Saudi Arabia plans to launch global initiative to attract supply chains, says Al-Falih

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih

Saudi Arabia plans to launch an initiative to attract global supply chains, Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih said at the Saudi International Iron & Steel Conference 2022 (SIIS).

The program will focus on enhancing the efficiency of global supply chains and their ability to recover by attracting foreign direct investment to the export-oriented products and services sectors, in which the Kingdom enjoys competitive advantages, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

He added that the cost of steel production in the Kingdom, at present, is very competitive due to the availability of low-cost natural gas and electricity.

The competitiveness of steel manufacturers in the Kingdom will rise in terms of cost in the future, due to the expansion of the use of low-carbon technologies, which take advantage of the low costs of renewable energy, and green hydrogen, in exchange for increasing the cost of reducing carbon, Al-Falih noted.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s best infrastructures, and there is an extensive network of more than 40 industrial cities, some of which are dedicated to energy-intensive heavy industries, the minister said.

He added that plans are underway to launch four special economic zones, in addition to a well-developed logistics infrastructure, consisting of about 5,500 kilometers railways, 10 sea ports, 28 airports, and about 232,000 kilometers of road network.