Month-by-month Harvest to Saudi Accomplishments in 2021

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the largest and most important countries in the Arab region, so paying attention to what happened in it during the year 2021 is necessary, as we monitor, in the following report, you can find the most prominent events that the Kingdom experienced during the months out from the year 2021.

The beginning with January, which witnessed many important events such as the 41st Gulf Summit, which was named after the Sultan Qaboos and Sheikh Sabah Summit, this summit took place on January 5, 2021, in Al-Ula Governorate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where it witnessed the end of the diplomatic crisis with Qatar.

 Under the agreement of the aforementioned summit, the airspace and the land and sea borders between Saudi Arabia and Qatar were opened, starting from the evening of Monday, January 4, 2021, at the suggestion of the Emir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The month also witnessed the launch of The Line project, a Saudi project for a carbon-neutral city planned to be built with a city population of one million and a length of 170 kilometers (105 miles) that preserves 95% of nature within NEOM, without cars, zero streets, and zero carbon emissions.

The project is one of NEOM’s projects in the northwest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to the launch of the Riyadh vision, one of the projects of the Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to make the city one of the 10 largest economies of cities in the world in 2030.

The second month of the year 2021 “February” also included several events, perhaps the most prominent of which was the Cabinet’s decision to cancel the General Corporation for Railways, as of April 1, 2021, provided that the Saudi Railways Company (SAR) would replace it, in addition to the decision to establish the National Center Water Efficiency and Rationalization Center and a Saudi government center, established on February 3, 2021.

While March was full of many events, including the Saudi initiative to end the Yemeni crisis, which was announced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 22, 2021, to end the Yemeni crisis and reach a comprehensive political solution that includes a comprehensive ceasefire under the supervision of the United Nations.

The political solution also included the opening of Sana’a International Airport, and the start of consultations between the Yemeni parties to reach a political solution to the Yemeni crisis under the auspices of the United Nations, based on the terms of reference of UN Security Council Resolution 2216, the Gulf Initiative, and the outcomes of the comprehensive Yemeni national dialogue.

Additionally, the most important events in March included Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s announcement of the two green Saudi initiatives, which aim to raise vegetation cover, reduce carbon emissions, combat pollution, and land degradation, and preserve marine life by planting 10 billion trees inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the coming decades.

 The aforementioned two initiatives will help rehabilitate about 40 million hectares of degraded lands, which means an increase in the area covered by current trees to 12 times, representing the Kingdom’s contribution by more than 4% in achieving the goals of the global initiative to reduce the degradation of land and wildlife, and 1% of the target Global planting of one trillion trees.

While the new initiative is Green Middle East, which aims to contribute to efforts to combat climate change by raising vegetation cover in Middle Eastern countries, reducing carbon emissions, combating pollution and land degradation, and preserving marine life by planting an additional 40 billion trees in the Middle East. 

The Green Middle East is considered as part of a program that aims to plant 50 billion trees in cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf in the Middle East.

The month of April included many events, perhaps the most important of which was the opening of the Sakaka solar power plant, under the patronage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, which is a 300 MW solar photovoltaic farm on an area of ​​6 square kilometers.

 The Sakaka solar power plant is the first in a series of renewable energy projects in the Kingdom that were launched within the framework of the National Renewable Energy Program that falls under Saudi Vision 2030.

The Sakaka solar power plant aims to achieve the plan and objectives of the Saudi vision of renewable energy by producing 58.7 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030. Work began on the farm, which costs about $ 320 million in November 2018, where it was connected to the National Electricity Network.

The project includes 1.2 million solar panels, which generate enough electrical energy to meet the needs of 45,000 housing units, with the ability to reduce more than 500,000 tons of carbon emissions annually.

In May, the fusion between the General Authority for Zakat and Income with the General Authority of Customs took place under the name of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, which was established by a decision of the Saudi Cabinet issued on May 4th.

Likewise, the month of June included many important events, including the inauguration of the Jeddah Super Dome in the city of Jeddah, which is the largest dome without columns in the world as it is located on Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah Road, west of King Abdullah Sports City.

 Jeddah Super Dome entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest columnless dome in the world. The internal area of ​​the dome is 34,000 square meters, 46 meters high, 210 meters in diameter, and accommodates 5,200 parking spaces.

The Jeddah Super Dome was designated to host international and local exhibitions, events, and conferences. On June 18, the dome hosted the first event, as it was a musical event in the presence of Amr Diab, and on June 25, a concert was held in the presence of Mohamed Hamaki.

The registration of the Ḥimā Cultural Area as the sixth world heritage site in Saudi Arabia is the most prominent event that occurred in July of the year 2021.

 The Ḥimā Cultural Area is a world heritage site located in the Najran region in the south of Saudi Arabia. The region includes more than 34 sites with rock inscriptions and wells along with one of the oldest caravan routes that crossed from southern to northern Arabia.

The cultural rock art area in Ḥimā Cultural Area extends over an area of ​​557 km2, and includes 550 rock art panels containing hundreds of thousands of rock art and carvings depicting hunting, animals, plants, and ways of life of a culture that spanned over 7,000 years without interruption, and is considered one of the largest rock art complexes in the world.

Several events took place in August, including, perhaps, the inclusion of the Food Development Company on the Saudi stock market.

The month of September also witnessed many events, including the termination of the service of First Lieutenant General Khaled bin Qaraar Al-Harbi, Director of Public Security, by referring him to an investigation. He assumed the position of Director of Public Security in Saudi Arabia on December 27, 2018, and previously held the position of Commander of the Special Emergency Forces. 

On September 7, 2021, a royal order was issued to terminate Serve him by referring him to retirement and referring him to the investigation, for numerous transgressions and violations to seize public money and personal benefit.

He was charged with several crimes, including forgery, bribery, and abuse of influence, with the participation of 18 persons from the public and private sectors.

The Farasan Islands Reserve was also included in the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB), making it the first Saudi site to be included in the program on September 15, 2021.

The month of October also witnessed the Public Investment Fund’s announcement of the launch of the “THE RIG” tourism project in the Arabian Gulf region, which is located on an area of ​​more than 150,000 square meters.

 The “THE RIG” project aims to enhance Saudi Arabia’s efforts to preserve the environment by preserving the environment of the region on which it will be built and contributing to supporting the local economy.

 It is expected to attract many tourists from all over the world, especially the citizens and residents of the Arab Gulf states.

While November included events, perhaps the most important of which was the announcement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the non-profit city of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as the first non-profit city in the world.

 The city, which adopts the concept of the digital twin, will host many academies, colleges, and Misk schools, and will include a conference center, a science museum, and the Innovation Center to be a space to realize the aspirations of innovators in science and technology with advanced systems such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and robotics.

 The city will also host venture capital and community-based investors around the world.

In the same month, the Saudi Crown Prince also announced the launch of the NEOM Industrial City “Oxagon”, which is the largest industrial cluster in the world and the largest floating industrial cluster in the world, and it is expected to start receiving manufacturing pioneers, investors, and business owners at the beginning of 2022.

The month of December also witnessed the launch of the King Salman Urban Charter initiative.