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Why Saudi Arabia, UAE top young Indian globetrotters’ destination lists

Ajinkya Bhat visits the Formula E circuit it Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. (Ajinkya Bhat)
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Updated 19 July 2024
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Why Saudi Arabia, UAE top young Indian globetrotters’ destination lists

  • Survey shows young wealthy Indians increasingly drawn to Gulf countries
  • Travelers are drawn to natural sights, adventure sports, and luxury
Updated 19 July 2024
Sanjay Kumar

NEW DELHI: When Ajinkya Bhat traveled to Saudi Arabia, one of the most memorable views was the Edge of the World — a geological wonder in the desert northwest of Riyadh.

Located some 100 km from the capital, it is a 1,131-meter cliff at the end of the 800 km Tuwaiq Mountain range. It earned its nickname because of an uninterrupted view of the horizon from its top.

Bhat saw it first a few years ago and during his latest trip in March drove to the mountains specifically to see the landscape again.

“The first (time), I went to see the sunrise. This time, I went to see the sunset,” the 32-year-old from Pune told Arab News.

“Saudi has lots of raw natural landscapes … really good beaches. East coast, west coast, center — they have lots of different things. Tourists can go and check it out.”

But it was not just the landscape that drew him to the Kingdom. Bhat’s first trip was about the Formula E championships, which Saudi Arabia has been hosting since 2018, making nature, adventure, and a tad of luxury some of his main criteria for a good trip.

“It’s a good place for vacation … Saudi ticks all the boxes,” he said. “You don’t have to go to Europe and the US.”

Bhat is among an increasing number of wealthier Indian travelers below the age of 35 choosing the Middle East as their destination for a foreign trip, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE taking the lion’s share of those choices.

Saloni Aneja, a 29-year-old from Chandigarh, visited the UAE in January and said she found everything she needed on her vacation.

“You have adventure, water parks and a lot of shopping complexes and different things … You have a lot of things to see, for example, the Museum of the Future. It’s a great thing,” she told Arab News, as she was already planning her next trips.

“Nowadays, the young generation, the youth, believe that we should travel the world, we should not just save the money and keep it in the locker, we should travel and explore,” Aneja said.

“I would definitely like to explore different parts of the world … I would love to visit Saudi Arabia.”

The “Future of Travel” report on the spending trends of India’s young globetrotters released last month by the marketing agency FINN Partners shows that travelers were increasingly choosing the two Gulf countries over others.

 

“The Middle East region as a whole really continues to excite and capture very young Indian travelers with a blend of luxury and rich history,” Thomas Morris, the agency’s senior partner, told Arab News. “We found that 55 percent of Indians under 35 have already visited the UAE. For Saudi Arabia, it was 45 percent.”

The respondents were under 35 years old, living in big Indian cities, had “the propensities to travel internationally,” and the means to do so.

“One of the key findings is the willingness of young Indian travelers to spend on what we term a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So, 42 percent indicated they’re willing to pay more for these experiences,” Morris said.

“When we look specifically at the UAE and Saudi Arabia, we see that they are particularly drawn to firstly luxury and secondly adventure sports — being in the deserts of the UAE or ziplining or going and trekking in AlUla and Saudi Arabia.”

According to his observations, these qualities made the young travelers different from the previous generation, who prefer to plan their trips with all details and in advance.

“The next generation, they are impulsive, they are willing to jump on opportunities as they arise, and I think this is something that the UAE and Saudi really tapped into — these kinds of international micro-adventures,” he said, adding that in the case of Saudi Arabia, what also helps attract younger Indians is the current marketing strategy, which is drawing more and more visitors from India.

With a series of initiatives last year, including the sponsorship of the Indian Premier League — the men’s T20 franchise that is the world’s most-watched cricket league — Saudi Arabia hosted over 1.5 million Indian inbound travelers in 2023, or 50 percent more than in 2022.

By 2030, the Saudi Tourism Authority plans to welcome 7.5 million visitors from India, which by that time is expected to emerge as the No. 1 inbound tourist market for the Kingdom.

“This new generation are digitally savvy, they are making a lot of decisions based on what they see on social media, and Saudi Arabia is really successfully tapping into that,” Morris said.

“They want to be the focus destination for Indian travelers, and they are investing significantly for that to happen.”

Jatin Kumar, a 32-year-old from Haryana, visited Saudi Arabia in March.

“Saudi Arabia is developing now and bringing more tourists, building attractive things,” he said.

“I went to Riyadh, I went to Jeddah, I went to Dammam … We got to know a lot of Saudi culture … I really liked it.”

Topics: Saudi Arabia UAE India

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COP29 draft deal would have rich nations pay $300 billion in climate finance

Updated 24 November 2024
Reuters
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COP29 draft deal would have rich nations pay $300 billion in climate finance

  • EU, US, others raised their offer after earlier draft rejected
  • Climate talks run into overtime. Talks reach deal on carbon credits
Updated 24 November 2024
Reuters

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Developed nations should pay $300 billion a year by 2035 to help poorer countries deal with climate change, according to a new draft deal from UN climate talks published early on Sunday, after an earlier target of $250 billion was rejected.
Reuters previously reported that the European Union, the United States and others wealthy countries would support the $300 billion annual global finance target in an effort to end a deadlock at the two-week summit.
The document, described as a draft decision rather than a draft negotiating text like previous iterations, said nations had decided to set a goal “of at least $300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country Parties for climate action.”
The decision would need to be adopted by consensus before becoming final.
The COP29 climate conference in the Azerbaijan capital Baku had been due to finish on Friday, but ran into overtime as negotiators from nearly 200 countries struggled to reach consensus on the climate funding plan for the next decade.
At one point delegates from poor and small island nations walked out of talks in frustration over what they called a lack of inclusion, and amid concerns fossil fuel producing countries were seeking to water down aspects of the deal.
The summit cut to the heart of the debate over the financial responsibility of industrialized countries, whose historical use of fossil fuels has caused the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions, to compensate others for the damage wrought by climate change.
It also laid bare the divisions between wealthy governments constrained by tight domestic budgets and developing nations reeling from the costs of worsening storms, floods and droughts.
Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad told Reuters he was optimistic for an eventual agreement in Baku.
“When it comes to money it’s always controversial but we are expecting a deal tonight,” he said.
The new goal is intended to replace developed countries’ previous commitment to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance for poorer nations by 2020. That goal was met two years late, in 2022, and expires in 2025.
A previous $250 billion proposal drawn up by Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency was rejected as too low by poorer countries, which have warned a weak deal would hinder their ability to set more ambitious greenhouse gas emissions cutting targets.
Countries also agreed Saturday evening on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits that proponents say could mobilize billions of dollars into new projects to help fight global warming.

What counts as developed nation?
Negotiators have been working to address other questions on the finance target, including who is asked to contribute and how much of the funding is provided as grants, rather than loans.
The roster of countries required to contribute — about two dozen industrialized countries, including the US, European nations and Canada — dates back to a list decided during UN climate talks in 1992.
European governments have demanded others join them in paying in, including China, the world’s second-biggest economy, and oil-rich Gulf states.
Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory this month has also cast a cloud over the Baku talks.
Trump, who takes office in January, has promised to again remove the US from international climate cooperation, so negotiators from other wealthy nations expect that under his administration the world’s largest economy will not pay into the climate finance goal.
A broader goal of raising $1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 — which would include funding from all public and private sources and which economists say matches the sum needed — was included in the draft deal.

Topics: COP29

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Warrants of ICC are binding, Borrell says

Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters
AFP
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Warrants of ICC are binding, Borrell says

  • I have the right to criticize the decisions of the Israeli government without being accused of antisemitism
Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters AFP

NICOSIA: EU governments cannot pick and choose whether to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against two Israeli leaders and a Hamas commander, the EU’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday.

The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes against humanity.
All EU member states signed the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute.
Several EU states have said they will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would face no risks if he did so.
“The states that signed the Rome convention must implement the court’s decision. It’s not optional,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.
Those same obligations were also binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said.
“It would be very funny that the newcomers have an obligation that current members don’t fulfill,” he said.
The US rejected the ICC’s decision and Israel said the ICC move was antisemitic.
“Every time someone disagrees with the policy of one Israeli government — (they are) being accused of antisemitism,” said Borrell, whose term as EU foreign policy chief ends this month.
“I have the right to criticize the decisions of the Israeli government, be it Mr. Netanyahu or someone else, without being accused of antisemitism. This is not acceptable. That’s enough.”
In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.”
The warrant for Al-Masri lists charges of mass killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Israel says it has killed Al-Masri.
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has praised the “courageous decision” of the International Criminal Court to seek the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant.
“We support the arrest warrant. We consider it important that this courageous decision be carried out by all country members of the accord to renew the trust of humanity in the international system,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.
“It is imperative that Western countries — who for years have given the world lessons on law, justice, and human rights — keep their promises at this stage,” added Erdogan, whose country is not a state party in the ICC accord.
Erdogan has become a fierce critic of Israel since the start of its military offensive on Gaza in October 2023.
He has vowed several times to make sure that Israel’s prime minister is “brought to account” over the Israeli military campaign in the Palestinian territory.
Turkiye and 52 other countries this month sent a letter to the UN demanding an end to arms sales and deliveries to Israel.

 

Topics: War on Gaza International Criminal Court (ICC) Gaza Palestine US Lebanon

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Mozambique opposition leader Mondlane sets conditions for post-election talks

Updated 23 November 2024
AFP
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Mozambique opposition leader Mondlane sets conditions for post-election talks

  • We are open to dialogue. It has to be a genuine dialogue. It cannot be full of traps
Updated 23 November 2024
AFP

MAPUTO: Mozambique’s opposition leader said he would accept the president’s offer of talks after deadly post-election unrest on terms including their being held virtually and legal proceedings against him being dropped.
President Filipe Nyusi invited Venancio Mondlane to his office in Maputo on Nov. 26 after the killing of dozens of people in a police crackdown on demonstrations against the results of the Oct. 9 election.
Mondlane, who says the election was rigged in favor of Nyusi’s Frelimo party, is believed to have left the country for fear of arrest or attack, but his whereabouts are unknown.
“We are open to dialogue,” Mondlane said in a Facebook live address. “It has to be a genuine dialogue. It cannot be full of traps.”
A written reply to Nyusi’s invitation lists as one condition for the meeting: “That the participation of the elected candidate Venancio Mondlane is virtual.”
Authorities have laid criminal and civil charges against him, including for damages caused during protests by his supporters, which has led to his bank accounts being frozen.
Another condition in the document made public by Mondlane’s office is that “the judicial proceedings in question must be immediately terminated.” It also lays out 20 points that Mondlane wants on the agenda for talks, including “restoring electoral truth” and prosecuting anyone involved in vote-rigging.
Others are a public apology and compensation for the deaths during the demonstrations, as well as constitutional, economic, and electoral reforms.
Rights groups have accused Mozambique authorities of using live ammunition on demonstrators in the country, which has been governed since independence from Portugal in 1975 by Frelimo.
The Center for Democracy and Human Rights civil society group says around 65 people have been killed. Mondlane on Friday gave a toll of more than 60.
Nyusi said Tuesday 19 people had died, including five police officers.
The president is meant to hand over to Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo in January, whom the election authority says won 71 percent of votes against 20 percent for Mondlane.
The unrest was discussed Wednesday by regional leaders at a summit of the 16-nation Southern Africa grouping Southern African Development Community, or SADC, which said in a statement afterward that it “extended condolences to the government and people” for the lives lost.
Human Rights Watch criticized the SADC, for failing to denounce Mozambique for excessive use of force.
“SADC has squandered an opportunity to condemn human rights abuses against post-election protesters in Mozambique publicly,” it said in a statement.
The rights watchdog urged the grouping to tell Nyusi’s government to respect the right to peaceful protest and cease using unnecessary and excessive force.

 

Topics: Mozambique

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EU recalls its ambassador from Niger

Niger's General Abdourahamane Tiani. (AFP file photo)
Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters
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EU recalls its ambassador from Niger

  • The EU expresses its profound disagreement with the allegations
Updated 23 November 2024
Reuters

NIAMEY: The EU will recall its ambassador from Niger after the country’s ruling military questioned an EU delegation’s management of humanitarian aid meant for flood victims, the European External Action Service, or EEAS, said on Saturday. Niger’s junta issued a statement on Friday accusing the EU ambassador in the West African country of dividing a 1.3 million euro fund to assist flood victims between several international NGOs in a non-transparent manner, and without collaborating with the authorities.
It ordered an audit into the fund’s management as a result.
The EU “expresses its profound disagreement with the allegations and justifications put forward by the transitional authorities,” the EEAS said in a statement.
“Consequently, the EU has decided to recall its ambassador from Niamey for consultations in Brussels.”
Niger has been under military rule since the junta seized power in a 2023 coup.

 

Topics: European Union Niger

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Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

Updated 23 November 2024
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Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

  • Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer, after Iran
  • Afghan saffron has been for years recognized as the world’s best
Updated 23 November 2024
MODASER ISLAMI

Kabul: As the saffron harvest season is underway in Afghanistan, traders are expecting better yields than in previous years, sparking hopes that exports of the precious crop, known locally as “red gold,” will help uplift the country’s battered economy and livelihoods.
Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer, after Iran, but it ranks first in terms of quality. In June, the Belgium-based International Taste Institute for the ninth consecutive year recognized Afghan saffron as the world’s best.
Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, selling for about $2,000 per kilogram. Its exports provide critical foreign currency to Afghanistan, where US-imposed sanctions have severely affected the fragile economy since the Taliban took control in 2021.

With this year’s production expected to exceed 50 tons — about double that of the 2023 and 2022 seasons — the government and the Afghanistan National Saffron Union are trying to boost exports abroad.
“The harvest of saffron this year is good. During the first nine months (of 2024), Afghanistan exported around 46 tons of saffron to different countries,” Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, told Arab News.
“Everywhere our traders want to export saffron, we support them in any part of the world through air corridors and facilitating the participation of Afghan traders in national and international exhibitions.”
Known to have been cultivated for at least 2,000 years, saffron is well suited to Afghanistan’s dry climate, especially in Herat, where 90 percent of it is produced. Most of the spice’s trade is also centered in the province, which last weekend inaugurated its International Saffron Trade Center to facilitate exports.
“The new international saffron trade center is established with global standards and will bring major processing and trade companies to one place providing a single venue for farmers to trade their products with the best possible conditions,” Mohammad Ibrahim Adil, head of the Afghanistan National Saffron Union, told Arab News.

The union’s main export market is India, where saffron is a common ingredient in food, followed by Gulf countries — especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“Saffron exports bring the much-needed foreign currency to Afghanistan contributing significantly to stabilization of the financial cycle in the country,” said Qudratullah Rahmati, the saffron union’s deputy head.
The union estimates that saffron contributes about $100 million to the Afghan economy a year.
Most, or 95 percent, of the workers are women, according to the saffron union.
“Saffron production is supporting many families, especially women, during the harvest and processing phase through short-term and long-term employment opportunities. There are around 80-85 registered small and big saffron companies in Herat and the small ones employ four to five people while the bigger ones have up to 80 permanent staff,” said Qudratullah Rahmati, the saffron union’s deputy head.
Harvesting the little purple saffron crocus flowers is heavily labor intensive, as each of them needs to be picked by hand. Once the flowers are picked, their tiny orange stigmas are separated for drying. About 440,000 stigmas are needed to produce one kilogram of the fragrant spice.
The harvest season usually begins between October and November are lasts just a few weeks before the flowers wilt.

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