The committee held its first meeting on Saturday under its chairman Abdul Aziz bin Nasser Al-Siraie. The meeting was attended by members of the committee and other industrialists.
The meeting also called for implementing an online facility to help file customs exemption paperwork. The system was suggested by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to help simplify its procedures for factories.
Secretary-General of the chamber Adnan Mandoura, who attended the meeting, said there are 4,600 factories in the Kingdom with an accumulated capital of about SR404 billion and a workforce of 528,000 people. He recalled the Kingdom only had 199 factories about 33 years ago.
“The industrial development achieved by the Kingdom was a result of good planning and soft loans extended to the private sector by the Saudi Industrial Development Fund amounting to more than SR36.5 billion,” Mandoura said.
He added that industrial development was also made possible by numerous incentives to encourage investments, customs exemptions and awards for best performing factories.
According to Mandoura, industrial cities in the Kingdom occupy a total area of 342 million square meters.
Al-Siraie said the proposed industrial training institute will cater to the needs of factories and that its syllabuses will take these needs into account. He said the committee would also establish an industrial database to supply factories with any information they may require.
The JCCI has recently issued an industrial directory with a local expert that contained 20 industrial investment opportunities with potential investments reaching more than SR522 million.
