Japanese firms keen to invest in Saudi Arabia’s water sector

JEDDAH: Japanese companies are eager to invest in Saudi Arabia’s water sector and want to increase coordination with the relevant bodies in the Kingdom to better understand the country’s needs, it emerged in a recent workshop in Riyadh.
The event was commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and organized by the Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME). It was part of the efforts to achieve the goals set in “Saudi-Japan Vision 2030.”
JCCME is a Japanese non-profit organization, which promotes direct investments from Japan to the Middle East and North African countries.
The four-session workshop gave the participants an opportunity to discuss ways to streamline the Kingdom’s water sector. The participants shared their experiences and discussed Japanese technologies to improve water quality, waste water treatment, effective utilization of treated sewage effluent, and sewerage sludge.
In his keynote presentation, Prof. Satoshi Takizawa shed light on Japan’s methods to improve its overall water infrastructure. He also discussed the plans of the Japanese authorities to further improve the situation.
The workshop was attended by Japanese Ambassador Norihiro Okuda, Faisal S. Al-Sebaiee, deputy minister for water affairs, and officials from the public and private sectors of Saudi Arabia and Japan.