NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia on Sunday shipped 60 tons of oxygen to India, a month after it sent 80 tons to help the South Asian nation deal with a deadly second wave of coronavirus.
The outbreak has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people so far, primarily due to an oxygen shortage and a lack of hospital beds.
On Sunday, India registered more than 165,000 new COVID-19 cases and nearly 3,500 deaths.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to India, Dr. Saud Mohammed Al-Sati, called the oxygen shipment an expression of “solidarity with a close friend.”
“The shipment of liquid oxygen will depart from Dammam on Sunday and is expected to arrive in Mumbai on June 6,” he told Arab News. “Many other such shipments will be sent in the coming days and weeks. The Kingdom stands in solidarity with our close friend India in this difficult time. The recently announced shipment of 3 ISO tanks filled with 60 tons of liquid oxygen comes as a good gesture toward our friends in India to support their efforts to respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic of COVID-19.
“Health cooperation is one of the most important aspects of our strategic partnership and will continue as an important area of focus. Since the early days of the pandemic, our health cooperation has been growing.
“Thousands of Indian medical practitioners work in Saudi Arabia’s hospitals and medical institutions. Throughout the phases of the pandemic, we have maintained uninterrupted supply chains of goods, pharmaceutical, and medically related products.”
The Sunday figures are a sharp drop from the numbers reported in April and earlier this month, when the daily infection tally stood at 400,000 and more than 4,000 people were dying every day.
According to official data, India has registered 318,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
But media reports and independent observers claim the real figure is several times higher, with the second wave claiming lives in major cities and also in rural areas.
“Deeply appreciate the gesture of HRH Prince Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, KSA for the offer to send 3 ISO Containers with 60 tons of LMO (Liquid Medical Oxygen), which are expected to arrive in Mumbai on 6 June 2021,” Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted on Saturday.
Pradhan said that 100 more oxygen containers were expected to arrive in the next few months.
“The gesture of Saudi Arabia is reflective of the close friendship and warmth between the leadership of Saudi Arabia and Hon’ble PM (Modi),” he added.
India contacted OPEC when it was in desperate need of oxygen and held talks with countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait to source the life-saving item.
Earlier this month, Pradhan held talks with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the UAE Minister of Industry Sultan Al-Jaber, and Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi for oxygen supplies.
“The three containers and additional containers that will come in the weeks ahead will remain with the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for 6 months as a goodwill gesture from the Saudi Government, and IOCL will source LMO from Linde Dammam on commercial terms for import into the country,” Pradhan said.
Bilateral ties were strengthened during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to New Delhi in Feb. 2019.
The two countries signed investment deals worth $100 billion across the energy, petrochemical, infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing sectors, and a proposed Strategic Partnership Council came to fruition in Oct. 2019.
As the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India has so far supplied Saudi Arabia with 3 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
The COVID-19 crisis has brought a new depth to the relationship between the two countries, according to former Indian ambassador Zikrur Rahman.
“Saudi Arabia and India not only share a strategic partnership in oil and investment, the partnership spreads in many fields,” Rahman told Arab News. “The crisis is the test of the relationship, and it shows how far it has deepened. Within this framework, the Saudis have come forward when India needs the necessary items like oxygen. Saudi has demonstrated its real concerns for India.”
Saudi Arabia sends more oxygen to India to alleviate country’s COVID-19 crisis
https://arab.news/z3ht5
Saudi Arabia sends more oxygen to India to alleviate country’s COVID-19 crisis
- Help is expression of “solidarity with close friend,” says Saudi ambassador
- “Health cooperation is one of the most important aspects of our strategic partnership” he added
Sudan’s army chief receives Saudi deputy foreign minister in Port Sudan
- During the meeting, Al-Khuraiji stressed the keenness of the Kingdom’s leadership on restoring security and stability in Sudan
RIYADH: Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan received Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Khuraiji in Port Sudan on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Al-Khuraiji stressed the keenness of the Kingdom’s leadership on restoring security and stability in Sudan.
The minister’s visit to the country comes as part of the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to address the crisis in Sudan, reach a ceasefire, and restore stability to the country.
The Kingdom continues to support the humanitarian response efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people, Saudi Press Agency said.
Saudi pavilion at UNESCO Arab Week in Paris celebrates Kingdom’s camel culture
- It shows how the role of the camel evolved from essential means of transport and provider of resources to a cultural icon embodying the Kingdom’s values
PARIS: The Saudi pavilion at UNESCO’s Arab Week event in Paris this week featured a showcase of the Kingdom’s deep-rooted connection to camel culture.
It explored the role of the animals as a vital part of the nation’s heritage, identity and civilization, and offered a glimpse into their enduring place in society, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
The exhibits showed how the role of the camel has evolved from essential means of transport and provider of resources to a cultural icon that embodies the Kingdom’s values, and the ways in which camels are embedded in Saudi customs, traditions and literature, including poetry and proverbs.
The Saudi Ministry of Culture designated 2024 “The Year of the Camel” to highlight and reinforce the status of the animal as a national symbol and cornerstone of the Arabian cultural identity. Camels are regularly celebrated across the country through dedicated festivals, race events, clubs and research centers.
UNESCO’s Arab Week, which features 22 Arab nations, was initiated by Saudi Arabia. Guests at the official opening of the event on Monday included Saudi envoys, ambassadors representing other nations, Arab and other international diplomats stationed in France, and officials from UNESCO.
AI makes media industry more efficient and drives growth, expert says
- Martin Sorrell: ‘AI speeds up writing processes, increasing efficiency’
- New tech allows for increasingly personalized content
RIYADH: Artificial intelligence is being used more effectively and efficiently to drive higher economic development in the media industry, said Martin Sorrell, founder and executive chairman of S4 Capital.
At a panel session at the Athar Festival of Creativity Sorrell described how media agencies, such as S4 Capital and its subsidiary, Media.Monks, are using AI in a number of ways.
One application of AI in media, he said, is in “speeding the execution of copywriting and visualization.”
Time to market is drastically decreasing: “What took us literally days is now taking us three hours,” he said. Yet this produces another problem because reducing the time of procurement cuts costs, but this also means it is necessary to move to a model that increases gains in outputs,” he said.
Another application is in personalizing content for consumers. Sorrell told Arab News: “Individualization, hyper personalization, are going to become more important. Knowing the consumer in excruciating detail, using data, using the signals from the platforms, using first-party data, it becomes even more important.”
Using Netflix audience feedback algorithms as an example, Sorrell pointed out that AI enables these algorithms to produce larger and more accurate quantities of output, for example, recommendations based on user profile readings.
“We charge on a per asset used basis. Price of the asset may come down, but total revenue grows because we’re using multiple assets,” he said.
A growing area is in “media planning and buying.” Sophisticated algorithms can far more efficiently choose the distribution of planning and buying than individual media planners.
Technological capital and human capital, however, go hand in hand.
“We as agencies have to validate the algorithm’s analysis. We have to make sure that the client’s money is spent in the right way.”
Another benefit of AI is its ability to improve organizational efficiency. Where organizational silos once kept departments and specializations separate, AI opens up information to the majority of users.
To maintain the emotional connection and trust of the brand-consumer relationship in a technologically driven world, according to Sorrell, understanding individual motivation is increasingly crucial.
“Insights into culture, insights into language, into custom, into belief, into family, into country, that knowledge becomes critically important, far more so in a globalized world,” he said.
The diversity and knowledge of global and local organizations are essential for the success of any company, but the value of personalization means that local knowledge may take the lead, he added.
Quoting Harvard Business School professor Ted Levitt, Sorrell continued: “because remember, consumers will consume everything in the same way everywhere.”
Advising young professionals in tech, media and other industries operating in an AI-powered future, Sorrell said that rather than stripping away opportunities from creatives, avoiding the risk of “bombarding” consumers with much of the same, AI means “creativity becomes even more important.”
Additionally, creatives need to familiarize themselves with the skills and roles that are complementary to the new world: “I think every creative should learn Chinese. I think every creative should learn Spanish, probably Arabic too … and they should learn code.”
“The skills of the ‘Mad Men’, that Don Draper had or his colleagues … are very different to what you need now.”
Saudi Arabia has launched 22 new routes this year as part of tourism drive, ACP’s CEO says
- Kingdom has attracted 12 new airlines to date in 2024
LONDON: Saudi Arabia has launched 22 new routes from various destinations to the Kingdom this year, increasing tourist seating capacity by nearly 2 million, the CEO of the Air Connectivity Program has said.
Speaking at the Umrah+ Connect business-to-business event in London on Monday, Majid Khan said the Kingdom had attracted 12 new airlines to date in 2024.
Khan said: “There has been good expansion out of the UK. Virgin Atlantic is going to start daily flights from Heathrow to Riyadh in March; British Airways launched flights to Jeddah yesterday; Wizz Air will also be operating Gatwick to Jeddah flights daily.
“We are definitely focusing on our own carriers as well, because they are definitely our first priority; Flynas, flyadeal, Saudia, and Riyadh Air in the future.
“But we are also proactively working with international carriers in order to help us to get a higher share of inbound tourism to the Kingdom, as they have their sales and marketing channels in this part of the world.
“We know that the majority of BA travelers are not Saudis. They are actually travelers from the UK market, from their network in Europe and North America.”
Saudi Arabia has a strong, strategic location and travelers can reach more than half of the world within a six-hour flight, Khan said. He added that the ACP was working to deliver 150 million tourists to the Kingdom as part of Saudi Vision 2030.
He said: “Saudi Arabia is like one continent. We have 1,700 km of coastline, the new Maldives that’s actually the Red Sea, the two holiest sites for Muslims in the world, and mountainous regions.
“In the south we have Abha and Jazan, which I would personally call the Switzerland of Saudi Arabia. So it’s definitely an untouched wonder.”
An exhibition at the event highlighted new tourism developments in the Kingdom that British pilgrims can enjoy, including religious sites and activities that promote an understanding of Saudi cultural heritage.
Khan said the ACP was trying to revolutionize the way pilgrims travel, allowing them to holiday in the Kingdom after performing their religious rituals.
He said: “If we take the UK market, travelers typically have one Umrah ticket in their pocket to perform the minor pilgrimage with their family and friends. They then come back again to the UK, and have a separate ticket to either Dubai, Istanbul, or Malaga.
“This is something we would like to change. Travelers can perform Umrah, see the sacred places, and then save their tickets and continue to travel around the Kingdom. That’s the way we try to position Saudi Arabia.”
Rashid Mohammed, the organizer of Umrah+ Connect, said that Monday’s event had provided an opportunity for Umrah travel agents to network and grow their businesses.
Mohammed said: “We’ve brought you a diverse experience here in London, and it’s for you to use these tools, through connecting with people, to create packages that enhance and enrich pilgrim experiences.
“We’re also grateful for the support of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, and the Umrah and Ziyarah Forum, who are here today and have really backed us to put on this show.”
Saudi minister receives German foreign ministry official
- Discussions focused on enhancing relations, regional and international developments and issues of common concern
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Saud Al-Sati received Gregory Bledjian, head of the Middle East division at the German Foreign Ministry, and several accompanying officials, in Riyadh on Tuesday.
During the meeting, they discussed ways to enhance relations, regional and international developments, and issues of common interest, the Foreign Ministry wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Shoura Council Speaker Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh received Turkiye’s Ambassador to the Kingdom Emrullah Isler in Riyadh on Tuesday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
