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Saudi Princess Lamia Bint Majed Bin Saud was reappointed as a goodwill ambassador to the Arab world for the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) late February, for a second term (she was first appointed in 2020).

Former Saudi deputy defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Sultan is being sued for at least £30m ($36m) by an Irish subsidiary of China Minsheng Bank over unpaid debts linked to a personal guarantee he had provided for a private Boeing 787 jet.

The relationship between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) and UAE President (since May 2022) Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) goes back some way.  However, the two have grown more distant in recent years.

Relations between the two heavyweight Gulf monarchies – Saudi Arabia and the UAE – appear to have succumbed to a renewed period of tension, amid rising economic competition and a growing list of differences over regional diplomatic issues.

Saudi Arabia celebrated its recently created Founding Day on 22 February – the second year it has been officially marked. It marks what is referred to as the creation of the ‘First Saudi State’, on the day ancestor Mohammed Ibn Saud took control of Diriyah in 1727.  It is different from National Day, which marks “the unification” of Saudi Arabia on 23 September 1932.

Control of the Asir region has fluctuated between different groups over the centuries. By the 1830s, the Al-Ayed dynasty was in control, until the area was captured by the Ottomans in the late 1860s. Saudi Arabia’s founder King Abdelaziz (Ibn Saud) brought Asir under his direct rule in the early 1920s.

The mountainous province in Saudi Arabia's south-west has been earmarked as a future centre for tourism, notwithstanding the threats posed by attacks from Houthi rebels across the border in Yemen. Asir could be a model for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s post-oil development ambitions, as well as for more short-term efforts to stabilise potentially restless populations.

Following threats to refer firms to the General Authority for Competition, the Public Investment Fund has acquired shareholdings in four major contracting companies, giving PIF chair Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman an equity stake he has long had his eye.

The Saudi Fund for Development has agreed to inject $320m into a joint project to build the infrastructure to support a new special economic zone (SEZ) in Oman’s Al-Dhahirah governorate.

Gulf countries have despatched search and rescue teams, medical equipment, temporary housing and other relief supplies to Turkey and Syria in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit in the early hours of 6 February. Qatar and the UAE were among the first to respond; flights left from Kuwait the following day. Aid has also been forthcoming from Saudi Arabia and Iran.

In a pair of royal orders issued early February, Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdulaziz removed Fahd Bin Abdullah Bin Abdullatif Al-Mubarak from his position as governor of the Saudi Central Bank (Sama), replacing him with Ayman Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Sayari.

Saudi Prince Salman Bin Sultan Bin Salman, a grandson of King Salman Bin Abdelaziz, filed a claim in the Delaware Chancery Court against Delaware's Cave Cay LP. Prince Salman claimed Cave Cay was in breach of an agreement.

A joint venture between Saudi Prince Sultan Bin Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz’s Arkal company and Spain’s Urbas Grupo Financiero (Urbas) is bidding for a government contract to construct homes in Riyadh.

The Industrialisation and Energy Service Company ("TAQA") announced the closure of its 100% acquisition of Al Mansoori Petroleum Services ("AMPS"), expanding TAQA's Well Solutions business internationally.

Ever more for Aramco trading: Saudi Aramco announced on 18 January that its Aramco Trading Company (ATC) arm had acquired United States-based Motiva Trading and launched a new subsidiary, Aramco Trading Americas (ATA). The latter will be the sole supplier and offtaker for Motiva Enterprises, which owns the 630,000 b/d Port Arthur refinery, the largest refinery in North America. Aramco had taken full control of the refinery in 2017, buying out its partner Royal Dutch Shell.