In September 2023, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, the United States, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the EU announced plans for the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor (IMEC). It is meant to speed up trade and deepen economic integration between Asia, the Gulf and Europe — but war in the Middle East now threatens it.
The 16th BRICS summit ran in Kazan from 22 to 24 October this year under Russia's chairmanship. No new members were admitted, and the group ruled out a single currency.
The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip of land in the Wakhan region of Badakhshan Province in eastern Afghanistan.
On 12 September 2000, at the second Euro-Asian Transport Conference in St Petersburg, Russia, India and Iran signed an intergovernmental agreement to create the International North–South Transport Corridor.
On 27 May 2024 Russia and Uzbekistan signed a contract for a six-unit small nuclear power plant in the Jizzakh region. The first reactor is due to start up within five years, with full commissioning no earlier than 2033.
According to the US Department of Energy, the United States is the world's largest crude oil producer, pumping almost 13 million barrels a day. This article looks at Texas, the country's energy heartland and second most populous state.
According to the IMF, the combined GDP of the G7 reached $45.9 trillion in 2023, one and a half times the size of the BRICS economies.
Defence spending rose at its fastest rate in a decade in 2023, reaching $2.443 trillion worldwide, with NATO accounting for 55% of the total.
Saudi Arabia's decision not to renew its era-defining security agreement with the United States, the sale of oil for dollars, reflects both America's declining global influence and where most Saudi oil is now sold.
China's outward foreign direct investment by country: the distribution based on fDi Markets data.
Saudi Arabia has yet to pick a builder for its planned reactors, with Rosatom, Westinghouse, KEPCO and CNNC in contention — and it has let the 1974 petrodollar pact with Washington lapse.
Saudi Arabia plans up to 16 nuclear reactors worth more than $100 billion under Vision 2030, following the example of Türkiye, Egypt, Iran and the UAE.
Saudi Vision 2030 aims to wean the kingdom off oil by building up finance, industry, tourism and electronics. Non-oil sectors, including the public sector, now make up half of GDP.
In January 2024 the IMF said Saudi Arabia had joined Argentina at the bottom of the G20 growth table. Non-oil sectors, however, are gaining ground under Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia ranks 16th by GDP (PPP), and its oil wealth is managed by the state giant Saudi Aramco. The non-oil economy is now growing fast, even as hydrocarbons stay central to modern manufacturing.
Saudi Arabia is OPEC's most important member and a top-three crude producer. Together, OPEC and OPEC+ pump some 46% of the world's oil, which gives them real power over prices.
Ibn Khaldun's theory of asabiya explains the rise and fall of elites, and it still reads true today. The piece then turns to Saudi Arabia's demography and the mounting pressure of Yemen's population growth.
Saudi Arabia is the largest regional power on the Arabian Peninsula and the birthplace of Islam, which arose in Mecca and Medina in the 7th century.
