Saudi authorities recently hosted, for the first time, a delegation of 12 Israeli businessmen, who were specially invited to attend the Energy and Utilities Cybersecurity Conference in Dammam and openly identified as Israelis at the conference, well-informed sources revealed.
The Israeli delegation participating in the conference was invited to attend private meetings with Saudi government officials, especially with; Aramco, the Ministry of Energy, and the Electricity Company, the sources added.
The Israeli delegation provided the Saudis with advanced technology in facial recognition, which can identify a person through 30% of his facial features, or even using photos dating back 50 years.
The conference in Dammam was also attended by representatives of the crown prince’s flagship project: 2030 Vision, who also contacted the Israeli visitors.
“It is not a coincidence that our leadership decided to build NEOM 350 kilometers from the border with Israel. We are counting on you,” one of the NEOM representatives told the delegation.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) is holding meetings on a daily basis with senior officials over the failure of his megacity project, NEOM.
NEOM appears to be one of the crown prince’s highest priorities, and the Saudi state is devoting immense resources to making it a reality.
But five years in and with little progress in sight, cracks are appearing in Crown Prince’s flagship project to diversify the oil-driven Saudi economy.
Saudi Arabia is building its very first cognitive and smart $500 billion city, which is supposed to set a blueprint for the future of the country and the world. But despite all the buzz, the future of the city is probably doomed.
The International Monetary Fund cut its 2023 GDP growth projection for Saudi Arabia to 1.9% in its latest World Economic Outlook update, to reflect the impact of prolonged oil production cuts.
The IMF revised its growth forecast for the world’s top oil exporter from 3.1% projected in its May regional outlook; in June, it said growth could ease to 2.1% in 2023.
Experts have earlier warned that the sharp decline in foreign investments by 85% in just one year is a real disaster that proves that foreign investors do not trust the projects launched by the Saudi crown prince.
Efforts to attract inward investment have been hampered by the clampdown on senior business executives and other figures in 2017 – billed by the authorities as an anti-corruption drive.
The sudden changes in the Kingdom’s economic policy and the absence of fixed laws regulating the work environment made international companies even more wary of investing in Riyadh.
Nonetheless, the chaotic trajectory of NEOM so far suggests that MBS’s urban dream may never be delivered.
As for Neom, many millions have so far been spent on architects, futurists and even Hollywood set designers. But so far only a handful of buildings have been built. The chaotic trajectory so far suggests that MbS’s urban dream may never be delivered.
