A US energy mission comprising representatives from 20 companies arrived to Riyadh yesterday.
The US Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council (USSABC), organized the mission.
The delegation, which includes senior business executives from 20 leading US renewable energy companies, is on a four-day business development mission to the capital.
Lionel C. Johnson, vice president of Turkey, Middle East and North Africa Affairs for the US Chamber of Commerce; and Edward Burton, president and managing director of the USSABC, are leading the delegation.
SunPower Corporation and Exelon Generation Company, two of the mission delegates, are serving as chairs for the nuclear and solar company segments of the mission, and the Nuclear Energy Institute is a supporting partner of the program.
“This visit is of strategic importance for the US Chamber of Commerce, as it marks our first mission to the Saudi market. We are particularly pleased to be able to introduce our US member companies to important emerging industries in the Kingdom that hold great opportunity.” said Johnson. He added that the mission would help position US businesses to support the evolution and deployment of new technologies in Saudi Arabia and further spur the development of the Saudi economy.
Edward Burton, president and managing director of the USSABC, said: “The Business Council is pleased to collaborate with the US Chamber of Commerce to give US companies an opportunity to showcase their advanced technologies and manufacturing capabilities in the renewable energy industry, a priority sector for the Saudi government. There is a strong complementarity between the products and services US companies offer and the Saudi market needs.”
The mission delegates are meeting with Saudi government agencies and institutions involved in power generation, as well as conventional and renewable energy and water. The delegates will also confer with the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) and hold individual appointments with potential Saudi joint venture, licensing, and research and development partners, agents, OEMs and EPC contractors.
The Riyadh-based US-Saudi Arabian Business Council will host a luncheon at the Equestrian Club today.
The Kingdom announced in May it would invest $ 109 billion in solar projects to produce 41 gigawatts of electricity by 2032 to meet one third of its power demand. The Kingdom has been formulating a nuclear development plan and application strategy and announced that it would build 16 nuclear reactors by 2030.
Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Gulf, accounting for 25 percent of the region’s GDP and is driven by an ambitious national development plan, dedicating hundreds of billions of dollars to projects from infrastructure to information technology.
The Kingdom has demonstrated a rising demand for US products, technologies and services across industry sectors. Total trade between the US and Saudi Arabia in the first six months of 2012 reached $ 39 billion, the largest amount in the history of the two countries.
Saudi Arabia exported $ 30.2 billion worth of products to the US, representing an increase of nearly 43 percent from the first half of 2011. US companies sold $ 8.8 billion worth of goods to the Saudi market in the same period. In 2011, US-Saudi trade reached an annualized total of $ 61.2 billion, a 42.5 percent increase over the value of bilateral trade in 2010.
US energy mission in Riyadh for key talks
