The Saudi Ministry of Defense announced the qualification of more than 90 Saudi factories in the field of military industries by international companies that provide more than six thousand types used by Saudi armed forces.
"The vision of the Kingdom is to achieve 50 percent of the military expenditure by 2030,” Director of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Defense's local manufacturing support Major General Attiya al-Maliki told Asharq Al-Awsat.
"The military industry is being carefully planned to reach 50 percent by 2030," Maliki said.
"Now we are allocating 10 percent to short-term contracts of one to three years and when we talk about achieving 10 percent in 3 years, this means we will achieve 50 percent over the next 15 years," he added.
Regarding the international companies, more than 90 Saudi factories have been qualified by international companies since the previous exhibition, and products of the Saudi factories have been used by their armed forces and other forces outside the Kingdom, Maliki noted.
“This is undoubtedly an addition to local factories that have proven their quality and competitiveness in prices, specifications and delivery time.”
Maliki was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference held Wednesday in Riyadh to announce the exhibition of the armed forces to support the local industrialization AFED 2018, in its fourth session under the slogan: “Our industry ... Our strength”.
The exhibition is under the auspices of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and is to be held under the directives of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Council for Economic Affairs and Development.
It will take place at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center from February 25 till March 3, 2018.
Maliki pointed out that this year's exhibition is characterized by the participation of Turkey, this year’s first time guest of honor, in order to allow the Turkish industrial companies to present their products and requirements and to establish partnerships with their counterparts from Saudi Arabia to contribute to the transfer and localization of technology.
He said that they can also take advantage of manufacturing opportunities to meet the needs of raw materials and spare parts, which are manufactured locally, in order to achieve the economic return of the two parties, exchange research experiences among the scientific centers of both countries to support and develop the output of local manufacturing to achieve self-sufficiency.
