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RIYADH: The foreign ministers of Bahrain and Kuwait arrived in Riyadh on Sunday to attend an upcoming Gulf Cooperation Council meeting.
Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani and Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya were both received on arrival at King Khalid International Airport by the Kingdom’s Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Khuraiji.
The 161st Ministerial Council meeting of the GCC will be held on Monday and will be chaired by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.
RIYADH: Committed to empowering students with the right tools to succeed, Talal Al-Qahtani, 17, founded Saudi Extracurriculars for Students, a nonprofit organization dedicated to help aspiring highschoolers become “changemakers.”
To address what he saw as a gap in the market, he founded SEFS to connect Saudi youth with a range of extracurricular activities in the Kingdom, such as community service, internships, music, art and culture.
The young founder’s story begins in 2007, when he was born in Virginia, US, to a Saudi father and American mother. When he was two his family moved to Riyadh where he enrolled in Manarat Al-Riyadh International School (MARIS) and studied there from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Approaching the last few years of high school and struggling to find extracurricular projects, Al-Qahtani took it upon himself to create SEFS.
He told Arab News that his aim is “to create an online portal for students to connect with new opportunities across all Saudi Arabia … I decided to create something I wished I had at the time. My thought process is if something needed is missing then I need to fill that gap.”
Less than a year since its launch in January, SEFS has 1,000-plus online members. Furthermore, many have been accepted to their dream universities with the mentorship, study programs and opportunities offered to them.
“We’ve helped students move themselves towards a positive change so they themselves can make a positive impact on their community as a whole.”
The organization’s mission plan is to turn students into “changemakers” — people who work to benefit others — Al-Qahtani said.
“A changemaker is someone who can work and collaborate with other people to create a greater change, and I say there is no ‘I’ in changemaker.”
Al-Qahtani, a senior at MARIS, has several milestones in his academic career, such as winning the best delegate award at three Model UNs, and chairing a committee.
Al-Qahtani is currently an intern at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology’s petrochemical research institute. In this role, he conducts research on methane decomposition for hydrogen production and has analyzed more than 40 studies on methane decomposition.
Al-Qahtani was also social media marketing manager for Sawada Specialty Coffee, a cafe in Riyadh, where he gained marketing experience and learned how to become an effective communicator.
“Working closely with the cafe’s team and the owner taught me a lot of vital communication skills. Marketing requires creative thinking and taking part in various activities that deal with problem solving ... While interning as a market research analyst I got to create effective market dashboards with research in current design courses in Saudi and sustainable designs.”
Al-Qahtani previously worked as head of marketing and communications for TEDxMARIS where he led a team of marketers and took what he learnt to create a marketing initiative club at his school, where he teaches “vital skills in marketing,” he said.
“To help my members take their skills and newfound passion further, I currently bridge my members to brand new marketing opportunities at events in Saudi Arabia.”
SEFS aligns closely with the goals of Vision 2030, creating positive opportunities for young people by connecting them with new opportunities to advance their careers.
“We help students not only through gaining new skills but in getting accepted to top universities around the world so that they can contribute to the economy of Saudi Arabia.”
Al-Qahtani’s goal is to expand SEFS through collaborating with the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia to make a change in the Kingdom’s high school environment.
Saudi Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Saud Al-Sati received the German Ambassador to the Kingdom Michael Kindsgrab in Riyadh on Monday.
Al-Sati also held separate meetings with the Indian Ambassador to the Kingdom Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan and Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the Kingdom Madiyar Menilbekov on the same day, the Foreign Ministry announced on X.
Bilateral relations and ways to strengthen them were discussed during the meetings, alongside various other topics of common interest.
RIYADH: Even if the national climate plans of countries worldwide are successful, carbon emission levels will cause catastrophic effects by 2030, according to the UN’s climate chief.
Current plans would result in emissions of 51.5 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030 — only a 2.6 percent reduction on 2019 levels.
These emissions would lead to severe human and economic consequences worldwide, according to a statement issued on Monday by Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has indicated that emissions must be reduced by 43 percent by 2030 and by 60 percent by 2035 compared to 2019 levels to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Stiell stressed the urgent need for a transformative shift away from inadequate climate action, calling for more ambitious national climate plans from all nations by next year.
The report highlights that existing international climate plans are significantly insufficient to prevent global warming from devastating economies and disrupting lives worldwide.
If countries adopt more ambitious plans, they can not only avoid climate disasters but also drive transformation toward prosperity and well-being, according to the report.
Further, the report highlights that stronger climate strategies are essential for investment, fostering economic growth, creating jobs, reducing pollution, enhancing public health and ensuring secure as well as affordable clean energy.
As nations work on their new nationally determined contributions for next year, the report shows only minimal progress compared to the urgent changes needed.
Furthermore, the statement said that the upcoming national climate plans must represent a significant increase in ambition.
While these plans are tailored to each nation, they should meet the ABC test, meaning that they must set ambitious, economy-wide emissions targets that encompass all greenhouse gases and keep the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach, and must cover specific sectors and pollutants.
The statement also focused on the necessity for the new NDCs to be credible and supported by regulations, laws and funding to ensure the realization of their objectives. They should outline adaptation priorities and investments to safeguard vital sectors, infrastructure and communities from climate impacts, aligning with National Adaptation Plan processes.
In addition, plans should extend to 2035, featuring stronger goals for 2030 to enable the deep emissions reductions necessary this decade.
Recognizing the importance of these new plans, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will host a series of events next year to help countries deliver their NDCs as well as engage the global community in discussions about these efforts, as further details will be discussed during COP 29.
RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart discussed the importance of avoiding anything that could destabilize the security and stability of the region on Monday.
During a phone call with Abbas Araghchi, Prince Faisal discussed the latest developments in the region and the repercussions of an escalation.
The two ministers also reviewed Saudi-Iranian relations, Saudi Press Agency said.
The call comes after Israel struck Iranian military sites on Saturday in response to Tehran’s October 1 missile attack, itself retaliation for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.
RIYADH: The first Global Corporate Social Responsibility Forum launched in Riyadh on Monday, organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and boasting the theme “From Commitment to Impact.”
Minister Ahmad Al-Rajhi said the forum aimed to be a global platform for dialogue on social responsibility, facilitating knowledge exchange and fostering private sector involvement in sustainable development to establish a global model for public-private partnerships.
Al-Rajhi spoke of the evolution of social responsibility, emphasizing innovative practices, sustainable digitization, technology, and circular economy integration.
He also looked at the development of individuals and communities in a balanced manner with their environment, and how the private sector has become important in making the world a better place today.
Al-Rajhi emphasized that the Kingdom’s achievements in social responsibility were “an inspiring story of transformation and empowerment,” as the Kingdom paid attention to empowering social responsibility and setting it as a strategic goal in Saudi Vision 2030, which aimed to “enhance companies’ fulfillment of social responsibility.”
Saudi Arabia has implemented tools for corporate social responsibility, including a Social Responsibility Committee, a national platform for transparency, Social Responsibility Day on March 23, and a national social responsibility index.
Al-Rajhi said that these efforts had led to a notable rise in corporate contributions to social spending, which grew from 1.19 percent in 2019 to 4.15 percent by the end of 2023, with active programs rising from 30 percent to 65 percent among major companies.
The Kingdom’s global social responsibility ranking improved from 41st in 2021 to 16th in the 2024 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, and aims at being among the top countries by 2030.
The forum brings together leaders from various sectors to discuss growth opportunities, promote innovation, foster partnerships, and advance international collaboration in social responsibility.
