The drama and opportunities surrounding President Biden's confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia, an economic victory lap, and more...

The 966

1:46 - Richard's one big thing this week is a new report from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Investment that highlights all the reasons to invest in Saudi Arabia now.
In the 12th edition of ''Investment Highlights'', the Invest Saudi team discusses a record-breaking Q1 2022. The deals overseen by MISA are expected to drive investments worth more than $4 billion and create 5,816 new jobs in the local economy, and things are just starting to heat up. Saudi Arabia’s economy is proving to be one of the fastest globally to rebound from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, with flash estimates pointing to 9.6% real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2022, driven by a surge in global energy demand and a 3.7% rise in non-oil activity.

9:50 - Lucien's one big thing is President Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia is now confirmed for June 15-16.
First, the hosts share all the facts available about the visit and its importance to the relationship, then the hosts discuss all of the drama, criticism, and opportunities surrounding Biden's visit.

26:39 - Yallah! 6 top storylines in Saudi Arabia to get you up to date heading into the weekend.

•The official Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday the Kingdom’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced that it will issue a ban on working under the sun between noon and 3:00 p.m. from Wednesday (June 15). The decision will go continue until September 15, to safeguard the health and safety of workers during the hot summer months.

•Saudi Arabia is gearing up to host its first ever European Film Festival, organized by the Delegation of the European Union in Riyadh and film distribution company Arabia Pictures Group. Set to take place at The Esplanade in Riyadh, the film festival will run from June 15 to June 22 and will screen 14 European films from different countries including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.

•In its first legislative initiative since its founding earlier this year, the Abraham Accords Caucus, comprised of members of both the House and Senate, introduced legislation on Thursday to encourage the U.S. to pursue a joint missile-defense architecture with Israel and the U.S.’s Arab allies and partners in the Middle East — including Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The bipartisan Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses (DEFEND) Act advances a priority of both lawmakers on Capitol Hill and U.S. military command in the Middle East — building an integrated air- and missile-defense capability among the U.S.’s regional partners and allies to ward off ongoing drone and missile attacks by Iran and its proxies.

•King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) announced Sunday that Saudi Arabia will provide $10 million to contribute to addressing the existing threats arising from the oil tanker, Safer, which is anchored off the Red Sea coast north of the Yemeni port city of Al Hodeidah. The Safer tanker contains more than one million barrels of oil, and has not been maintained since 2015, and any leakage would threaten regional marine life, fisheries, and biodiversity.

•Saudi Arabia has closed its registrations for domestic pilgrims who wish to perform Hajj. The more than 390,000 applicants will now wait on the results of a lottery to learn if they have been selected. Hajj authorities opened registrations for domestic pilgrims this month as the kingdom lifted restrictions on participation that were imposed in the past two years in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

•According to an image leaked on Saturday, Lucid Motors is getting ready to open a new showroom in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital and main financial hub. The company has currently 19 studios in the U.S., 2 in Canada (Vancouver and Toronto, and one in Germany (Munich). The U.S.-based company plans to establish operations at AMP-2 initially for re-assembly of Lucid Air vehicle “kits” that are pre-manufactured at the company’s U.S. AMP-1 facility in Arizona, and, over time, for production of complete vehicles. The new Sau02di factory expected to address growing global demand for Lucid electric vehicles by increasing Lucid’s global production capacity mid-decade to 500,000 EVs per year, the company recently said.