UAE boosts financial inclusion, Saudi CMA mulls major reforms, Oman launches 10-year cultural visa, Singapore plans stablecoin regs, India issues data protection act rules
Here’s a look at today's biggest tech stories in the MENA+:
- CBUAE to launch national strategy for financial inclusion
- Dubai CommerCity to add new e-commerce fulfillment center by Q3 2026
- UAE's Lodd Autonomous completes first test flight of heavy-lift unmanned aircraft
- Dubai seeks to double sport economy to $5B by 2033
- Didi Autonomous Driving joins Abu Dhabi's SAVI cluster
- CMA mulls major reforms to shareholder rights, board rules
- PIF studying Aston Martin privatization
- Insurance firm Shory gets approval to operate in Kingdom
- Indian firms look to Kingdom for growth amid global headwinds
- R&D spend jumps 30.4% to $7.9B in 2024
- India, Egypt explore private sector pharma manufacturing JVs
- Cairo 3A to develop Egypt's first citric acid plant with $150M investment
- Egypt signs deal for Europe electricity interconnection studies
- Oil output to be raised by 60,000 bpd in 2 years after record decline
- Egypt, GCC countries unveil new economic consultation mechanism
- Govt reportedly finalizing Personal Data Protection Bill, Pakistan Cloud First Policy
- Nova Minerals studying investment in antimony, rare earth minerals mining
- Pakistan aims to raise IT exports by $150M with new tech parks, infra
- Development spending slows due to IMF-aligned controls
- MoITT, Ignite, ADB launch national digital sector roadmap
Other MENA+ Developments
- IHC to invest $24B globally, targeting mining, energy, industrial sectors
- Dubai freezone DMCC aims to add 2,000 new companies in 2025
- 11% of GCC firms make profits from AI investments, despite surge in spending
- QIIG, PayLater partner to offer Sharia-compliant payments
- Oman launches 10-year cultural visa
Southeast Asia Developments
- WeRide, Grab get Singapore approval to test full AiR autonomous vehicle
- UK, Singapore, Thailand partner to trial cross-border currency settlement
- Vietnam's plan to change incentives for high-tech sector draws pushback from Korean firms
- US-Thailand, US-Malaysia rare earth deals face local opposition
- Singapore to introduce stablecoin regulations
