Saudi development program targets $450 billion investment, 1.6 million new jobs

Arab News
January 29, 2019

Riyadh, Jan 29: Almost half a trillion dollars of investment and 1.6 million jobs are in the pipeline for Saudi Arabia under an ambitious industrial program launched on Monday in the presence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A slew of deals was announced across four key economic sectors — mining, industry, logistics and energy — at an event held at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) is the largest initiative launched under the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan, which aims to diversify a national economy that was hit hard by the 2014 slump in oil prices.   

The program aims to transform Saudi Arabia into an “industrial powerhouse,” reduce the reliance on imports, and boost the economy.

By 2030, the program aims to stimulate investments worth more than $453 billion, increase the value of non-oil exports to $260 billion, and add 1.6 million jobs to the labor market.

During the launch event, 37 agreements were signed and 29 others were announced worth a total of $54 billion.

The program includes more than 300 initiatives, which 34 government agencies are working to implement, according to a statement released at the event.

“The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program is one of the most important programs for achieving Vision 2030, as it moves the Kingdom into a new era of sustainable development, prosperity and economic diversification,” said Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy and chairman of the NIDLP Committee.

“The mining sector will become a third pillar of the Saudi economy alongside oil and petrochemicals, while we continue to develop renewable energy and explore the diverse opportunities presented by the fourth industrial revolution through research and innovation.”

Agreements signed at the event included deals with Thales of France and CMI of Belgium, in the field of military industries, and one between the Saudi Export Development Authority and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund to launch an initiative to boost export financing.

Saudi Transport Minister Nabil bin Mohammed Al-Amoudi, speaking to Arab News at the launch of the program, said he believed that foreign investors would want to be involved because it made sound business sense.

“I think the driver of foreign capital is going to be good business opportunities, and the key to that is a healthy, vibrant and sustainable economy, which we have. The reforms were about ensuring that that was sustainable over the long term,” he said.

“But the real driver is ultimately going to be the business cases, or businesses that make sense for the foreign investor — actual investment opportunities, not just sentiment-driven investments.”

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 7,2024

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The Israeli regime has killed at least 40 people during new airstrikes against eastern Lebanese areas, besides targeting the country’s capital Beirut with fresh acts of aggression.

Lebanon’s health ministry announced the fatalities on Wednesday, saying 53 other people had also been wounded during the aerial attacks that targeted the country’s Bekaa Valley, including the city of Baalbek.

In early Thursday, the regime was also reported to have attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs, including a site adjacent to Rafiq Hariri International Airport.

The attacks came after the regime issued short-notice evacuation orders apparently directed at the residents of the areas, claiming that the areas contained facilities belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

Tel Aviv has been using similar claims on countless occasions since last October, when it markedly intensified its deadly acts of aggression against Lebanon, in order to try to justify the escalation. Hezbollah has, however, invariably refuted the claims.

Also on Wednesday, the United Nations warned in its most recent flash report on the humanitarian crisis caused by the Israeli atrocities targeting Lebanon that the aggression had “reached a critical point.”

The attacks have claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, which was “58 percent more than the 1,900 fatalities” that were caused by the regime’s 2006 war against Lebanon, the report said.

“Additionally, an estimated 1.3 million people have been displaced, both within Lebanon and into neighboring countries, 33 percent more than the number of people displaced in 2006,” it added.

Women comprised the majority of those who had been rendered homeless within Lebanon as a result of the Israeli attacks, the report noted.

It also regretted that the Israeli attacks had featured 78 assaults on healthcare facilities across the country that had claimed the lives of 130 health workers and injured 111 others.

In response to the aggression, Hezbollah has been staging hundreds of retaliatory strikes against the occupied Palestinian territories and the Israeli forces trying to advance on southern Lebanese areas.

The movement has vowed to sustain its strikes until the regime ends the escalation.

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