Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan have agreed to raise their bilateral trade volume to $200 million by 2027, setting a clear target to expand economic cooperation following talks in Islamabad between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Sadyr Zhaparov.

The two leaders discussed strengthening ties across trade, energy, connectivity, and security, with both sides expressing commitment to building a more structured economic partnership. “Pakistan offers a strategic gateway to global markets through Karachi, Gwadar and Port Qasim,” Prime Minister Sharif told the visiting delegation as he encouraged Kyrgyz businesses to pursue joint ventures in sectors including trade, education and health.

President Zhaparov underscored the importance of the partnership given Kyrgyzstan’s location in the heart of Eurasia. He said the country’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and its GSP+ status could help provide Pakistan with broader access to European and regional markets.

The current trade volume stands at roughly*$5 million, but the two sides said they expect to scale this up significantly through improved market access, transport links and investment opportunities. The meeting also reviewed progress on the CASA-1000 electricity project, which would transmit surplus power from Central Asia to Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan has completed its section of the line, while Pakistan’s portion is under way.

Connectivity featured prominently in the discussions, including steps to operationalize the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement (QTTA), intended to provide road access between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan through China. Both sides highlighted the importance of transport corridors and regional infrastructure for supporting trade and supply chains.

Educational cooperation was also addressed. Around 8,500 Pakistani students currently study medicine in Kyrgyzstan, and the two governments agreed to create a joint certification mechanism for medical graduates seeking employment in either country.

Zhaparov invited Pakistani investors to explore opportunities in Kyrgyzstan’s hydropower, logistics, agriculture, tourism and halal sectors. He also noted recent developments in the country’s digital economy, including the launch of Kyrgyzstan’s national stablecoin, and signalled openness to collaboration on virtual assets.

The visit concluded with the signing of 15 agreements and MoUs spanning energy, agriculture, education, culture and tourism. One of the key outcomes was the establishment of sister-city relations between Islamabad and Bishkek.

Dubai Customs has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Binance to expand digital payment capabilities.

The preliminary agreement aims to develop the UAE’s domestic payment ecosystem by integrating digital assets into commercial transactions and enabling the logistics sector to benefit from digital payments, Dubai Customs said in a statement. 

The partnership will improve the efficiency of import–export operations, streamline customs procedures, and attract new investors by offering modern payment options that help expand their businesses and access new global markets.  

“With this MoU, Dubai Customs is establishing a progressive economic model capable of meeting the requirements of the digital economy, creating an innovative business environment that supports Dubai’s ambitions and global competitiveness in fintech and smart payments,” said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO of DP World and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation. 

“Through this MoU, we will jointly launch innovative solutions capable of making a tangible difference in the customs sector locally and globally,” added Richard Teng, CEO of Binance. 
 

The Middle East is emerging as a critical hub for AI data centre development, benefiting from its structural and geographical merits, amid rising demand for AI infrastructure. 

The region’s strategic location offers a vantage point, placing it within a 2,000-mile radius of over three billion people, enabling it to serve Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Global South, with non-latency-sensitive AI inferencing at scale, according to a Boston Consulting Group report. 

Data centre power needs are forecasted to rise from 86 GW in 2025 to 198 GW by 2030, placing the Middle East at the forefront of supplying scalable, cost-efficient AI compute capacity. 

The Middle East’s competitive cost structures, including up to 50% lower leasing rates, low power tariffs, and advanced cooling systems, pare ownership costs. At the same time, economies such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue to press ahead with new data centre launches. 

“The Middle East is undergoing a pivotal transformation as it positions itself to become a global hub for AI infrastructure,” said Thibault Werlé, managing director at Boston Consulting Group.

“With strategic investments, progressive digital policies, and ambitious national visions across Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, the region is building the foundation for scalable, next-generation AI compute.” 

Regional economies have undertaken major initiatives to bolster their efforts in reshaping the Middle East’s AI infrastructure landscape. 

Saudi Arabia has launched Humain, a Public Investment Fund company with a targeted 1.9 GW AI data centre capacity, along with partnerships with tech giants including Nvidia and AWS, to develop multi-hundred-megawatt AI campuses. 

Neighbouring UAE plans to host a 5GW AI campus in its capital under the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership and is importing 500,000 GPUs for regional and US partners, supported by Microsoft’s USD $15.2 billion investment in AI and cloud infrastructure. 

The Qatar Investment Authority has invested heavily in advancing the country’s AI ambitions, including a $3 billion platform with Blue Owl Capital to accelerate international expansion of AI and cloud infrastructure. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has also participated in Anthropic’s $13 billion funding round, aimed at meeting growing demand from enterprises.  

Regional governments must create streamlined, unified investment packages that integrate key inputs such as land, power, water, and connectivity within clear, time-bound frameworks, the report suggested.

“Expanding a diverse ecosystem of business and financing models, including hyperscalers, GPU-as-a-Service providers, equity platforms, and bond-backed investments, will be critical to enabling flexibility for market entrants,” the report added. 

The US Department of Commerce said on Wednesday that it has authorised the export of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to two companies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Abu Dhabi-based tech firm G42 and Public Investment Fund (PIF) subsidiary Humain are both slated to receive American semiconductors, equivalent of up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips (GB300s).

The approvals are contingent on both companies meeting “rigorous security and reporting requirements”, the commerce department said in a statement. 

The purchase will promote “continued American AI dominance and global technological leadership”, the statement read. 

UAE’s Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, welcomed the authorization as  ”another milestone” in the partnership between both nations. 

“The authorization follows sustained engagement between both governments and reflects the confidence that underpins our collaboration in advanced technology and national security," Ambassador Otaiba said in a statement.     

Peng Xiao, Group CEO of G42, said the announcement marks a defining moment for the company and its partners as they segue from planning into execution. 

"Our shared infrastructure model sets a new benchmark for secure, high-performance computing that is designed to serve the needs of both nations. What we build in the UAE, we will continue to match in the US, maintaining symmetry and trust at every layer," added Xiao. 

The milestone accelerates foundational projects already underway in the UAE, including Stargate UAE, the 1GW AI compute cluster. 

The cluster forms part of the UAE–US AI Campus, an AI infrastructure hub that will include 5GW of capacity for AI data centres in Abu Dhabi, enabling US hyperscalers to offer latency-friendly services to companies operating within 2,000 miles of the UAE. 

Humain announced early Wednesday that it would deploy up to 600,000 Nvidia's AI chips in Saudi Arabia and the US over the next three years. 

China has surpassed the West to become the Gulf region’s largest trading partner.  

Gulf-China trade rose 14.2% to $257 billion in 2024, edging past Gulf’s combined trade with Western economies – comprising of the US, UK and the Eurozone - for the first time, according to a report published by think tank Asia House. 

That came as trade flows between the Gulf region and the West dipped around 4% to reach $256 billion. 

While the current gap between the Gulf’s trade flows with China vis-à-vis the West is narrow, it is expected to broaden to $75 billion by the year 2028. Gulf-China trade is projected to reach $375 billion the same year. 

“While the margin is narrow and there may be short-term fluctuations in the relative weight of these partners, particularly given the downward trend in oil prices in 2025, structural and fundamental factors overwhelmingly suggest Gulf-China trade will widen its lead over the West in the coming decade,” the report read. 

Gulf-Asia trade has grown by 40% over the last decade, from $368 billion in 2014 to a $516 billion in 2024. 

Gulf’s trade with emerging Asia also rose 14.4% in 2024 to $516 billion despite lower oil prices. Emerging Asia consists of 34 Asian economies, including China, India, and most ASEAN members, but excluding Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Energy remains foundational to the GCC’s Asian pivot, with Asia expected to remain the world’s fastest-growing energy market through at least 2050.

The UAE is driving the Gulf’s trade with Asia, with the country’s trade with emerging Asia rising 27% in 2024 to $268 billion, driven by its comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) programme, SWF deployments and interest from Asian investors and businesses.

On a bilateral basis, the UAE-China corridor stood out in particular, with bilateral trade climbing 28% to $119 billion in 2024, overtaking UAE-West, which rose to nearly $110 billion. 

Two-way sovereign wealth interests 
Gulf-Asia financial interconnectivity has also developed in tandem, with Asia receiving 40% of the estimated $56 billion deployed by Gulf sovereign wealth funds in the first nine months of 2025.

Simultaneously, Asian financial services firms are expanding into the Gulf to capitalise on its expanding sovereign and private wealth pools. 

“Financial institutions on both sides of the corridor are preparing for a greater influx of capital in the future, with increasing collaboration between Asian and Gulf bourses,” the research suggested.  
 

Artificial intelligence startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) garnered record venture capital (VC) funding in the first six months of the year, illustrating how the technology has emerged as a prominent investment theme across the region.  

Regional AI startups netted $302 million in H1, making up 17% of the region's total VC  funding of $1.78 billion, according to data analytics platform Magnitt. 

It also recorded promising growth in deal count, garnering 26% of the region's VC deal flow, up from 23% in 2024.

The MENA region reported its best half-year results for AI funding, surpassing last year’s total funding by 16%.

“Artificial Intelligence has become MENA’s defining venture theme in 2025,” the Magnitt report read. 

The UAE and Saudi Arabia emerged as the destinations of choice, absorbing more than 70% of AI funding in the region. The ongoing momentum of the two countries to become AI-native sovereigns, is shored up by state-backed programs and large-scale tech events.  

Momentum is shifting from early pilots to scaled deployment, the Magnitt research suggested, with more mid-stage transactions and sovereign-backed initiatives driving commercialization. 

Saudi sovereign wealth fund launched Humain earlier this year, to build entire AI stacks as well as manage advanced AI technologies and infrastructure. 

Saudi Arabia hosted the ninth edition of the Future Investment Initiative, welcoming over 9,000 delegates. 

The forum, in its ninth edition, has stood out as an eminent investment and strategic partnerships platform, having helped seal more than $250 billion in deals since inception. 

This year’s event closed on a message of determination and optimism, a new era driven by AI, human ingenuity and a shared belief of progress. 

More than half of the year’s speakers hailed from the technology sector, reflecting how the world is gravitating towards a tech-centric, AI-powered world. 

Private equity is the new economic driver
Investors agreed that private capital — valued at over $13 trillion and projected to surpass $20 trillion within five years — has become the world’s new economic backbone.

Recalibrating the new AI frontier
Philip Johnston of Starcloud announced the launch of the world’s first AI data center in space, powered by SpaceX’s 100x reduction in launch costs. 

“We can now train AI off-planet — cooled by the cosmos,” he said.

Eric Jang of 1X Technologies revealed plans to deploy 100,000 humanoid robots by 2027, marking what he called “the dawn of robots building robots.”

Empowering entrepreneurs
Startups operating in sectors such as AI-designed medicine, diagnostic health, humanoid robotics, and sovereign computing, captivated investors. 

CEO of Saudi Arabia’s National Technology Development Program (NTDP) Ibrahim Abdulaziz Neyaz pledged continued support to “enable creative entrepreneurs from around the world to serve humanity.”

Saudi Arabia: the new investment capital 
Yazeed Alhumied of Saudi sovereign fund PIF announced that Saudi Arabia’s asset management industry has exceeded SAR1 trillion in assets under management, propelled by product innovation, global partnerships, and talent development.

Chairman of the Capital Markets Authority Mohammed El-Kuwaiz revealed that private capital is now the fastest-growing segment of Saudi finance, expanding at nearly twice the industry rate, with private credit assets more than doubling in recent years.

Executives from Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, State Street, and PIF discussed the rapid rise of private credit, ETFs, and quantitative investing — with Goldman’s Dennis Walsh calling the kingdom “one of the most exciting emerging markets in the world for data-driven alpha.”