UAE And Saudi Arabia Leaders Confirm Joint Digital Currency Plans To Facilitate Interbank Trading

The leaders of the United State Emirates and Saudi Arabia have signed an agreement to launch a digital currency. The digital currency would be mainly used for settling the inter-bank transactions between both the countries.

The MoU was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed along with the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The agreement was signed when the Saudi prince was on a strategic visit to UAE where they signed four new policy partnerships along with reviewing seven strategic initiatives. Among several new deals signed between the two nations, one of the important ones is to build a mega oil refinery with a capacity to produce 1.2 million barrels a day,

Apart from those business prospects, the leaders of both countries decided to enhance the cybersecurity measures between them. The bank officials of both countries are scheduled to meet as well where they would discuss the challenges of the financial sector.

The Digital Currency Formation was on the Cards

The announcement about an interbank usable digital currency was not a big surprise given the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) central bank (UAECB) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) had earlier announced their plans of launching a digital currency earlier this year itself. SAMA stated,

“[…] studying the dimensions of modern technologies and their feasibility through practical application and the determination of their impact on the improvement and the reduction of remittances costs and the assessment of technical risks and how to deal with them,”

Studying the dimensions of modern technologies and their feasibility through practical application and the determination of their impact on the improvement and the reduction of remittances costs and the assessment of technical risks and how to deal with them,” the SAMA then stated.

Given the development uprising in the Middle East where present leaders want to incorporate new development models making the Middle East a hub for emerging technology development.