RIYADH / WAM Emirates NBD announced plans for further expansion in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia following approval from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, SAMA, to open 20 additional branches in the Kingdom. The announcement reflects KSA’s growing importance to Dubai’s biggest bank by assets as the United Arab Emirates continues to strengthen long-standing strategic and economic ties with the ...

DUBAI / WAM The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) announced its financial results for the first half of the year ending on June 30, registering a net profit of AED65.1 million. The net profit of the second quarter of 2019 reached AED37 million, a nine percent increase compared to the profits in Q2 of 2018 at AED33.9 million. “During the first ...

DUBAI / WAM New banking and licencing solutions tailored to the needs of start-ups, an uptick in the number of fintech start-ups specialising in SME banking and increased cooperation between UAE banks and the country’s start-up ecosystem, are among the key achievements outlined by the Dubai Chamber-led working group on SME banking. The working group, in cooperation with Smart Dubai, ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Chinese culture and heritage is an integral part of global culture, said Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development. She went on to note that cultural ties between the UAE and China witnessing significant growth, in light of strategic partnership initiatives between the two countries. In an interview with the Emirates News ...

BEIJING / WAM The UAE “will become a shining pearl along the Belt and Road,” a senior Chinese official said on Sunday, as His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, started his state visit to China. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed’s visit to China “will go ...

DAKAR / WAM President Macky Sall of Senegal welcomed an official UAE delegation led by Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, Chairman of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development (KFED) to the Senegalese capital, Dakar. During the delegation’s visit, President Sall praised the strong ties and friendly relations between his country and the UAE. He also expressed his country’s keenness towards supporting ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE and Gambia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to reinforce their cooperation in implementing the best employment practices and regulating temporary contractual work related to Gambian employees in the UAE. The MoU was signed by Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, and Mamadou Tangara, Minister for Foreign Affairs, International ...

Beijing / WAM The UAE will host an Economic, Investment and Trade Forum in Beijing on Monday. Celebrating the 35th anniversary of the close relations between the two countries, the event will promote cooperation for future generations, inspired by the bilateral strategic partnership. The forum during the three-day China visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown ...

Bloomberg New York has signed the biggest-ever deals for offshore wind power in US history, a key part of the state’s plan to get all of its power from emissions-free sources by 2040. Governor Andrew Cuomo awarded contracts for two projects off Long Island that will total 1,700 megawatts in capacity. Equinor ASA and a joint venture between Denmark’s Orsted ...

Bloomberg Canadian natural gas producers are asking Alberta’s government to give drillers a break on their royalty payments in return for cutting back output during periods of heavy pipeline maintenance, a bid to smooth out the province’s volatile gas market. That would give producers an incentive to dial back their output when capacity on TC Energy Corp.’s Nova Gas Transmission ...