Kuwait and Jordan signed 15 far-reaching agreements on Monday paving the way for greater Kuwaiti involvement in the country’s industrial and energy sectors.
On the sidelines of the visit of Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah to Amman, Jordan and Kuwait signed several agreements that will allow for increased Kuwaiti investment in Jordan, including energy cooperation agreements, a gas agreement and a renewable energy development agreement between the two sides, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
The arrangements are also believed to pave the way for Kuwait to provide Jordan with oil for electricity generation, as has been requested by Jordanian officials.
In addition to an industrial cooperation agreement, Kuwait and Jordan also signed an additional agreement that will bring Kuwaiti funding and a greater role for the Gulf state in the establishment of industrial zones in Jordan.
The agreements also aim to increase trade between the two countries, which stood at $300 million in 2018.
The two sides also signed a $6 million agreement to fund the construction of two schools in Amman, according to the Petra, reported.
The two sides also signed a tourism cooperation agreement to open the door for increased Kuwaiti investment and involvement in Jordan’s tourism sector in addition to tourism development.
As part of Monday’s meetings, Jordan formally invited Kuwait to invest in six separate investment zones in southeastern Jordan including three industrial zones, two logistic centres and an eco-tourism zone, according to Jordanian sources.
Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah was expected to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II later on Monday.
Kuwait provided Jordan with $1.25 billion as part of the Gulf bailout package in June 2018 when the kingdom was rocked with economic protests, funds that in addition to establishing a wind power farm in southern Jordan, will fund projects in agriculture, energy, infrastructure, health and transport.
Kuwait also provided Jordan with an additional $1 billion as part of the recent $2.5 billion economic package extended by the Gulf in October in the form of donations and loans.
Kuwait is the top foreign investor in Jordan, with $18 billion spent in the tourism, industry, banks, real-estate and telecom sectors. Kuwait also holds $1.3 billion at Jordan’s central bank.
Monday’s meetings and agreements are the latest in a series of formalised agreements and projects funded by recent Gulf financial packages to Jordan.
On Sunday, the Saudi government, through the Saudi-Jordan Investment Fund, signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday to establish a railway connecting Aqaba to a logistics hub and dry port in Maan governorate.
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Fixtures
Friday Leganes v Alaves, 10.15pm; Valencia v Las Palmas, 12.15am
Saturday Celta Vigo v Real Sociedad, 8.15pm; Girona v Atletico Madrid, 10.15pm; Sevilla v Espanyol, 12.15am
Sunday Athletic Bilbao v Getafe, 8.15am; Barcelona v Real Betis, 10.15pm; Deportivo v Real Madrid, 12.15am
Monday Levante v Villarreal, 10.15pm; Malaga v Eibar, midnight
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
The National in Davos
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
