Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced plans for a new economic zone in the kingdom’s northwest region with up to $500bn in investments, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. The new zone, called Neom, will cover an area of 26,000 sq km along 486km on the Red Sea coast and will run across Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. A map published on the project’s website shows that the new economic zone would include the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir. One of these plans include an initial public offering of 5% of state oil company Saudi Aramco. The demarcation agreement, signed April 2016 by Saudi King Salman Abdulaziz and President Sisi, stipulated that the sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir islands would be transferred to Saudi Arabia.

Source: Egypt Independent October 25, 2017 12:11 UTC