The National Industry Development and Logistics Program yesterday organized a ceremony honoring the most prominent achievements of the program’s executive bodies for the year 2019 that contributed to the exploitation of natural resources and the strategic geographical location of the Kingdom, in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy; His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Mr. Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef; His Excellency the Minister of Transport, Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, and the leaders of the program’s implementing agencies.
The ceremony witnessed a review of what has been accomplished in the amendments to laws, regulations and the provision of adequate infrastructure to attract investments, and the participation and stimulation of the private sector with the aim of enhancing the sustainability of the Saudi economy and transforming the Kingdom into a leading industrial power and a global platform for logistics services, stressing that despite the short life of the program since its launch in the beginning of 2019, and its magnitude challenges, it was able to develop the national industry and logistical services to enhance the sustainability of the Saudi economy, and to be a symbol of the stage of economic diversification, and a gateway to the fourth industrial revolution.
The Ministry of Energy was in the forefront to achieve the goal of increasing the Kingdom's gas production capacity in 2019 to 16.5 million standard cubic feet per day, launching 6 renewable energy projects and operating the Sakaka solar power plant, and achieving the goal of raising the efficiency of electricity generation for the Kingdom to 39%. The ceremony witnessed honoring the Saudi Ports Authority for engaging and motivating the private sector by signing assignment contracts at the Jeddah Islamic Port and launching the platform for the Khumrah area, launching the solar energy desalination plant in Khafji the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, with the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority issued a list of preference for local content and facilities, small and medium-sized companies listed on the financial market in the new government bidding and procurement system, the General Authority for Military Industries to engaging and motivating the private sector by imposing a localization rate of up to 40% in armaments orders contracts, and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund to approve the amendment of the statute and the approval of increasing the fund’s capital to 105 billion riyals, the Economic Cities Authority approves regulatory amendments to make the Economic Cities and Zones Authority a place for the industrial sector and the General Authority for Industrial Estates (MODON), to engage and stimulate the private sector by providing ready-made factory products and industrial lands that contributed to attracting a total investment of 4.2 billion riyals.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was also honored for the completion of the implementation of the first phase of the initiative to provide communication infrastructure with a fiber-optic network in industrial cities, the National Guard-Health Affairs to establish the Clinical Trials Center, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu by attracting investments of approximately 33 billion riyals, and the General Authority of Civil Aviation through the operation of the deposit and export zone at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, the Saudi Energy Efficiency Center by launching the second phase of the initiative of high-efficiency air-conditioning devices, the Mineral Resources Agency in the Ministry of Industry by launching a mining platform to issue licenses, and the Geological Survey Authority by launching the first version of the database of the national geosciences, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture to implement and launch the (Samak) brand for the identification and promotion of fishery products, and the Saudi Export Development Authority to implement the initiative to enhance export financing with a value of 5 billion riyals until the launch of the Saudi Export-Import Bank, and industrial clusters by attracting a number of external investments.
The program is the largest of "the Kingdom's Vision 2030" aimed at transforming the Kingdom into a leading industrial power and a global platform for logistics services. It is also the first development program of its kind in the Kingdom that links four strategic sectors: industry, mining, energy, and logistics services, focused on increasing non-oil exports, reducing imports and raising the contribution of the target sectors by 2030, with the aim of increase the contribution of the four sectors to the GDP and develop the labor market by generating more than one million new jobs.
