters near the scene that more than 10 people were killed and that they had been targeted by the attacker.

The blast came as thousands of Islamists were gathered not far away to mark the one-year anniversary of a deadly military crackdown on a radical mosque. It was not clear whether the events were linked.

The explosion also came following recent threats of revenge from militants in Pakistan angered by a paramilitary operation against insurgents in the tribal northwest.

A new government that came to power following February elections has sought to end militancy in the country primarily through peace deals with extremists.

That approach has earned criticism from U.S. officials, who say the deals will simply give time for militants to regroup and intensify attacks on foreign forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

About a week ago, as militants in the northwest increasingly began threatening the key city of Peshawar, the government launched a paramilitary operation in Khyber tribal region to flush out the extremists.

That operation has been halted while officials try to negotiate peace through tribal elders, but Pakistani Taliban leaders promised revenge for the government's show of force.

Violence levels have fallen in Pakistan since last year, but attacks still occur.

In June, a suicide car bomber killed at least six people near the Danish Embassy in Islamabad. A statement attributed to al-Qaida took responsibility for that blast, which was believed to have targeted Denmark over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

UAE cancels Iraq debt, names new ambassador

2008-07-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

UAE cancels Iraq debt, names new ambassador

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By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

The Associated Press

July 06, 2008

The United Arab Emirates canceled billions of dollars of Iraqi debt Sunday and moved to restore a full diplomatic mission in Baghdad, evidence of Iraq's improved security and growing acceptance of its Shiite-led government.

The Abu Dhabi government announced the debt relief and the naming of a new ambassador to Baghdad shortly after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki began a visit to the wealthy Gulf nation.

The news was sure to bolster al-Maliki's government, which has been urging Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors to forgive loans made during Saddam Hussein's regime and restore diplomatic relations.

Al-Maliki, who has been in office since May 2006, thanked the UAE for the debt cancellation, telling local businessmen it was a 'swift and courageous' decision.

The Emirates' official news agency, WAM, quoted the president, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as saying he hoped canceling the debt would lighten the 'economic burden' facing Iraqis and he urged the country to unite behind al-Maliki's government.

WAM said the debt was $4 billion excluding interest. A UAE official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said the total debt was $7 billion with interest.

Iraq has been appealing for relief of at least $67 billion in foreign debt _ owed mostly to Arab nations that have been reluctant to forgive Iraq's belligerence during Saddam Hussein's regime.

In addition, the U.N. Compensation Commission says $28 billion remains to be paid for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraq now gives 5 percent of its oil revenue to meet the compensation claims.

Al-Maliki's American backers also have pushed Arab states to restore ties with Iraq, where violence has declined by 70 percent over the past year. Neighboring Jordan named an ambassador last week, and Kuwait and Bahrain say they will soon follow suit.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the U.S. welcomed the UAE decision to cancel the Iraqi debt, appoint an ambassador and reopen their embassy in Baghdad.

'We appreciate the Emiratis' recognition that a secure and prosperous Iraq is in the interests of everyone in the region. Prime Minister Maliki and the government of Iraq should also be applauded for their continued outreach to their neighbors, and their efforts to advance a positive agenda through regional diplomacy,' said Johndroe, who was in Japan with President Bush at the Group of Eight meeting of major powers.

In Abu Dhabi, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Abdullah al-Shehi, the UAE's former head of mission in India, was named ambassador to Iraq. The country said last month that an appointment was upcoming.

The UAE withdrew its ambassador to Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and after one of its diplomats was kidnapped and later released.

Sunni militant groups like al-Qaida in Iraq, mistrustful of the government, have warned Arab states not to open embassies in Baghdad. The capital's first major car bomb of the war struck the Jordanian Embassy, killing 19 people in the summer of 2003. Diplomats from Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, Turkey and Sudan have all been either killed, wounded or kidnapped in Iraq.

Al-Maliki chided his Arab 'brothers' at an April conference of Iraq's neighbors in Kuwait, saying he found it 'difficult to explain why diplomatic exchange has not taken place.' Most major Western diplomatic missions in Baghdad are located in the U.S.-protected Green Zone.

Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Labid Abbawi, said Sunday that the country plans to open consulates soon in Detroit, Michigan, and San Diego. He told The Associated Press they chose those cities because they have large Iraqi communities.

Karzai orders chopper attack probe

2008-07-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

Karzai orders chopper attack probe

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By AMIR SHAH and JASON STRAZIUSO

The Associated Press

July 06, 2008

Afghan officials said fighter aircraft battling militants accidentally killed up to 27 Afghans walking to a wedding ceremony in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday, the second military attack in three days with reports of civilian deaths.

The U.S. military blamed the claims on militant propaganda and said its missiles only struck insurgents.

President Hamid Karzai had already ordered an investigation into allegations that missiles from U.S. helicopters struck civilians on Friday in eastern Afghanistan, though the Defense Ministry said Sunday that attack on the Nuristan-Kunar border killed or wounded 20 militants.

U.S. Army Gen. David D. McKiernan, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the two incidents were being investigated. He noted that militants hide among and intimidate civilians.

U.S. spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry said the military has repeatedly seen militants falsely claim civilian were killed.

'Whenever we do an airstrike the first thing they're going to cry is 'Airstrike killed civilians' when the missile actually struck militant extremists we were targeting in the first place,' Perry said. 'At this time we don't believe we've harmed anyone except for the combatants.'

In a statement, Karzai cited allegations by Tamim Nuristani, the governor of Nuristan province, that 15 civilians were killed and seven wounded in the Friday attack. During a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, top Afghan officials prayed for any innocent lives lost, a presidential palace statement said.

'The killing and wounding of our countrymen as the result of airstrikes is news that always makes us sad,' Karzai said.

In the second incident early Sunday, the chief government official in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province said villagers reported that as many as 27 people walking in a group toward a wedding were killed in a bombing. Up to 11 other people were wounded, Haji Amishah Gul said.

Nuristan provincial police chief spokesman Ghafor Khan said that fighter aircraft attacked a group of militants near the village of Kacu, but that one of the missiles went off course and hit the wedding party. Khan said many militants were killed in the attack as well.

Both officials relied on reports called in by telephone from villagers. The area was too remote for officials or reporters to reach.

Gul said the group killed included men, women and children. Six of those wounded were taken to the provincial hospital in Jalalabad. Lal Wazir, an Afghan who helped bring the wounded to the hospital, said the airstrike occurred at 6:30 a.m.

'The wedding participants were on their way to the groom's house,' Wazir said outside the hospital, his tunic covered in blood after carrying some of those wounded.

'They stopped in a narrow location for rest. The plane came and bombed the area. There were between 80 to 90 people altogether. We have carried six of the injured to this hospital, and more might be coming. The exact number of casualties is not clear,' he said.

A U.S.-led coalition statement said an airstrike killed several militants in Nangarhar.

The issue of civilian casualties has caused friction between the Afghan government and U.S. and NATO troops, and has weakened the standing of Western-backed Karzai in the eyes of the population.

Karzai has repeatedly called for better coordination between Afghan and foreign troops in pursuing militants through populated areas, and for international troops to cut down on civilian casualties. Deaths of ordinary Afghans caused a huge outcry last year, but there have been fewer accusations of such killings in recent months.

McKiernan said NATO uses a 'very judicious and strict application of lethal force.'

'Civilian casualties are very, very important in this campaign. One is one to many,' he said. 'I do think we have ... the right procedures in place to mitigate and minimize any collateral damage to people or material.'

Perry said Sunday that military reports still indicated that the Friday airstrike by coalition helicopters in Nuristan hit two vehicles carrying militants who had attacked a NATO base with mortars.

Karzai suggested that Afghan civilians may have been fleeing at the time of the strike because of a warning from the U.S. coalition.

'Coalition forces are saying that this operation was against armed insurgents in the area, but Gov. Nuristani is insisting that three hours before this airstrike, people were informed by international forces that they should leave the area because of a possible airstrike against insurgents,' Karzai said in a statement.

Elsewhere, in the southern province of Helmand _ the country's other hotly contested region _ a clash killed seven Taliban and two police, provincial police Chief

28 killed, 141 wounded in blast in Afghan capital

2008-07-07T04:42:00.000-07:00

28 killed, 141 wounded in blast in Afghan capital

By AMIR SHAH

The Associated Press

July 06, 2008

A suicide car bomb exploded outside the Indian Embassy in central Kabul on Monday, killing 28 people and wounding 141 in the deadliest attack this year in the Afghan capital, officials said.

The massive bomb exploded near a row of metal turnstiles outside the embassy, where dozens of Afghan men line up every morning to apply for visas. The embassy is located on a busy, tree-lined street near Afghanistan's Interior Ministry in the city center.

Several nearby shops were damaged or destroyed in the blast, and smoldering ruins covered the street. The explosion rattled much of the Afghan capital.

'Several shopkeepers have died. I have seen shopkeepers under the rubble,' said Ghulam Dastagir, a shopkeeper who was wounded in the blast.

Abdullah Fahim, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, said the explosion killed at least 28 people and wounded 141. The ministry collected information from the scene and several Kabul hospitals.

The explosion was the deadliest attack in Kabul since a suicide bomber attacked an army bus last September, killing 30 people.

Shortly after the attack, a woman ran out of a Kabul hospital screaming, crying and hitting her face with both of her hands. Her two children, a girl named Lima and a boy named Mirwais, had been killed.

'Oh my God!' the woman screamed. 'They are both dead.'

Afghanistan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta visited the embassy shortly after the attack, ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmed Baheen said.

'India and Afghanistan have a deep relationship between each other. Such attacks of the enemy will not harm our relations,' Spanta told the embassy staff, according to Baheen.

The Indian ambassador and his deputy were not inside the embassy at the time of the blast, Baheen said.

Militants have frequently attacked Indian offices and projects around Afghanistan since launching an insurgency after the ouster of the Taliban at the end of the 2001. Many Taliban militants have roots in Pakistan, which has long had a troubled relationship with India.

While Afghanistan has seen increasing violence in recent months, Kabul has been largely spared the random bomb attacks that Taliban militants use in their fight against Afghan and international troops.

In September 2006, a suicide bomber near the gates of the Interior Ministry killed 12 people and wounded 42 others. After that blast, additional guards and barriers were posted on the street.

In two separate bombings Monday against police convoys in the country's south, seven officers were killed and 10 others were wounded, officials said.

In Uruzgan province, a roadside bomb killed four police on patrol and wounded seven others, said provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat.

In the Zhari district of Kandahar, another roadside blast killed three officers and wounded three others, said district chief Niyaz Mohammad Sarhadi.

United Arab Emirates to forgive Iraq's $4-billion debt

2008-07-07T04:38:00.000-07:00

United Arab Emirates to forgive Iraq's $4-billion debt

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Iraqi leader Maliki's efforts to improve ties with Sunni Arab neighbors appear to pay off. An Emirates official says counting interest and arrears, the amount is closer to $7 billion.

By Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 7, 2008

BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki traveled Sunday to the United Arab Emirates, where he won a promise that at least $4 billion of Iraq's debt would be forgiven.

The visit was a significant step forward in efforts by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government to improve relations with Sunni Arab nations in the region. Maliki's administration has been criticized for its close ties with Shiite-led Iran and accused of failing to deal firmly with Shiite militias at home.

The government's crackdown starting in spring on militias in the southern Iraq cities of Basra and Amarah and the large Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad helped clear the way for renewed diplomatic contacts.

The principal of the debt owed by Iraq was put at $4 billion. An Emirates diplomatic source told Reuters news service that the total sum that would be forgiven was closer to $7 billion when interest and arrears were included.

In addition to canceling the debt, Emirates leader Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan pledged to send an ambassador to Baghdad and help with the reconstruction of holy shrines in Iraq damaged by years of war and civil strife.

Iraq's finance minister had said last week that several other Sunni Arab countries were planning to set up embassies in Baghdad. Besides the United Arab Emirates, he named Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

The embassies of Arab nations were targeted by militant Sunni groups after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, to discourage them from supporting the new government. The Emirates withdrew its ambassador after one of its diplomats was kidnapped. He was later released.

Meanwhile, after two relatively quiet days, violence resumed Sunday.

In Anbar province, a suicide bomber drove a car into a joint Iraqi-American checkpoint near Rawah, about 165 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing five Iraqi police and injuring 18 people, a police source said. He said helicopters took away wounded Americans.

The U.S. military said it had no report on any such incident.

A roadside bomb targeting a leader of a minor Kurdish political party killed seven people in a part of northern Diyala province that Kurds want to incorporate into their semiautonomous region. Mohammed Ramadhan Esa of the National Kurdistan Party was injured, but the explosion killed his wife, three of his children, his sister-in-law and two guards, police said. Three other people were wounded.

A car bomb went off near the entrance of Shaab neighborhood in north Baghdad, killing six people and injuring 14, including three police officers.

In Iskandariya, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, a leader of the concerned citizens group, the U.S.-funded neighborhood security force, was killed in a bombing.

An area north of Sadr City was sealed off Sunday after gunfire erupted Saturday night. Witnesses said a joint U.S.-Iraqi force conducting an operation in the area, once a stronghold of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada Sadr, exchanged fire with several gunmen.

The U.S. military said an American soldier died Saturday of noncombat injuries. The cause of death was being investigated. At least 4,114 U.S. service members have died since the war began in 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org.