By 2050, over 70% of the world population will be living in cities covering less than 2% of the earth’s surface. Never had city been so challenged and the trend continues to grow. And, this rise to many issues like rising inequality, environmental pollution, infrastructure access, traffic congestion, mobility, safety and health of residents are only a few examples.

Since its launch in April 2016, Vision 2030 has had a mixed record of achieving its ambitious goals. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) has been able to launch some aspects of the agenda, such as cultural and social reforms, with dizzying spread and little resistance.

Turkey held the second wind power plant tender as part of its Renewable Energy Resource Zones (YEKA) project. The total 1 GW tender was split into 250 MW each across four provinces in Turkey—Aydın, Muğla, Balıkesir, and Çanakkale.

Investors from the Chinese city of Kunshan are planning to invest $500m in a textile production complex in the eastern Ethiopian town of Dire Dawa.

In April, China’s legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), approved amendments to three laws – the Trademark Law, the Law Against Unfair Competition and the Administrative Licensing Law – that will strengthen protections for intellectual property (IP) rights.

In a very much positive and long awaited step, the UAE Ministry of Economy has just reduced the trademark registration fees. According to Ministerial Decree No. (51) of 2019 with respect to the fees of the Ministry’s Services (“Decree”), the reduction of the fees is mainly for the registration fees, which has been reduced up to 33% of the current registration fees (AED 6,700 instead of AED 10,000). The reduction does not affect the filing or the...

In May, the Egyptian government approved a new free zone in Aswan as part of plans to develop cities in Upper Egypt. Apart from the domestic impact, the zone is designed to boost Egypt’s trade with Sudan and other Nile Basin countries. Industries ranging from gemstones and granite to textile manufacturing will be major beneficiaries.

Disruption is nothing new to Latin America. Over 100 free trade agreements exposed Latin American manufacturers and farmers to global competition during the last thirty years.

Latin America’s inefficient service sectors (a $4 trillion economic segment) are under attack by app-driven new disruptive business models. The pace of this latest wave of disruption has proven startling, up to twice as fast as the disruption of market share of similar sectors in the U.S. and Europe.

Deal-making in the Asia Pacific region continues to gain momentum from its successful run in 2018. Despite regulatory headwinds and macroeconomic uncertainties, cross-border M&A within Asia has remained strong, with a number of big-ticket transactions being announced. Meanwhile, new regulatory initiatives such as the Greater Bay Area (GBA), is driving renewed investor interest into the region.