Saudi Arabia hopes to attract $427 bln in investments by 2030: Al-Falih

​Saudi Arabia expects to attract investments of more than SAR 1.6 trillion ($427 billion) by 2030 as the Kingdom looks to develop its industries, energy minister Khalid Al-Falih said on Thursday, cited by the Al-Ekhbariya TV channel.

​“The program to develop national industries and logistics services (is) the largest and most important, and has a huge impact on the Saudi economy,” Al-Falih said, speaking on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) 2018 conference in Riyadh.

Commenting on state-oil giant Saudi Aramco’s plan to acquire a 70 percent stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Al-Falih said the details of the acquisition will be finalized within the first half of 2019.

However, he added that the sale of stake was subject to regulatory approvals.

On Tuesday, Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said that anti-trust regulations abroad would mean that the planned acquisition of SABIC stake will take time.

Meanwhile, Al-Falih disclosed that deals signed at the FII conference have reached a total of $56 billion.

He also emphasized that the United States will continue to play "a key part" in the Saudi economy despite some American firms pulling out of the FII.

"The US will remain a key part of the Saudi economy because the interests that tie us are bigger than what is being weakened by the failed boycotting campaign of the conference," he added.​