{"id":56705,"date":"2026-01-24T09:57:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/?p=56705"},"modified":"2026-01-24T10:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T07:13:36","slug":"wef26-saudi-arabia-becoming-a-connector-economy-asworld-trade-evolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/2026\/01\/wef26-saudi-arabia-becoming-a-connector-economy-asworld-trade-evolves\/","title":{"rendered":"WEF26: Saudi Arabia becoming \u2018a connector economy\u2019 asworld trade evolves"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">New International Initiatives Strengthen Saudi Arabia\u2019s Position as a Global Hub for Technology and Innovation, as the Saudi Government Presents a Global Economic Vision to Support Innovation and Strategic Partnerships Across Tourism and Artificial Intelligence<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Launch of the Saudi\u2013U.S. Innovation Partnership to Boost Collaboration in Artificial Intelligence and Life Sciences Through the Riyadh\u2013Austin Innovation Corridor, Accelerating the Transfer of Advanced Technologies<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Amplifai Health Wins Recognition Under the MINDS Initiative, Reflecting the Growing Global Presence of Innovative Companies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">During specialized panel discussions at the World Economic Forum\u2019s Annual Meeting 2026 (Davos 2026), a number of ministers and officials explored the prospects for economic growth and the rapid transformations underway in the tourism, technology, and industrial sectors.<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\">The New Economy<\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">The sessions focused on the future of economic partnerships and the role of innovation in promoting inclusive development.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0Majid A. Alkassabi, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Minister of Commerce, today at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos said the Kingdom stands to benefit from ongoing shifts in global supply chains.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Speaking in a session titled \u2018Many Shapes of Trade\u2019, HE commented:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cTrade today is definitely shifting from fair trade to a managed and rule-driven trade model,For us in Saudi Arabia, we have a strategic location, we have a lot of resources, we could become a bridge economy. We could become a connector economy where we can connect with Africa, with Europe, with Asia, becoming a logistic hub.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0Ahmed A. Alkhateeb, Minister of Tourism, in a session called \u2018The New Geography of Travel: Elevating Destinations, Expanding Opportunity\u2019, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cUN Tourism is projecting the number of tourists to grow to 2 billion by 2030, which means adding 500 million. This is a lot, and this is very encouraging for Saudi Arabia \u2013 for its hotel operators, investors, technology providers. This is an industry of amazing potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0Mohammed A. Aljadaan, Minister of Finance said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cOur role as policymakers is to ensure that a predictable environment is provided for businesses, and we are doing so by strengthening the resilience of our economy and giving the private sector the confidence it needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0Abdullah A. Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, in \u2018Converging Technologies to Win\u2019, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cIn AI, the Kingdom is tackling the energy wall and the memory wall. We\u2019re issuing a call to our partners, that in the Intelligence Age, you need a partner that can accelerate AI, but more critically adopt AI; and the Kingdom stands as your partner of choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0Bandar I. Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, in \u2018A Collective Voice on the Future of Minerals:<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Aligning Policy, Investment and Supply\u2019, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cThe Kingdom adopts a multilateral approach to international cooperation, creating platforms that enable dialogue and partnership&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">He add:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">&#8220;The Future Minerals Forum stands at the forefront, now a global convening platform uniting governments, industry, finance, academia, and technology leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Speaking in \u2018Redefining Economic Partnerships: From Dialogue to Delivery\u2019, Faisal F. Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cI believe there is a world where every country can unlock its economic potential and still keep dialogue open.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">He added:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cThere has never been a more blank canvas or a wider opportunity for us to design the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\">Saudi\u2013U.S. Partnership Initiative<\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">On Thursday, the Global Innovation Platform, a strategic partnership between Saudi HoldCo and GoldenPoint Global, launched the Saudi\u2013U.S.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Innovation Partnership.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">It is a nationally anchored platform designed to accelerate bilateral collaboration in life sciences, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Anchored by the cities of Riyadh and Austin, the partnership aligns two of the world\u2019s most dynamic innovation ecosystems.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Additionally, Amplifai Health was announced as a winner of the second cohort of WEF\u2019s MINDS &#8211; AI Global Alliance initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During specialized panel discussions at the World Economic Forum\u2019s Annual Meeting 2026 (Davos 2026), a number of ministers and officials explored the prospects for economic growth and the rapid transformations underway in the tourism, technology, and industrial sectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":56702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"post_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1816],"tags":[7107,4727,11187,11188],"class_list":["post-56705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-en","tag-amplifai","tag-amplifai-health","tag-davos-2026","tag-world-economic-forums-annual-meeting-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56707,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56705\/revisions\/56707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}