IN BRIEF

NEWS

The celebration of 20 years of Franco-Saudi archaeological cooperation took place on December 1-2, 2022 in Riyadh and AlUla. The first day was dedicated to scientific conferences that gathered the co-directors of the various missions being undertaken across the Kingdom. The second day was dedicated to on-site visits of AlUla and its main excavation sites. A tour of Hegra, Dadan, the Old Town and the Oasis was organized for an official delegation by the main in-field teams of archaeologists from CNRS and Archaïos.

20 YEARS

OF FRANCO-SAUDI

ARCHAEOLOGICAL COOPERATION

Olivier Becht, Minister in charge of Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad, visited Saudi Arabia at the end of December as part of a program to strengthen the Franco-Saudi partnership, particularly regarding economic and commercial development projects. His very enthusiastic visit to the AlUla site resulted in the signing of several strategic partnerships between the Royal Commission for AlUla and leading French companies (RATP Dev, Amane Advisors and idverde): " This visit will provide us with the opportunity to reiterate the full commitment of the French government to support the development of AlUla on each of the following aspects: culture, archaeology, tourism, agriculture and energy. Archaeological cooperation is a main pillar of our bilateral relationship, and it paves the way for many partnerships in the fields of tourism, culture, research and training."

THE DIPLOMATIC MINISTERIAL

VISIT TO ALULA

A new artists residency program was launched on October 3, 2022. For twelve weeks, six artists from around the world explored the unique and inspirational potential of AlUla. This unprecedented space for creativity enabled the artists to carry out, on site, in-depth research and exploratory work in dialogue with the local communities and the teams of scientists working in the field. On December 19-20, during two days of Open Studio interspersed with a series of discussions, performances and guided tours, the artists presented their work inspired by the region and its thousand-year-old history.

ALULA

ARTISTS

RESIDENCY

As part of the pre-opening program of Villa Hegra, AFALULA is organizing, in collaboration with the NGO "Les Petits Débrouillards", cultural and scientific workshops for the youngest members of the community.

These activities, to be held from February to June 2023, aim to introduce children, aged 8-12, to science and to invite them to contribute to the transformation of the region, by means of extra-curricular activities.

EDUTAINMENT

ACTIVITIES

IN ALULA

An exploratory mission is now underway for dairy products and the potential of this sector in AlUla. Needs are currently being analyzed in order to offer training to farmers and thus allow the development of a small local dairy products industry. At the same time, the honey sector is being studied with the aim of training and involving the community of AlUla beekeepers.

THE DEVELOPMENT

OF LOCAL PRODUCTS

From October 25-27, 2022, Riyadh hosted the 6th Annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) on the theme of “Investing in humanity: enabling a new world order”. The event, which brought together heads of various governments and business leaders, opened up a dialogue on new industrial trends and investment paths that could promote a positive impact. This 6^th edition was also an opportunity to strengthen the partnership between the RCU and the French consortium of the engineering sector Egis, Assystem and Setec, relating to the deployment, over the next 10 years, of the infrastructure program of AlUla.