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Saudi Investment Opportunities in Vaccines, Vital Medicines Worth $3.4 Bn

Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef at the London Metal Exchange (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef at the London Metal Exchange (Asharq Al-Awsat)
    London - Riyadh - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Investment Opportunities in Vaccines, Vital Medicines Worth $3.4 Bn

Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef at the London Metal Exchange (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef at the London Metal Exchange (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia announced substantial investment opportunities in vaccines and medicines worth $3.4 billion, aiming to realize the Kingdom's goals of achieving pharmaceutical and health security and making Saudi Arabia an important center for this promising industry.

Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef explained that the ministry is keen to create an attractive investment environment in the country.

Khorayef was speaking at the Saudi British Business Council workshop in London, themed "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: The Next Global Station for Mining," aimed at introducing investment opportunities in the mining sector.

Mining is the third pillar of the Saudi industrial growth plan, contributing to the gross domestic product of an estimated $64 billion by 2030.

The Minister explained that the ministry is working to provide an attractive investment environment, citing several vital initiatives for investors, including new regulations, which provide transparent and fair legal support for the investor to achieve maximum benefits from investing in mineral resources in the Kingdom.

Vast Opportunities

Chairman of the Saudi-British Business Council Sherard Cowper-Coles underlined that the next generation of the Kingdom's youth owes it to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the initiatives he launched, which led to a modern and open economy.

Cowper-Coles called on investors to visit the Kingdom, explore the environmental and cultural diversity and the available investment opportunities, visit the city of NEOM, and communicate with major Saudi national companies such as Aramco.

The Director of the Ministry's Office in London, Abdulaziz al-Ghifaili, reiterated that the Kingdom welcomes investors in all promising sectors, including the mining sector. He highlighted the incentives available to foreign investors, including the Invest in Saudi platform, which facilitates the investor's journey.

UK Visit

Saudi Arabia seeks to promote its vast capabilities of mineral resources and the industrial sector.

Khorayef met with several British investors to emphasize the importance of strengthening communication with the Kingdom to identify qualitative opportunities in the industrial and mining sectors and renewed his invitation to Riyadh's annual Future Minerals Forum.

The Minister met with the CEO of Arrival Corporation, Denis Lvovich Sverdlov, during which the two sides reviewed the organizational maturity in the industrial sector in the Kingdom, where the number of factories in the Kingdom exceeds 10,000 factories, with a total investment volume in the industrial sector of nearly $400 billion.

Khorayef also met with the Regional Director for the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia for Rolls-Royce, Patrick Régis, and the CEO of Reckitt, Laxman Narasimhan.

He also discussed with the CEO of Fitch Learning, Paul Taylor, al-Khorayef, the investment opportunities available in the industrial sector, with a volume of new investments over the past year of more than $20 billion.

He concluded his tour on the second day with a meeting with the CEO of INEOS, Hans Casier, and the CEO of Lucy Electric, John Griffiths.

The Saudi Minister invited companies in the United Kingdom to attend the Forum, stressing the Kingdom's keenness and great interest in promoting and attracting investments as it aims to exploit mineral wealth estimated at $1.3 trillion.

London Metal Exchange

Khorayef visited the London Metal Exchange during his tour in the UK with several heads of sectors of the industry and mining.

During the visit, Khorayef listened to an introduction about the stock exchange and its latest developments, the mechanism of buying and trading in the stock exchange, the critical metal storage sites, and the most prominent solutions applied to ensure a sustainable future.

Investing in vaccines

Saudi Arabia announced substantial investment opportunities in the manufacture of vaccines and vital medicines, with a value of 3.4 billion dollars, to achieve the country's goals of attaining pharmaceutical health security and making the Kingdom an important center for these promising industries.

The Minister stressed that the targeted pharmaceutical sectors, whose value exceeds $5 billion, will be implemented in several stages, starting with vaccines and vital medicines, as the first phase will focus on localizing vaccines, plasma, and insulin technologies.

Technology transfer

The Minister stressed the importance of transferring their full technologies to contribute mainly to building the Kingdom's capabilities in these sectors and achieving health and pharmaceutical security while reducing the high cost on the state budget.

Currently, the state imports 100 percent of vaccines and vital pharmaceutical products, while the essential medicines sector enjoys the fastest growth rate in the market among all pharmaceutical sectors, with an annual rate of 17 percent.

He said that the Manufacturing Vaccines and Vital Medicines Committee would focus in the first phase on localizing basic children's vaccines and building the necessary self-capacities and manufacturing platforms to combat future pandemics.

It will be followed by insulin production to treat diabetes patients and then support plasma collection centers with a world-class factory to achieve self-sufficiency in plasma derivatives.

Immunotherapy

The Minister explained that the second phase would focus on localizing immunological and cancer treatments technologies, where the size of this vital sector is estimated at more than $2 billion annually, of which insulin represents approximately $340 million.

The Minister explained that the Manufacturing Vaccines and Vital Medicines Committee aims to achieve positive results by identifying the best technologies in the field of vaccines and vital medicines, in which the Kingdom must invest to transfer and localize knowledge.

It seeks to build local industrial platforms with international specifications to enable the Kingdom to occupy its natural place as an industrial power and a logistical platform for vaccines and vital medicines in the Middle East and the Muslim countries.

The committee is working on organizing and developing vital medicines, setting a strategy for regulating the vaccines and essential medicines industry, related programs, and plans, supervising their implementation, setting rules and standards for building factories for vaccines and vital medicines, and taking all necessary procedures concerning the construction of those factories.

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Business

Saudi Energy Minister: Oil Pumped Through East-West Pipeline Reached 5.8 Million Barrels

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. Reuters file photo
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. Reuters file photo
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Saudi Energy Minister: Oil Pumped Through East-West Pipeline Reached 5.8 Million Barrels

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. Reuters file photo
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. Reuters file photo

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday that oil pumped through the East-West Pipeline, reached 5.8 million barrels as of Tuesday morning.

The pipeline runs to the Kingdom's Red Sea export hub of Yanbu.

Since the disruption of ⁠oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh has been using the pipeline to reroute oil to Yanbu.

Prince Abdulaziz spoke at the Made in GCC 2026 Forum and Exhibition held in Bahrain’s capital Manama.

Business

Saudi Arabia Bolsters Food Security with $798 Million for Strategic Commodities

Agricultural land in Saudi Arabia (SPA) 
Agricultural land in Saudi Arabia (SPA) 
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Saudi Arabia Bolsters Food Security with $798 Million for Strategic Commodities

Agricultural land in Saudi Arabia (SPA) 
Agricultural land in Saudi Arabia (SPA) 

Saudi Arabia’s Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) is playing a central role in national efforts to bolster food security, allocating SAR 3 billion ($798 million) to finance imports of strategic commodities through direct lending and partnerships with banks.

The funding is designed to cushion the impact of supply-chain disruptions and difficulties in getting goods into the Kingdom, with disbursements to beneficiaries continuing through the end of this year.

Saudi Arabia no longer views food security solely through the lens of increasing domestic production. Its approach has evolved into an integrated system encompassing stronger production, secure supply chains, strategic reserves, the localization of modern technologies and more efficient use of water and other resources.

By the end of the third quarter, the ADF had extended more than SAR 600 million ($159.6 million) in loans and credit facilities across several regions of the Kingdom. The financing covers projects in red meat, supply chains and processing industries, with the goal of increasing domestic production and sustaining food security.

Development loans

Since the beginning of the year, the fund has also extended more than SAR 150 million ($40 million) in development loans.

A total of 737 loans were issued, including 412 for rain-fed crops, around 236 for fruit production, processing and marketing, and about 56 for field crops and vegetables. Coffee production and processing accounted for around 14 loans, while four covered operating costs for date purchases.

Habib Al-Shammari, spokesman for the ADF, told Asharq Al-Awsat that development loans allow individuals to finance a range of agricultural activities, enabling them to contribute to economic and social development while helping strengthen food security.

They also allow farmers to capitalize on available opportunities and resources and the comparative advantages of different regions, while improving efficiency and promoting the optimal, sustainable use of agricultural and renewable water resources.

Among the programs backed by the fund is the Basic Commodities Import Initiative, carried out in coordination with the National Development Fund and the General Food Security Authority. It seeks to bolster strategic reserves of essential commodities and maintain stable food supply chains.

The ADF said the initiative reflects efforts by the Saudi leadership to address the repercussions of current conditions in the region by ensuring adequate supplies of essential food products, strengthening strategic stocks and maintaining the flow of goods to the domestic market.

The fund operates under an integrated strategy aligned with the National Agriculture Strategy, the Food Security Strategy and the National Development Fund Strategy, making it one of the key enablers of the Kingdom’s food security and environmental sustainability goals.

Al-Shammari said the ADF’s role extends beyond financing farmers and investors. Its range of financial products helps the agricultural sector adopt and localize modern technologies, increase productivity and become more sustainable, while taking water-security requirements into account.

Water at the heart of financing

The fund encourages agricultural projects to embrace technologies that reduce water and energy consumption while improving production efficiency.

Particular attention is given to projects that reuse treated water, alongside efforts to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards throughout the financing process.

Backing also extends to innovative startups developing solutions in smart and vertical farming, water and energy technologies, agricultural production and food.

The approach reflects a broader shift in agricultural finance, from funding conventional production to investing in technologies capable of raising output while conserving natural resources, particularly water and energy, among the main challenges facing the sector’s long-term sustainability.

Research partnerships

In parallel, the ADF continues to forge strategic partnerships with government agencies, the private sector and research institutions to develop and apply modern agricultural practices and advance the technologies it finances.

Its partners include King Saud University, King Faisal University, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and the National Center for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Development (Estidamah). The partnerships examine agricultural methods that can promote the adoption of modern technologies and improve efficiency across the sector.

Through this framework, the fund seeks to generate lasting economic and environmental benefits by increasing agricultural output, improving resource efficiency and reducing risks associated with water scarcity, in support of the Kingdom’s food-security and water-sustainability goals.

Against this backdrop, agricultural financing is expanding into investment across the entire food-security system, from meat and agricultural production to storage, refrigeration and processing, through to agricultural technologies, water and energy.

Ultimately, the approach is aimed at ensuring stable supplies and building strategic reserves capable of weathering changing conditions. Saudi food security is therefore based not simply on having food available in the market, but on the national system’s capacity to produce, store and transport it, secure its supply and efficiently manage the resources needed for production, ensuring its sustainability for future generations.

Business

Digital Resilience: Saudi Arabia Readies Government Services for Continuity

A citizen captures footage at a conference in Riyadh (SPA)
A citizen captures footage at a conference in Riyadh (SPA)
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Digital Resilience: Saudi Arabia Readies Government Services for Continuity

A citizen captures footage at a conference in Riyadh (SPA)
A citizen captures footage at a conference in Riyadh (SPA)

A student follows a lesson in a virtual classroom, a patient receives a medical consultation from home and a beneficiary accesses an official document on a mobile phone -snapshots of how digital government services have become part of everyday life in Saudi Arabia.

As access becomes easier, ensuring those services remain available is increasingly important. Education, healthcare and government transactions are daily needs that require readiness to maintain service availability and allow beneficiaries to rely on them when needed.

Amid current political conditions in the region and related security developments, such preparedness has taken on greater importance in supporting the continuity of daily life.

Digital resilience therefore goes beyond simply making services available electronically. It encompasses government entities’ ability to continue providing them and respond to changing needs through risk management and business continuity planning.

What has been achieved?

The Digital Government Authority (DGA) supports this effort through three interconnected services. Those include classifying platforms according to their importance and setting target recovery times for their services; recording digital service availability rates; and regulating outage reporting when required.

According to the DGA’s annual report, these tools help government entities maintain service continuity by establishing priorities, monitoring availability and defining reporting responsibilities.

Alongside these preparedness measures, Saudi Arabia’s Digital Experience Maturity Index reached 87.06% in 2026 following an assessment of 59 platforms. The quality of the digital experience measured by the index and the business continuity governed by regulations and services extend efforts from making platforms easier to use to supporting their ability to keep delivering services.

Risk at the heart of planning

The regulatory approach begins with the Controls of Risk Management and Business Continuity for Digital Government, designed to address risks proactively by establishing a risk management system and continuously improving it.

On business continuity, the controls cover establishing and activating the system, verifying its effectiveness and continuing to develop it.

The requirements embed risk management within the institutional workflow. The task does not end with drawing up a plan but extends to testing its effectiveness and improving it. Preparedness therefore becomes a continuous process tied to how services are managed rather than a measure invoked only in specific circumstances.

Linking risk management with business continuity allows entities to understand what could affect a service, organize preparations to address it, and direct resources and procedures toward priority operations.

Priority and recovery time

At the operational level, the Government Platforms and Applications Classification Service allows entities to classify their platforms and applications and set target recovery times for digital services according to their importance and the impact of any disruption.

This makes the nature and impact of a service the basis for determining priorities, rather than treating all platforms as having identical continuity requirements. A target recovery time is then assigned to define what continuity arrangements should achieve.

The approach shifts planning from a general discussion of preparedness toward requirements tied to specific services and their importance.

Monitoring availability

While classification establishes priorities, the Service Availability Rate allows government entities to record the availability rates of digital services provided to beneficiaries to monitor compliance.

When reporting is required, the Reporting Digital Government Services Disruption Service provides government entities with a defined process. It begins with the entity’s information technology chief appointing a crisis team responsible for submitting reports.

The three functions are therefore interconnected: classification establishes importance and target recovery times, availability records provide monitoring data, and outage reporting defines the communication channel and who is responsible for it. Together, they organize service continuity from planning and monitoring through to handling incidents requiring notification.

Guidance for implementation

These tools are supported by guidance documents, including the Guideline of Risk and Business Continuity Management for Digital Government and guidance on combating digital fraud.

The first supports government entities in applying relevant regulatory requirements and improving practices that underpin services to beneficiaries, providing a reference to help translate requirements into implementation.

Digital fraud guidance adds another dimension related to the security of transactions by supporting a risk-management methodology and national efforts to curb digital fraud.

Continuous access and reliable use are complementary needs. The first concerns keeping a service available, while the second concerns safeguarding transactions carried out through it.

Readiness centered on people

These measures give digital resilience a practical meaning: classification linking preparedness to the importance of a service, data for monitoring availability, clearly assigned reporting responsibilities, and controls and guidance supporting implementation.

Though regulatory and operational in nature, their impact is directly connected to people’s ability to manage their daily lives. For the student in a virtual classroom, the patient receiving a consultation and the beneficiary retrieving an official document, the objective is clear: ease of access must be matched by readiness to keep the service running.

Trust in digital government begins with the user experience but rests on the planning and monitoring behind it, keeping people’s needs at the heart of preparedness as daily life increasingly moves online.