عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

176 Industries Localized in Saudi Arabia with Investments Exceeding $34 Billion

Saudi Arabia is seeking to localize various industries, which will reflect positively on the country’s gross domestic product. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is seeking to localize various industries, which will reflect positively on the country’s gross domestic product. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

176 Industries Localized in Saudi Arabia with Investments Exceeding $34 Billion

Saudi Arabia is seeking to localize various industries, which will reflect positively on the country’s gross domestic product. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is seeking to localize various industries, which will reflect positively on the country’s gross domestic product. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Local Content Coordination Council revealed that the value of opportunities that were developed and launched in the Kingdom during the past year, with the aim to increase local content, reached about 24.8 billion riyals ($6.6 billion).

In parallel, 176 industries were localized in three years from 2019 to 2022 with an investment value amounting to SR128 billion.

The announcement came during the sixth meeting of the Local Content Coordination Council, headed by Bandar Alkhorayef, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority.

The percentage of the procurement index of domestic goods amounted to 69.25% from the total spending on goods in 2021, according to the council.

It added that the value of the opportunities which were developed and launched in order to increase the local content reached SR24.8 billion.

The council also stressed that the percentage of local content reached 45.8% of the total expenditure on member companies’ purchases of goods and services in 2021.

The council was established to lead the process of developing local content under the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, and unify the efforts of the relevant government agencies and major national companies.

It also promotes strategic partnerships with major companies based on specific criteria.

The council held its sixth meeting in the presence of Abdulrahman bin Abdullah Al-Samari, CEO of the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, along with representatives of board members from the Ministries of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Maaden, the Saudi Electricity Company, and the STC Group, as well as the General Organization of Saudi Arabian Airlines, and the Federation of Saudi Chambers.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

US Mulls Plan to Disrupt Iran's Oil by Halting Vessels at Sea

The Liberian-flagged oil tanker Ice Energy transfers crude oil from the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Lana (former Pegas), off the shore of Karystos, on the Island of Evia, Greece, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File Photo
The Liberian-flagged oil tanker Ice Energy transfers crude oil from the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Lana (former Pegas), off the shore of Karystos, on the Island of Evia, Greece, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File Photo
TT
TT

US Mulls Plan to Disrupt Iran's Oil by Halting Vessels at Sea

The Liberian-flagged oil tanker Ice Energy transfers crude oil from the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Lana (former Pegas), off the shore of Karystos, on the Island of Evia, Greece, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File Photo
The Liberian-flagged oil tanker Ice Energy transfers crude oil from the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Lana (former Pegas), off the shore of Karystos, on the Island of Evia, Greece, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File Photo

US President Donald Trump's administration is considering a plan to stop and inspect Iranian oil tankers at sea under an international accord aimed at countering the spread of weapons of mass destruction, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Trump has vowed to restore a "maximum pressure" campaign to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero, in order to stop the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Trump hit Iran with two waves of fresh sanctions in the first weeks of his second-term, targeting companies and the so-called shadow fleet of ageing oil tankers that sail without Western insurance and transport crude from sanctioned countries.

Those moves have largely been in line with the limited measures implemented during former President Joe Biden's administration, during which Iran succeeded in ramping up oil exports through complex smuggling networks.

Trump officials are now looking at ways for allied countries to stop and inspect ships sailing through critical chokepoints such as the Malacca Strait in Asia and other sea lanes, according to six sources who asked not to be named due to the sensitive subject.

That would delay delivery of crude to refiners. It could also expose parties involved in facilitating the trade to reputational damage and sanctions, the sources said.

"You don’t have to sink ships or arrest people to have that chilling effect that this is just not worth the risk," one of the sources said.

"The delay in delivery ... instills uncertainty in that illicit trade network."

The administration was examining whether inspections at sea could be conducted under the auspices of the Proliferation Security Initiative launched in 2003, which aims to prevent the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction.

The US drove that initiative, which has been signed by over 100 governments.

This mechanism could enable foreign governments to target Iran's oil shipments at Washington's request, one of the sources said, effectively delaying deliveries and hitting supply chains Tehran relies upon for revenue.

The National Security Council, which formulates policy in the White House, was looking into possible inspections at sea, two of the sources said.

It was unclear if Washington had yet approached any signatories to the Proliferation Security Initiative to test their willingness to cooperate with the proposal.

John Bolton, who was the US lead negotiator for the initiative when it was formed, told Reuters: "it would be fully justified" to use the initiative to slow down Iran oil exports. He noted that selling oil was "obviously critical to raise revenue for the government of Iran to conduct both its proliferation activities and support for terrorism."

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Iran's parliament on March 2 that Trump "has once again signed an order sanctioning many of our ships at sea, leaving them uncertain about how to unload their oil and gas cargo". He was referring to Trump's latest round of sanctions.