Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai was met by Saudi King Salman as he arrived in Riyadh for the 40th GCC summit on Tuesday.
The UAE delegation is headed by Sheikh Mohammed, who will attend the meeting with ministers to discuss issues such as regional security, Iran and the Palestinian conflict.
The GCC states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar — come together every year to discuss trade and security co-operation. This year the summit will be held in Riyadh's Al Daraya Palace.
Delegations from Oman and Qatar arrived in the Saudi capital before the UAE delegation, with Bahraini and Kuwaiti officials arriving afterwards. All the delegations were greeted by King Salman.
Oman's deputy prime minister Sayyid Fahad bin Mahmoud Al Said led his country's delegation to Riyadh.
The Qatari delegation is led by Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani, who held talks with King Salman prior to the talks as part of the summit's protocol.
Qatar's Emir Tamim Al Thani will not attend this year's summit, Saudi officials confirmed to The National, dashing hopes of a solution to a dispute which included three GCC members — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain — cutting ties with Doha in 2017.
The three countries accuse Qatar of interfering in their internal affairs and supporting extremist groups across the region.
In another development, Kuwait’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Al Jarallah, said the former Kuwaiti Finance Minister Nayef Al Hajraf submitted his nomination to become the council’s next secretary general.
"There is a Gulf consensus that Nayef Al Hajraf will become the next secretary general," Mr Al Jarallah said late on Monday.
If Mr Al Hajraf is chosen, he is expected to assume the post by April 2020, a GCC official confirmed to The National.
The heads of state are expected to discuss his official nomination on Tuesday.
If he takes the post, Mr Al Hajraf will become the second Kuwaiti to become the GCC’s secretary general since its establishment in 1981.
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
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
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
