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RIYADH: Delta Airlines has entered into a new partnership with ����ֱ��’s Ministry of Tourism aimed at boosting travel demand and raising awareness of the Kingdom in the US market, the carrier’s chief executive officer has confirmed.

The collaboration comes as Delta prepares to inaugurate its first-ever direct flights between its Atlanta hub and Riyadh next October, marking a key milestone in expanding its Middle East network.

Speaking to Asharq Bloomberg on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh, CEO Ed Bastian explained that the initial focus will be on leveraging the Kingdom’s growing investment opportunities to attract business travelers.

Looking ahead, Bastian said Delta also seeks to appeal to a new generation of American tourists drawn to ����ֱ��’s emerging destinations, including the Red Sea Project and the historic Diriyah district.

“The Kingdom has become an attractive destination for a new generation of travelers,” Bastian affirmed, noting a broader shift in how Western visitors perceive ����ֱ�� as a tourism destination.

Reinforcing its regional commitment, Bastian revealed that Delta has signed a memorandum of understanding with Riyadh Air. The preliminary deal establishes a framework for cooperation in areas such as codeshare flights and destination coordination.

The partnership is expected to evolve over time, expanding into joint efforts in operations, maintenance, and technology — signaling a deepening connection between the US and Saudi aviation sectors.

RIYADH: London-based Standard Chartered bank is ramping up operations in ����ֱ�� as it seeks to capture opportunities from the Kingdom’s rapid economic transformation, according to Group CEO Bill Winters. 

Speaking to Asharq Bloomberg on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Winters said the lender believes ����ֱ�� is going through a “fundamental investment boom” amid rapid economic change.

Winters’ comments underscore the key role international banks are playing in ����ֱ��’s Vision 2030, a strategic framework to diversify the economy away from oil dependence. 

“We’re very optimistic about Saudi,” Winters said. “We opened up a full bank ... have a full banking license in Saudi going back about five years, which we’re fully ramping up as we speak — building quite substantially in the Kingdom,” he said. 

The CEO added: “We’re quite fortunate in terms of timing that we were granted this license at a time when Saudi is going through such a fundamental investment boom and transformation.” 

Winters emphasized that the bank aims to act as a bridge between international investors and Saudi companies expanding abroad, while also supporting the country’s evolving capital markets. 

“We’re in a position to bring international investors to Saudi to represent and to finance and provide services to Saudi companies going abroad, supporting trade flows in the region,” he said. 

Winters added: “We’re a leading issuer in the debt capital markets across the region and within the Kingdom, absolutely. The Kingdom has reformed tremendously. The financial markets are evolving quickly.” 

The executive noted that the key challenge now is ensuring that sufficient funding — domestic and foreign — reaches ����ֱ��’s ambitious development pipeline. 

“The key now is to make sure that there’s enough money, either in the Kingdom, or coming from outside,” Winters said. “We have our own balance sheet, which we bring to bear in the Kingdom. We have very substantial exposures in the Kingdom.” 

A key part of their strategy involves originating credit for major infrastructure projects, which are then channeled to non-bank investors such as private credit funds, insurance companies, and pension funds. 

Winters concluded by stressing that ����ֱ��’s growth ambitions can be met if the right capital connections continue to form. 

“There’s enough money in the world to fund the growth aspirations of Saudi,” he said. “What we need to do is connect it with the project, which is happening — but there’s no fast-growing major economy in the world that relies extraordinarily on banks.”