The Center for Financial Communication and Knowledge (Mutamem) organized today the sixth edition of its Knowledge Forum, titled "Investment in the Kingdom: Opportunities and Aspirations," as part of the 2023 Budget Forum held at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) in Riyadh. The forum was held under the patronage of His Excellency Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al-Furaih, Chairman of the Steering Committee at the Ministry of Finance.
The forum, which highlights government efforts and promotes awareness and knowledge of key achievements in the investment sector, included a panel discussion featuring His Excellency Abdulaziz Al-Arifi, CEO of Shareek Program Dr. Saad Al-Shahrani, Deputy Minister of Investment for Economic Affairs and Investment Studies and Acting Deputy Minister of Investment for Investment Marketing; and Yousef Al-Harqan, CEO of the National Center for Government Resource Systems.
Participants discussed boosting investment in promising sectors, investment opportunities in the Kingdom, and government efforts to implement reforms to the investment environment and address challenges facing the private sector. They also reviewed figures and facts about investment in the Kingdom.
In his recorded opening remarks, the Chairman of the Steering Committee at the Ministry of Finance explained that investment is a matter of great interest to countries worldwide and is a top priority for the Kingdom. Through investment, the Kingdom seeks to enhance its non-oil products and exports, increase returns on these investments, achieve long-term financial sustainability, and boost economic growth. He noted that the National Investment Strategy launched by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a key enabler for achieving Vision 2030. This strategy includes several initiatives, such as establishing special economic zones with competitive regulations and attractive incentives for investments in priority sectors, launching a program to relocate strategic supply chains to the Kingdom, and acquiring a market share in the components of these supply chains.
He explained that the strategy will contribute to the growth of the national economy and the diversification of its sources, which will achieve many of the vision’s goals in the coming years, and will have a direct impact on providing direct job opportunities for the sons and daughters of the nation in various regions. The Kingdom has made significant strides in creating an attractive investment environment by enhancing its competitiveness, establishing a dedicated ministry to manage investment affairs and investor relations, creating an authority to promote investment, and implementing the Partner Program to increase local investments by private sector companies. This makes the Diwaniyah a fertile ground for reflection and consideration of its various aspects, generating ideas and strategies to translate the vision into tangible reality and successive achievements.
For his part, the CEO of the Shareek Program explained that the program's role is to attract investments from large local companies to five trillion riyals by 2030. He added that sectoral strategies have identified investment priorities, emphasizing that their role is to incentivize these projects to move forward in enabling sectoral strategies and investing in the local sector. He also noted that the program is a key enabler of these sectoral strategies in achieving their objectives, pointing out that promising new sectors require a regulatory environment that facilitates investment and addresses the regulatory obstacles and challenges hindering these investments.
He explained that the program includes major companies with strong financial standing for investment, noting the significant interest shown by these companies in exploring potential opportunities. He emphasized their commitment to accelerating investments to achieve national and investment objectives.
He added, "The goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 are linked to the 'Shareek' program, specifically the goal of increasing the private sector's contribution to GDP to 65% by 2030, and the National Investment Strategy. Given these ambitious targets, the program must be proactive in accelerating investments and facilitating the investment environment."
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Investment for Economic Affairs and Investment Studies, who is also the Acting Deputy Minister of Investment for Investment Marketing, explained that the Kingdom's Vision 2030 encompasses several objectives, such as becoming one of the top 15 economies globally, increasing private sector participation to over 65%, and raising the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to 35%. He stressed that all these indicators and ambitious targets require integration within the investment system.
He further explained that the National Investment Strategy aims to govern the investment system, provide services to facilitate the investor's journey in the Kingdom, and ensure... The strategy focuses on high-quality investment opportunities, both in promising sectors and in previously underserved regions. It is based on four pillars: identifying these opportunities, securing appropriate financing and incentives, and providing services and support to investors.
The strategy also includes the enactment and improvement of several pieces of legislation. According to the Competitiveness Center, more than 600 reform laws have been introduced since the launch of Vision 2030, supporting the legislative and competitive environment for investment. These include the new investment law, where the Ministry of Investment, in collaboration with its partners, conducted surveys and developed solutions to investor challenges. Foreign investors now have full ownership rights in most economic sectors.
The strategy has also streamlined the investor journey, enabling investors to obtain investment licenses from anywhere in the world within hours, whereas previously it took several days. Furthermore, it has created a level playing field between foreign and local investors. These initiatives have made the investment system more competitive.
He highlighted the rapid growth of the private sector in recent years, both in private sector investments through the relocation of regional headquarters to the Kingdom, and through high-quality projects stemming from the Partnership Program, as well as through local investors. He stated, "Looking at the past three years, we find that the volume of investments has almost doubled compared to the previous three years, and we have seen record figures for annual investment targets exceeded in the last two years."
He explained that the Ministry has begun establishing a database of foreign direct investment both within and outside the Kingdom, measuring investment volume and compiling details at the activity, sector, and regional levels. He indicated that this data has been studied economically and financially by joint committees to determine investment priorities. He emphasized that the focus has been on certain supporting sectors, such as the technology and communications sector, in which the Kingdom has excelled, and the tourism and entertainment sector, among others, as these sectors will provide job opportunities and economic diversification.
He also noted the role of women in leading the economy and structural reforms in the Saudi economy, in addition to the Kingdom's progress in credit ratings and the placement of the Kingdom in the stable positive outlook category by some agencies. Furthermore, the Kingdom's A+ rating from some rating agencies, these indicators and data, give a positive impression. The Kingdom is progressing positively, praise be to God.
The CEO of the National Center for Government Resource Systems explained that the center is one of several government entities supporting the Ministries of Human Resources and Finance in automating public finance and human resources procedures through the "Etimad" platform. This platform enables the private sector to participate in government spending by purchasing tenders, signing contracts, and making payments.
He noted that one of the center's strategies is to foster deeper partnerships with the private sector to stimulate its contribution to the growth and prosperity of the Kingdom's economy. He highlighted the contribution of digital transformation in enhancing the investment environment, which the Kingdom is undergoing as part of its Vision 2030. He pointed out that the Digital Government Index jumped from 43rd to 31st, the Digital Skills Index from 17th to 7th, the Digital Competitiveness Index from 32nd to 24th, the Global Innovation Index from 66th to 51st, the Venture Capital Index from 80th to 7th, and the Business Efficiency Index from 26th to 16th.
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