Actions speak louder than words and this week in Central Asia, lots of actions, some decisive, some more soft and tender were taken across the board.

The COVID-19 pandemic has catalysed diversification throughout the GCC on an unprecedented scale. This is an extremely welcome development. Indeed, COVID-19 has exposed the region’s digital laggards, prompting governments to place digitalisation at the core of their national strategies as a means of survival.

When the Saudi Minister of Tourism HE Ahmed Al-Khateeb, was seen in Jamaica wearing a Bob Marley hat, a Travel and Tourism revolution had just started.

The “Saudi Building Code National Committee” has announced that the application of the Saudi Building Code is mandatory starting from 1 July 2021 for family and residential buildings.

The KSA Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority has on 2 July 2021 issued an immediately effective new decision No. 3852 (the “Decision”) setting new customs regulations. The Decision relates to GCC countries only.

Effective 19 March 2020, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (“SFDA”) issued a publication detailing that certain health products that were previously required to be “listed” at SFDA are now required to be “registered” as a health product in order to be marketed in Saudi Arabia. This update details these changes.

We invite you to read as we look beyond the pandemic with the updated issue of “MENA Post-COVID: Green Shoots & Recovery”.

We invite you to read as we look beyond the pandemic with the updated issue of “MENA Post-COVID: Green Shoots & Recovery”.

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) launched an initiative to support innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in the region. Although introduced in August 2020 we are now seeing this licensing model successfully in operation for numerous clients.

The city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia was the first stop on a visit to the Middle East by the Director of InvestChile, Andrés Rodríguez Rowe, together with the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations, Rodrigo Yáñez. In efforts to attract foreign investment to Chile, they met with Saudi officials and sovereign wealth funds. The goal is to showcase opportunities in Chile in sectors such as energy, infrastructure and green hydrogen.