Saudi Arabia and Spain have unveiled a £2.5bn investment fund to finance a number of ambitious infrastructure projects in both countries. Noting that there are presently 21 Saudi-Spanish joint projects, Saudi finance minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf says he expects the privately-funded effort to rapidly increase economic ties between the two countries.

 

“Many Spanish companies have expressed their desire to participate in a number of major projects in the kingdom,” Al-Assaf has said, “especially in the railway sector” – which alone is expected to be a major driver of both tourist and shipping growth in the kingdom as regional rail networks appear set to move from long-discussed planning stages to actual implementation.