The Saudi-American Business Council conference, held recently in Los Angeles, California, under the theme "Opportunities for Localization, Innovation, and Partnership for Industrial Development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," saw a large turnout from both sides, with Engineer Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources, leading the Kingdom’s delegation, which included business leaders and investors, as well as Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki, Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the United States, and Prince Saud bin Khalid Al-Faisal, Deputy Governor of the General Investment Authority.
Joint Investment Cooperation
The conference sessions featured discussions on avenues for cooperation in the fields of industry, trade, and joint projects between the Saudi and American sides, where His Excellency the Minister of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources emphasized in his speech at the conference that, at a time when the Kingdom is implementing a bold national transformation, to engage in this dialogue with some of our oldest friends and business partners, as well as with a country that is our most important international ally—a nation that has taken the lead in partnering with us to develop the natural resources with which God Almighty has blessed the Kingdom, and through which we have built a world-leading economy.
Economy Advanced
His Excellency the Minister touched on the most prominent features of the Saudi economy, noting that it has flourished over the past eight decades since the beginning of Saudi-U.S. relations, adding that, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s leading position in the oil and gas sector, the Kingdom has joined the G20, established world-class industrial and economic infrastructure, and developed modern healthcare and education systems.The Minister of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources added in his speech: "Today, we are poised to shape the future of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." He emphasized that the processing and refining industry is a fundamental part of the Kingdom’s plans to attract international investors and strengthen existing companies with the aim of creating more job opportunities and diversifying the Saudi economy, with a particular focus on future investment in the fields of specialty chemicals, plastics, elastomers, the automotive industry, and sought-after consumer products.
Promising Investment Opportunities
The conference discussed the promising investment opportunities available in the Kingdom, particularly in the fields of industry, manufacturing, and petrochemicals, as well as the incentives offered in these sectors, and despite the challenges resulting from the decline in oil prices between 2014 and 2016, the petrochemical, processing, refining, and plastics continued to attract investment. For example, Sadara Petrochemicals, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical, is the largest petrochemical complex currently under construction in the world. The mining industry is also one of the strategic objectives of the National Transformation Program 2020. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia currently has significant commercial reserves of gold, bauxite, and phosphate, as well as at least 15 industrial minerals that have been assessed as economically viable. The Kingdom is witnessing increased demand for Saudi iron, limestone, feldspar, silica, gypsum, and marble for use as construction materials following the boom in the construction industry, where the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) has been able to meet this growing demand by entering into major partnerships with foreign companies such as Alcoa (an integrated aluminum project worth 10.8 billion U.S. dollars) and Barrick Gold (a joint venture for a copper mine).
Competitive Sectors
For his part, the chairman of the U.S.-Saudi Business Council – Saudi and CEO Edward Burton emphasized that, for U.S. companies, the competitive offers provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—in the form of land, utilities, and essential infrastructure services, coupled with easy access to all markets in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa—make the Kingdom a destination forserious industrial investors who have future aspirations in the region and should carefully consider and evaluate these offers.
Widespread participation
The launch of The conference, attended by a number of senior Saudi officials from the public and private sectors, representatives from Aramco, Ma'aden, and Sadara, the Royal Commission in Yanbu, and leaders of major U.S. companies such as Dow Chemical, General Electric, Fluor, Jacobs Engineering, and ExxonMobil, is part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s serious effort to forge partnerships with foreign companies with the aim of attracting investment and raising competitiveness and productivity in a wide range of fields, including the petrochemicals, processing, refining, mining, mineral resources, and domestic manufacturing, in accordance with ambitious plans that will provide significant opportunities to attract investment from U.S. companies, in line with the National Transformation Program 2020. The conference provided an opportunity for manufacturers and service providers to explore ways to market their products and services.
The Kingdom’s Vision
It is worth noting that Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 was discussed in the United States during the two-week visit last month by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Crown Prince, Second Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Defense, to the United States, during which he emphasized that the United States is the global leader in most sectors of the Saudi economy’s future, ranging from traditional businesses to industries that represent new horizons, adding that Americans view the Kingdom as a highly positive and continuously improving investment environment. He explained that the change that the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 aims to achieve is merely the beginning of an era of transformations whose contours are beginning to emerge on the horizon.
