King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) participated in the sixth edition of the Jeddah Industrial Forum (JIF) held under the slogan ‘National transformation toward industrial transformation.’

Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and governor of Makkah Region, and Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah inaugurated the event.

Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) organized the forum to promote balanced development with a view to achieving the vision of King Salman for a vigorous industrial sector and strengthen the partnership between the public and private sectors; KAEC and other economic cities are the best example of such partnerships.

Rayan Qutub, CEO of the Industrial Valley at KAEC, spoke about the ongoing cooperation between KAEC and JCCI at the first session of JIF.

“Since the industrial sector is the second most important one for the national economy after oil, one of the main objectives of the forum was to evaluate the role of the industrial sector in achieving the Kingdom’s strategic and economic objectives to support industrial development in various regions of the Kingdom,” said Qutub. He gave a visual presentation highlighting the developments in KAEC, and the investment opportunities in the Industrial Valley.

The presentation also outlined the advantages of King Abdullah Port, strategically located next to the Industrial Valley.

The Industrial Valley at KAEC currently hosts more than 111 local, regional and international companies, 22 of which have started production and more than 30 companies. These have begun to setup their plants in the Industrial Valley, which focuses on six key sectors — logistics, consumer goods, pharmaceutical industries, packaging, building materials, and vehicles.

Global and Saudi investment continues to grow as an increasing number of investors have made the Industrial Valley their location of choice for business in Saudi Arabia.