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The airlines signed a memorandum of understanding that establishes a framework for negotiating a future joint business agreement. The proposed arrangement would deepen their existing codeshare relationship and could allow closer coordination across schedules, sales, network planning and passenger services.

The partnership is expected to explore single-ticket journeys across the two carriers’ combined networks. Garuda Indonesia passengers could gain easier access to Saudia-operated destinations in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, while Saudia customers could connect through Garuda’s domestic network and services to Australia.

The carriers will examine coordinating flight schedules between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia to improve connection times and reduce lengthy transfers. They will also assess joint sales, marketing and distribution initiatives in markets where both airlines see opportunities for traffic growth.

Cooperation could extend to frequent-flyer programmes, airport services, technology systems and customer handling. The memorandum also places particular emphasis on services for Umrah and Hajj passengers travelling from Indonesia, one of the world’s largest markets for pilgrimage-related air travel.

Saudia Chief Commercial Officer Arved von zur Muehlen and Garuda Indonesia Director of Transformation Neil Raymond Mills signed the agreement. The ceremony was attended by Saudia Group Director General Ibrahim Al-Omar and Garuda Indonesia Vice President Director Thomas Sugiarto Oentoro.

Von zur Muehlen said the agreement reflected Saudia’s strategy of building commercial partnerships that strengthen its international network. He said the proposed cooperation would offer passengers greater flexibility between Indonesia, Australia and destinations served by Saudia across three regions.

Mills said the partnership carried strategic value beyond expanding flight networks. Improved access to the Middle East, Europe and Africa would support pilgrimage travel, family and community movement, business links and wider economic cooperation.

A joint business agreement would represent a deeper form of cooperation than a conventional codeshare. Codeshares allow airlines to sell seats on flights operated by a partner, while joint business structures can involve coordinated scheduling, pricing, sales and capacity planning, subject to regulatory approval.

Such arrangements allow airlines to extend their market reach without immediately adding aircraft or launching a large number of new routes. They can also improve aircraft utilisation and feed passenger traffic through major hubs. Regulators, however, generally examine these partnerships to ensure that closer coordination does not weaken competition or limit consumer choice.

The proposed partnership builds on the airlines’ membership of the SkyTeam alliance. Saudia joined SkyTeam in 2012, while Garuda Indonesia became a member in 2014. Alliance membership already supports shared passenger benefits, lounge access, priority services and frequent-flyer recognition across participating carriers.

Saudia operates from hubs including Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Medina, connecting Saudi Arabia with destinations across Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Its Jeddah hub is particularly important for religious travel because of its proximity to Makkah and its role as a gateway for pilgrims.

Garuda Indonesia’s network is centred on Jakarta and Bali, with domestic services covering major commercial centres and tourism destinations across the archipelago. Its international operations connect Indonesia with markets in Asia, the Middle East and Australia.

The agreement comes as Garuda expands commercial cooperation with overseas airlines during its continuing operational and financial restructuring. The carrier launched a codeshare partnership with Scandinavian Airlines in June, offering connections between Indonesia and Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo through hubs including Amsterdam and Tokyo.

Greater cooperation with Saudia could strengthen Garuda’s access to markets that are difficult to serve economically with direct flights. The arrangement could also help generate connecting traffic for domestic destinations beyond Jakarta, including cities that supply significant numbers of Umrah and Hajj travellers.

Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have sought to expand economic and transport ties alongside their strong religious and cultural links. Agreements between companies from the two countries valued at about $27 billion were announced in 2025 across sectors including clean energy, petrochemicals and aviation fuel services.

Trump announced that generic drugs entering the United States would remain free of import duties until August 1, 2028. A tariff of 100% would then apply for one year, followed by a 200% levy from August 2029. The proposed schedule extends Washington’s pharmaceutical reshoring campaign beyond patented and branded medicines, which were targeted earlier.

India faces the greatest exposure because the United States is its largest pharmaceutical export market. Drug exports to the country were valued at about $9.7 billion in 2025, representing roughly 38% of total pharmaceutical shipments worth $25.8 billion.

The policy nevertheless does not automatically remove the price advantage enjoyed by manufacturers such as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla, Lupin and Zydus Lifesciences. Many generic medicines produced in India are priced seven to 10 times below branded alternatives, leaving room for some products to remain competitive even after steep duties.

A medicine imported for $10 would cost $30 after a 200% tariff, excluding distribution and retail charges. It could still undercut a branded equivalent priced at $70 or $100. The calculation is less favourable for commodity generics, where several manufacturers compete on narrow margins and buyers demand the lowest possible price.

Generic medicines account for more than 90% of prescriptions dispensed in the United States but less than 13% of prescription-drug spending. That imbalance reflects their importance to American healthcare as well as the pressure placed on manufacturers by pharmacy chains, wholesalers, insurers and purchasing organisations.

The United States imported pharmaceutical products valued at about $213 billion in 2025. Finished medicines sold in retail packaging, including generic products, accounted for about $94.1 billion. Replacing those imports would require extensive investment, specialised workers, regulatory approvals and dependable supplies of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Building a pharmaceutical plant can take several years. Companies must install production lines, validate manufacturing processes and secure approval from the US Food and Drug Administration before commercial sales begin. Each medicine may also require separate technical submissions and inspections, complicating attempts to shift large portfolios within the two-year exemption period.

Several major drugmakers have already established manufacturing or research operations in the United States, providing limited protection against future tariffs. Companies may expand those facilities, acquire local plants or transfer selected high-volume products while continuing to manufacture lower-margin medicines overseas.

The tariff could affect businesses unevenly. Manufacturers with specialised generics, injectable drugs, inhalers and complex formulations may have greater pricing power. Producers dependent on crowded categories such as basic tablets and capsules could face heavier pressure because customers can switch suppliers more easily.

Shares of leading pharmaceutical companies fell after the announcement, with some declining by more than 3% during Wednesday’s trading. The reaction reflected concern over long-term earnings rather than an immediate change in export conditions, as the duty-free window remains open for two years.

Implementation is also uncertain. Trump disclosed the schedule through a social-media statement, but no detailed executive order or customs framework had been issued. The administration must still clarify whether exemptions will be available for companies building factories, medicines facing shortages, critical hospital products or imports from countries covered by trade agreements.

Industry participants are expected to seek exclusions for essential medicines, arguing that tariffs could raise treatment costs and deepen shortages. The American generic-drug market has already faced supply disruptions linked to plant closures, quality failures and unsustainable pricing. Higher import costs could encourage some manufacturers to withdraw products rather than invest in additional capacity.

Washington’s strategy also faces a supply-chain constraint beyond finished medicines. A large portion of the active ingredients and chemical intermediates used by global manufacturers originates in China. Moving final production to the United States without diversifying those inputs would provide only partial protection against overseas disruption.

Drugmakers in India now have until August 2028 to adjust their production networks, negotiate with customers and identify medicines capable of absorbing higher duties. Expansion into Europe, Africa, Latin America and other regulated markets could reduce dependence on the United States, although none offers comparable scale.

The newswire guarantees online postings on USA Today and increases its guaranteed distribution on high-domain-rating local US news sites to empower AI visibility

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 20 July 2026 – Media OutReach Newswire, the first global newswire founded in Asia Pacific, has expanded its USA distribution network with additional guaranteed news postings.

Through new strategic agreements, Media OutReach Newswire now provides clients with guaranteed online postings in flagship American media outlets like USA Today, Yahoo Finance, and The Associated Press, alongside more than 650 trusted news sites with domain authority. This latest service upgrade specifically targets guaranteed online news postings in media with domain authority to empower AI visibility. By combining distribution with JSON-LD Schema Markup that provides context and meaning to the press release for search engines and AI models to interpret its content accurately, Media OutReach Newswire’s press release distribution structures answers for AI discoverability and AI citation. Media OutReach Newswire’s press release distribution service has been helping companies and government agencies to actively build their AI visibility.

Media OutReach Newswire guarantees news release placements in the official, public-facing press release section of USA Today. With a Domain Authority (DA) rated between 92 and 94 out of 100, USA Today ranks as one of the most trusted news sources for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Attracting more than 120.5 million unique monthly visitors, this integration delivers the public visibility necessary to build client brand credibility and trust on a national stage. Additionally, the newswire has secured guaranteed news postings on real local and regional news websites, including The Arizona Republic, Detroit Free Press, Indianapolis Star, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Tennessean, and The Oklahoman.

“By improving the quality of our guaranteed news postings on trusted, Google-indexed news sites with domain authority, coupled with the direct delivery of press releases to journalists’ inboxes, Media OutReach Newswire has successfully helped many Asian corporations to build their brand reputation in the US market,” said Jennifer Kok, Founder and CEO of Media OutReach Newswire.

“We are pleased to have built a USA press release distribution network that focuses exactly on what PR professionals need, a distribution that reaches journalists and provides quality news postings on real media. Our comprehensive journalist database built by in-house media researchers covers more than 500 trade news categories and 65,000 media titles across quality media titles. This has helped our clients secure earned media coverage and journalist inquiries from business, technology, ESG, automotive, travel, and many other media sectors in the USA. In addition, Media OutReach Newswire’s partnership with The Associated Press delivers clients’ news releases directly into newsrooms across the United States,” added Jennifer.

Over the years, the newswire has cultivated brand trust with journalists at USA media outlets who actively engage with its client releases. Through its Media and Journalist Insights, Media OutReach Newswire is able to report on how many journalists by publication in the USA have opened its clients’ press releases and the earned media write ups achieved.

Through its Total PR and Communications Solution, Media OutReach Newswire’s global distribution network delivers client press releases directly to journalists, guarantees verbatim news postings on trusted news sites with domain authority to empower SEO and GEO, and provides post-release reports packed with data insights and PR Campaign Intelligence that tracks performance over time.

This total solution addresses the needs of PR and communication professionals from press release distribution through to reporting with data insights and PR Campaign Intelligence across both in-country and global PR campaigns. It has been entrusted by hundreds of clients in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and across APAC to expand their business and brand awareness overseas to markets in Canada, USA, UK & Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, ASEAN, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Gulf States and Africa.
Hashtag: #MediaOutReachNewswire #pressrelease #USA

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Media OutReach Newswire

Media OutReach Newswire is Asia Pacific’s first global newswire, serving as a trusted partner to media, corporations, agencies and governments across the region and the globe.

Founded in 2009 as a champion of the PR industry, Media OutReach Newswire leverages AI and SaaS technology to redefine press release distribution with a Total PR and Communications Solution. The newswire is focused on its core service of delivering press releases to journalists and editors in targeted media, posting client news releases on real media sites with domain authority (DA), and providing post release reports with data insights along with PR Campaign Intelligence that tracks performance over time. In March 2026, the newswire integrated JSON-LD Schema Markup into its online news postings to empower AI visibility for its clients.

With a global network of over 200,000 journalists and editors, 70,000+ media titles, 1,500+ media partners, and more than 40 languages, Media OutReach Newswire’s focus on providing guaranteed verbatim posting on real media sites powers SEO and GEO for building brand trust and AI visibility, as press releases published on authentic media with domain authority are trusted by search engines and AI models.

Headquartered in Hong Kong SAR with global press release distribution network spanning USA & Canada, Latin America, UK & Europe, the Middle East, Gulf States, Africa, Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and ASEAN.

For more information about our services, solutions, and network, please visit www.media-outreach.com

Through DaaS, enterprise customers can access drone equipment, trained personnel, mission execution, data collection and project deliverables without purchasing and maintaining a complete in-house drone system. The model extends ZenaTech’s business beyond equipment sales and enables the company to generate recurring service revenue from customers’ operational requirements.

ZenaTech reported revenue of CAD 8.4 million for the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 640% from CAD 1.13 million in the same period of 2025. DaaS contributed approximately CAD 7.8 million, accounting for around 93% of quarterly revenue.

In 2025, the company generated annual revenue of CAD 12.9 million, up 558% from approximately CAD 2 million in 2024. DaaS contributed approximately CAD 10.1 million during its first full year of operations, representing around 78% of total annual revenue.

Acquisitions Support Service Network Expansion

ZenaTech has expanded its DaaS operations through a combination of internal technology development and acquisitions. The acquired businesses bring existing customers, professional teams and local operating capabilities, while ZenaTech gradually introduces drones, automated data collection and AI-supported analytics into selected workflows.

In 2025, the company completed 20 acquisitions, including 19 businesses providing engineering data, facility inspection and related professional services, as well as one enterprise software company.

By June 2026, ZenaTech had completed its 24th DaaS-related acquisition and expanded its services into property cleaning, facility inspection and maintenance.

Through its ZenaDrone subsidiary, ZenaTech has also developed drone products for indoor and outdoor operations. The IQ Quad supports site data collection, engineering imagery and 3D modelling, while the IQ Nano uses barcode and RFID scanning to support inventory records, shelf inspections and indoor data collection.

The company’s reported revenue growth, acquisition activity and DaaS contribution provide investors following the AI and drone sectors with measurable indicators of how its technologies are being integrated into commercial operations and converted into service revenue.

Hashtag: #ZenaTech

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About ZenaTech

ZenaTech (Nasdaq: ZENA) is a technology company specialising in AI-powered drones, Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS), enterprise SaaS solutions and related technologies. Through its ZenaDrone subsidiary, the company develops drone products and software for commercial applications including engineering data collection, agriculture, warehouse management, facility inspection and property maintenance. ZenaTech combines its technology capabilities with a growing professional service network to support the adoption of drone-based solutions across a range of operational environments.

More than 32 companies from the UAE and India joined a business forum organised by the UAE Food Cluster and the Andhra Pradesh government. The gathering brought food producers, agricultural businesses, logistics operators and technology companies together to identify projects across manufacturing, farming, seafood, cold storage and distribution.

The forum, held under the theme “Building Strategic Partnerships Across Value Chains”, coincided with a visit by a UAE economic delegation led by Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, senior state officials and representatives of the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board also attended.

A memorandum of understanding signed by the UAE Food Cluster and the state’s Economic Development Board provides a framework for investment, trade, innovation and institutional cooperation. It covers sustainable production, value-added manufacturing, technology transfer, knowledge exchange and business missions.

The agreement also advances plans for a UAE-backed food cluster in Andhra Pradesh, an initiative discussed during Naidu’s meeting with Al Marri at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. The proposed cluster is expected to connect farms, processors, cold-chain operators, ports and overseas buyers through integrated commercial networks.

Initial work will focus on building value chains for mangoes, bananas and cocoa, three products in which Andhra Pradesh has established production and export strengths. UAE-based Floor Masters International has proposed investing ₹100 crore in a food-processing facility at Gangadhara Nellore in Chittoor district.

The company, which supplies products to about 25 countries, plans to use the facility as an export base. The proposal is the first identified investment under the broader partnership and could serve as a test case for subsequent projects involving Emirati businesses.

Discussions at the forum covered seafood, aquaculture, dairy products, poultry, pulses, horticulture, food sourcing and distribution. Companies also examined cold-chain systems that could reduce spoilage between farms, processing centres, ports and retail markets.

Andhra Pradesh’s long coastline, commercial ports, agricultural output and links to Gulf markets have made the state a potential supply base for UAE food businesses. Stronger maritime connections could shorten delivery times while providing producers with access to consumers across West Asia and other markets served through UAE logistics networks.

Naidu presented opportunities in horticulture, aquaculture and food processing, while promoting Rayalaseema as a future horticultural centre. The state is seeking public and private investment in irrigation, storage, packaging, processing and branding to raise the value of agricultural production rather than relying mainly on raw commodity sales.

Andhra Pradesh accounts for 15.6 per cent of the country’s fruit production and leads nationally in crops including papaya, cocoa, tomato, coconut and oil palm. It is also a major producer and exporter of chillies, bananas, seafood and aquaculture products.

The state allocated ₹1,223.86 crore to horticulture and allied departments in its 2026–27 budget. Its plans include expanding commercial horticulture, supporting micro-irrigation and developing West Godavari as a cocoa hub. Nearly 120,000 tonnes of bananas are exported annually, highlighting the potential for additional sorting, packaging and processing capacity.

For the UAE, the partnership supports a strategy of securing diversified and commercially sustainable food supply channels. The country has built an ecosystem covering farming, manufacturing, imports, distribution, food technology and logistics, but remains dependent on overseas supply for much of its consumption.

The UAE Food Cluster, launched two years ago, connects more than 2,000 businesses across production, processing, distribution and innovation. The wider national food sector includes more than 10,000 companies and over 38,000 farms, alongside tens of thousands of registered food-related trademarks.

Al Marri and Naidu also discussed cooperation in tourism, hospitality, infrastructure and knowledge-based industries. Emirati companies are assessing coastal tourism projects and logistics opportunities, indicating that the food initiative could form part of a wider investment relationship with the state.