Business

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: Britain and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement to strengthen cooperation on diversifying sources of critical minerals, including graphite and lithium, the British government said in a statement.

This came during the British Business Secretary, Grant Shapps's visit to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, during which he attended the Future Metals forum.

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi have discussed bilateral cooperation and the Syrian issue, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Issues of mutual benefit on the agenda included energy projects, transportation and logistics.

11 Jan 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia plans to use domestically-sourced uranium to build up its nuclear power industry, Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

He added that recent exploration had shown a diverse portfolio of uranium in the Gulf Arab State, the world's top oil exporter.

11 Jan 2023; MEMO: Egypt's pound weakened by more than 13 per cent to a new low below 32 to the US dollar on Wednesday as the Central Bank moved to a more flexible exchange rate under the terms of an International Monetary Fund financial support package, Reuters reports.

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qasem, has denounced some Arab countries for meeting with Israeli officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to prepare for another Negev Forum in Morocco, describing their participation as "insistence on the sin of their normalisation with the Occupation State", The Palestinian Information Centre reports.

10 Jan 2023; MEMO: Yemen's recognised government has raised the US dollar exchange rate used to calculate customs duties on non-essential goods by 50 per cent, effective Tuesday, a document and traders said, Reuters reports.

The decision applies only to south Yemen, which the government controls, including the port city of Aden. The country's main entry point for commodities, Hodeidah port, is held by the Houthi Movement, which has a different exchange system.

09 Jan 2023; MEMO: Iraq is reportedly set to write off some of Somalia's debt, according to a report by Al-Ahram citing an official in the Arab League, to which both countries belong.

09 Jan 2023; MEMO: Turkiye's defence industry has exceeded its export target in 2022 and is looking forward to reaching $6 billion (TL 112.53 billion) in 2023, Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), Ismail Demir, said at the "Defence Industry 2023 Goals" news conference held in Teknopark, Istanbul.

According to the report, Turkiye is set to see important milestones in defence production in 2023, the 100th anniversary of the Republic.

09 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Minister, on Monday, said Turkiye "works hard" to strengthen its ties with all African countries, stressing in particular, South Africa, his first stop on a five-nation African tour, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"Today, we maintain strong ties with the descendants of Abu Bakr Effendi, who laid the foundation of our friendship with South Africa," said Mevlut Cavusoglu at the inauguration of a new chancellery building at the Turkish Consulate in Cape Town, South Africa.

10 Jan 2023; MEMO: Inflation reached 21.9 per cent in Egypt in December, up from 19.2 per cent the previous month, the  state-run Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics revealed today; the highest level since December 2017.

"This is primarily due to pass-through effects from the pound's depreciation at the end of October, as well as further weakening of the currency in the parallel market through December," Goldman Sachs said.