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

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.

The Bank of England cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Thursday after inflation across the UK fell below its target rate of 2%.
The bank said its rate-setting panel lowered the benchmark rate to 4.75% — its second cut in three months — though its governor Andrew Bailey cautioned that interest rates would not be falling too fast over coming months.
“We need to make sure inflation stays close to target, so we can’t cut interest rates too quickly or by too much,” he said. “But if the economy evolves as we expect it’s likely that interest rates will continue to fall gradually from here.”
In the year to September, UK inflation stood at 1.7%, its lowest level since April 2021 and below the central bank’s target rate of 2%, The Associated Press reported.
Central banks worldwide dramatically increased borrowing costs from near zero during the coronavirus pandemic when prices started to shoot up, first as a result of supply chain issues built up and then because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine which pushed up energy costs.
As inflation rates have recently fallen from multi-decade highs, the central banks have started cutting interest rates.
Economists have warned that worries about the future path of prices following last week's tax-raising budget from the new Labour government and the economic impact of US President-elect Donald Trump may limit the number of cuts next year.
The decision comes a week after Treasury chief Rachel Reeves announced around 70 billion pounds ($90 billion) of extra spending, funded through increased business taxes and borrowing. Economists think that the splurge, coupled with the prospect of businesses cushioning the tax hikes by raising prices, could lead to higher inflation next year.
The rate decision also comes a day after Trump was declared the winner of the US presidential election. He has indicated that he will cut taxes and introduce tariffs on certain imported goods when he returns to the White House in January. Both policies have the potential to be inflationary both in the US and globally, thereby prompting Bank of England policymakers to keep interest rates higher than initially planned.

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