Gulf

1. Trump Belgrade
2. Masdar’s Adriatic link
3. … $15B Philippines deal…
4. …and green hydrogen push
5. Tesla to launch in Saudi

Kuwait’s government employees aren’t into the night shift.

Kushner, Alabbar to build Belgrade hotel

As US President-elect Donald Trump returns to Washington, his brand — and his relatives — are once again rising in prominence around the world. Affinity Partners, the investment firm led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, is partnering with Dubai billionaire Mohamed Alabbar to develop a luxury hotel and apartment complex in Belgrade, a project Trump himself considered before running for president in 2016.

“I thought the ​tower ​would ​make a tremendous Trump Tower, ​so I spoke to ​Eric [Trump] ​about it, and he was ​very ​excited,” Kushner told Bloomberg. The Belgrade project with Alabbar — founder of Emaar Properties, the developer behind Dubai’s Burj Khalifa — will feature a 175-room hotel and 1,500 residences, with sales set to begin this year.

Trump’s business dealings, as well as those of his family, have faced intense scrutiny for years. Affinity, which raised billions from Saudi, Qatari, and Abu Dhabi funds, has been questioned by Democratic lawmakers. Kushner denies any wrongdoing and has not been accused of illegal activity.

$1B Adriatic power link

The UAE is backing an ambitious $1 billion wind and solar power project in Europe, with clean energy being generated in Albania and then sent across the Adriatic via a subsea cable to Italy. The deal should see electricity transmitted by 2028. It’s not clear just how much power will be involved, but the partners are talking about a “gigawatt-scale” program. The UAE’s Masdar signed a preliminary agreement with the Albania Power Corp. in November, but the Italian connection is a new element. Masdar already has projects underway in nearby Greece and Serbia, involving more than 6 gigawatts of power by 2029.

$15B Philippine’s renewable project

Gulf countries may be best known for exporting oil and gas, but these days their expertise in developing huge renewable energy projects is also in high demand. A case in point: Abu Dhabi’s renewables giant Masdar has signed a $15 billion deal to develop up to 1 gigawatts of clean energy in the Philippines between now and 2030. The deal covers solar and wind power plants, as well as battery energy storage systems (BESS) to ensure that electrons will still be flowing even if the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. Masdar already has a large floating solar PV plant in Indonesia and is developing 10 gigawatts of projects in Malaysia. It hopes to have a global portfolio of 100 gigawatts by the time the Philippines project is complete.

Masdar’s global hydrogen push

Masdar aims to produce 1 million tons of green hydrogen annually by 2030, with much of the output powering domestic steel and cement plants, being blended into aviation fuel, and designated for export, a senior executive told Semafor. Global demand for hydrogen was about 100 million tons last year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). But demand for low-emission hydrogen was just 1 million tons. The IEA projects that figure will rise to 6 million tons annually by 2030. “The UAE has the right recipe to deliver cost-effective green hydrogen,” Masdar’s Dr. Faye Al Hersh said. “We’ve consistently demonstrated our ability to deliver some of the world’s most competitive electricity prices from solar, which supports green hydrogen production.”

Tesla eyes Saudi market entry

Tesla is reportedly planning to open pop-up stores and showrooms in Saudi Arabia, hoping to wean locals off their love of gas-guzzlers and cheap petrol, according to AGBI. Elon Musk’s company will be competing for market share in a country where the government’s Lucid Motors has to date been the frontrunner. The Public Investment Fund used to own a stake in Tesla, but sold its shares in 2019 and has since poured billions of dollars into Lucid and rival start-up Ceer. Saudis themselves have been reluctant buyers of electric cars. Fewer than 3% of car sales this year are expected to be for EVs, according to PwC’s Electric Mobility Outlook. But that’s likely to change as more charging infrastructure is installed.

The Gulf region is advancing rapidly in AI, with local innovations like the Falcon model and collaborations with global tech giants such as Microsoft. AI is projected to add over $300 billion to the Middle East’s GDP by 2031, positioning the Gulf as a key global innovation hub.

Join Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince and CIO of Technology at MGX Ali Osman, for a discussion on fostering AI development that benefits both global and local partners, economic growth, sustainability, and societal progress.

Jan. 22, 2025 | Davos, Switzerland | Request Invitation

Kuwait’s plan to run government services at night was meant to boost productivity, enhance services, and reduce traffic — but weeks into the initiative, the theory remains untested. The reason? Government employees are refusing to work the night shift.

Out of 900 staff at the Civil Service Commission, Kuwait’s state employment agency, only 59 have signed up for evening shifts, short of the one-third needed to make the initiative viable, according to Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba. Kuwait’s embrace of its night owl culture seemed so obvious that it was surprising it wasn’t already uniform across the Gulf. It turns out that no one wants to be stuck in a government office after sunset.

Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Energy Chris Wright laid out his vision of how to achieve energy “dominance” during his Senate confirmation hearing, Semafor’s Tim McDonnell reports.

Wright’s comments indicated he may represent more of a departure on energy policy from Trump’s first term than from the Biden administration status quo, and he’s among the least controversial of Trump’s picks.