Saudi Arabia on Monday said foreigners are from now on allowed to invest in Saudi-listed companies that own property in Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities. It said foreign investment "in companies owning real estate within the boundaries of Mecca and Madinah will be limited to shares of these Saudi companies listed on the Saudi capital market,

The kingdom has also reoriented its spending from overseas into its domestic market. One indicator of this was that in 2024, the UAE’s Mubadala surpassed Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) as the world’s most active sovereign wealth fund.

Sharaa, met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Sunday in his first foreign trip as Syrian leader, in a sign of the major shifts under way in regional alliances.