The Saudi sovereign wealth fund provides investment opportunities for the private sector worth $25.6 billion
Yasser Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, revealed that direct investments from the private sector had reached more than 96 billion riyals ($25.6 billion), from the beginning of 2021 until the third quarter of last year, during his speech at the launch of the second edition of the Forum. The Fund and the private sector, in the capital, Riyadh.
Al-Rumayyan stressed the importance of the forum and the opportunities it provides to enhance cooperation with companies in achieving the strategic goals of the Saudi “Sovereign”, which continues to work as an engine for economic transformation in the Kingdom, through developing strategic sectors and involving the private sector through initiatives that enhance the sector’s role as an investor, partner and supplier.
He pointed to the role of the Public Investment Fund in supporting the achievement of the goals of “Vision 2030”, especially raising the private sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to 65 percent.
He pointed to the role of the Fund’s projects and its portfolio companies in creating investment opportunities for the private sector, as direct investments from the private sector between the beginning of 2021 and the end of the third quarter of last year amounted to more than 96 billion riyals.
In turn, Jerry Todd, Head of the National Development Department at the Fund, stated that achieving prosperity in the private sector is one of the basic goals of “Vision 2030” and a major enabler of economic transformation in Saudi Arabia, stressing the commitment of the Fund and its portfolio companies to support and enhance the growth of this sector.
In the first session, entitled “The Role of the Private Sector in Achieving Vision 2030,” a number of ministers discussed the importance of partnering with companies and institutions as an investor and supplier partner, on the sidelines of the Public Investment Fund and the Private Sector Forum.
Part of the first ministerial session of the Public Investment Fund and Private Sector Forum (Middle East)
Achieving one million visitors
Ahmed Al-Khatib, Minister of Tourism, revealed that the sector in the Kingdom achieved the goal of 100 million tourists during the past year. 77 million from inside and 27 million from abroad, and they spent about 100 billion riyals ($26.6 billion).
Al-Khatib stated that the Crown Prince’s new strategy for 2030 aims to reach 150 million tourists. 80 million from within and 70 million from abroad.
He explained that the state has committed to funding training programs, as more than 100,000 young men and women were trained annually, including 15,000 who joined the best institutes in the world to enter the tourism sector, noting the role of the Human Resources Development Fund in improving the level of salaries.
Al-Khatib pointed out the continuation of the journey to improve the legislative environment and stimulate investment, revealing the establishment of the Tourism Development Fund, which has financed more than 50 projects worth up to 35 billion riyals, which makes investment in the tourism sector one of the most attractive and easiest among countries in the world.
Automotive Academy
In the same dialogue session, Bandar Al-Khorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, announced the launch of the National Academy for Vehicles and Cars, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, as well as the establishment of the Automotive Manufacturers Association with the aim of providing solutions to develop and grow the sector and protect the interests of manufacturers and workers in it.
Al-Khorayef continued that the Ministry aims, by establishing the National Academy of Vehicles and Automobiles, to develop capabilities in the field of the electric car industry through a training model that ends with employment and the graduation of qualified students to work in the “Lucid” and “Sir” factories.
The Ministry also aims, through the Association of Automotive Manufacturers and National Supply Chains, to raise the level of awareness among local communities about the automotive industry sector, and to build human capabilities in the areas of manufacturing and maintaining cars with a high-tech ecosystem.
Minister Al-Kharif stated that the importance of the role of the association and the academy comes through increasing the contribution of major projects in maximizing the benefit of local content, and improving imports of mandatory list products compared to the Kingdom’s imports in general, as the increase in the Kingdom’s imports between 2020 and 2022 amounted to about 38 percent.
The increase in imports of mandatory list products for the same period of time amounted to about 15 percent, and the number of factories for mandatory list products reached 1,437 factories within 3 years.
The Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources stated that the investments will provide promising job opportunities and contribute to accelerating growth through the use of modern technologies, and that the Kingdom will be an exporter of technologies in the long term.
Al-Khorayef pointed to the role of the Public Investment Fund, which contributed to the start of the automobile industry in the Kingdom and worked to bring a larger number of international companies into this industry and its associated supply chains.
Shipbuilding industry
For his part, Engineer Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Investment, stated that the private sector is the main focus of economic diversification, explaining that “Vision 2030”, with its executive and strategic programs, has given the sector great attention to achieving economic diversification.
He added, during his participation in the dialogue session, that the economy will achieve growth from 26 trillion riyals ($693 billion) to reach 6.4 trillion riyals ($1.7 trillion), equivalent to 4 times the contribution of the private sector.
Al-Falih explained that the “Investor Confidence Index” was launched, which is a semi-annual project to measure the level of investor confidence, to detail the challenges and capabilities that the private sector requires to take off and achieve doubling its contribution in quantity and quality, indicating that the Kingdom has made an enabling and stable legislative, regulatory and legal environment for companies and institutions.
The Minister of Investment added that the world’s shipbuilding industry in the coming decades will be in China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Russia, stating that this is a “pivotal” project led by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to build an integrated industry in which the Kingdom began and the “Dusur” company entered. » And some Aramco projects.
“Contractor Financing”
During the activities of the first day, the Public Investment Fund, in partnership with the National Infrastructure Fund, launched the “Contractor Financing Program,” which is an initiative aimed at strengthening the local construction sector by providing diverse and specialized financing solutions to contracting companies, and developing an effective, integrated and transparent business environment in the sector. In addition to providing projects designed to enhance the financial flows of contracting companies.
In addition, Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, Emir of the Asir region, announced the launch of the operations of the “Asir” Investment Company, one of the Public Investment Fund companies, with the aim of transforming the region into a tourist destination throughout the year.
The Emir of the Asir region speaking to the audience at the Public Investment Fund and Private Sector Forum (Middle East)
On the other hand, the General Real Estate Authority signed a memorandum of understanding with the Public Investment Fund, aiming to empower the real estate market in the Kingdom by enhancing the role of technology and data, talent development, and regulatory policies and regulations, in a way that contributes to developing the sector in the country.
The memorandum of understanding includes enhancing technology and innovation by enabling four main centers that seek to position the Kingdom as a center for real estate technology, namely the “Capital Center,” which aims to empower the sector by stimulating investors through capital focused on real estate technology.
The Solutions Center works to increase the supply of real estate technology solutions across companies, including startups and incubators.
The third center, the “Adoption Center,” seeks to generate demand for real estate technology solutions through Real Estate Development Investment Fund companies, “Vision 2030” projects, and the private sector, while the “Empowerment Center” focuses on accelerating the growth of the real estate technology sector through enablers such as talent, research, and media.
Local content
The first day of the forum witnessed the presentation of the “Contribution” Award to the private sector, where five national companies were honored that achieved the best performance in local content within various strategic sectors in cooperation with the Fund’s affiliated companies, which are: “Al-Oyouni Investment and Contracting,” “Al-Fanar Group,” and “Cisco.” », “Eriscon” and “Riyadh Cables Group”, which were chosen in recognition of their prominent contribution to local content during their work with the fund’s portfolio companies.
Last year, the Public Investment Fund launched the private sector platform, to be a comprehensive site for private sector companies to deal with the Fund and its portfolio companies in priority sectors. The platform provided more than 200 opportunities last year with a value exceeding 20 billion riyals.
With the aim of maximizing the economic impact of its investments, the Fund established the General Administration for National Development, which contributes to enhancing the participation of the private sector in the Fund’s projects and its portfolio companies.
Since 2017 until now, the Fund has established 93 companies and contributed to the creation of more than 644,000 direct and indirect jobs in various promising strategic sectors.
The forum is the largest event of its kind for the private sector in the Kingdom, and is attended by more than 8,000 participants. The first day’s sessions witnessed the presence of a number of ministers, senior officials, and a number of government agencies, in addition to representatives of 80 of the Fund’s portfolio companies, with more than 100 pavilions of the Fund’s companies and a number of government agencies.
2024-02-06 18:02:13
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