RIYADH, 25 April 2007 — The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) issued licenses for 232 foreign and joint investment projects over the past three months, a statement on its performance in the first quarter of this year said yesterday.
SAGIA’s achievements in the period also included 75 percent Saudization at the Emaar Economic City.
It has succeeded in holding a number of seminars to familiarize Saudi investors with the investment opportunities in the new economic cities, Khaled Al-Faryan, media relations director at the SAGIA, said.
SAGIA’s activities included a survey of the investment opportunities in both the private and public sectors to identify 400 big, medium and small investment opportunities spread out in various economic sectors in the Kingdom. Some of the important projects which SAGIA issued licenses in the first three months of the year included a joint Saudi-American venture for precious minerals such as copper, gold, silver, and zinc with a total investment of SR450 million. The Jeddah-based company can employ 216 workers.
A Canadian-owned company has been issued license for manufacturing antioxidants in Jubail at a cost of SR118 million and employing 100 people.
A Saudi-Italian company called Arab Concrete Company has been licensed to manufacture ready-made concrete in Jeddah offering employment opportunities for 1,200 people.
SAGIA also licensed a SR1.7 billion Saudi-Spanish company to manufacture cement and employing 850 workers.
The companies licensed for real estate and building contracts included Al-Shola Abraj in Jeddah with joint participation of investors from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
During the period, SAGIA took several steps to promote emerging local projects by helping them to complete the government procedures.
Moreover, it established a women’s service center, which held two-week long training programs to help Saudi women start investment projects. The training programs were organized with the collaboration of the Saudi Organization for Education and Training.
SAGIA also signed agreements with various government and private establishments for providing trainings for Saudi youth for employment at the emerging new economic cities. It also supported the efforts to provide “intelligent infrastructure” in the economic cities under construction.
The SAGIA report further pointed out that the Jizan economic city announced 1,000 scholarships for the youth in the region to study in Malaysia as part of its efforts to develop qualified local manpower for the economic cities.
SAGIA likewise signed agreement with Japan for collaboration in promoting investment in various sectors of trade, industry and information technology and cooperation between Saudi and Japanese companies in the economic cities.