Saudi Gazette report

TOKYO — Saudi Arabia's Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef has taken part in the roundtable meeting in Tokyo with the participation of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 19 Japanese companies, in addition to a number of officials from the industry and mineral resources system.

During the meeting, Alkhorayef indicated that the National Strategy for Industry launched by Saudi Arabia more than a year ago aims to achieve an industrial economy that attracts investment, exports high-tech products, and contributes to securing global supply chains in partnership with the local and foreign private sector.

He said the strategy covers 12 key and diversified sectors, expanding the scope of promising opportunities available to Japanese companies to invest in the industrial sector in the Kingdom.

The strategy is consistent with the best international practices, the Saudi minister added, noting that the strategy's construction took into account 25 global trends, such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and sustainability standards aimed at reaching carbon neutrality.

"The National Strategy for Industry not only addresses our local needs, but also participates in solving the challenges of global supply chains, which have faced some problems in the past few years,” Alkhorayef said.

"We are an industrialized country, and have been so for many years," he said, adding that "our main focus in the past was about industries that include oil and gas."

The minister said Saudi Arabia possesses huge mineral wealth, including large deposits of strategic minerals such as copper, aluminum, phosphate, gold, and rare earth elements.

All of these metals are used in important industries, such as the aviation industry, electric car batteries, and wind turbines.

He added during his speech that Saudi Arabia has launched a comprehensive mining strategy to develop the mining sector and exploit it optimally, by promoting and attracting qualitative investments, in light of the growing global demand for the minerals.

Saudi Arabia’s development of the mining sector included the approval of the Executive Regulations of the Mining Investment Law, which is a modern law that provides a clear, transparent and facilitating environment for investors in the sector.

The law also provides the investors with geological data, and comprises a set of attractive incentives for investments.

During the roundtable meeting, the Saudi minister shed light on the country's achievement, noting that Saudi Arabia has made remarkable accomplishments in the industrial and mining sectors, with the number of factories in the Kingdom by the end of the first quarter of 2023 reaching more than 11,000, with a capital exceeding SR1.432 trillion.

Another achievement in the mining sector is the Kingdom’s launch of the largest regional geological survey in the world on an area of 700,000 square kilometers of the Arabian Shield.

This is in addition to the launch of the first version of the National Geological Information Base, which contains 80 years of geological records in Saudi Arabia, as well as other programs.