In the presence of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Large Companies Investment Committee, a ceremony was held on Wednesday to announce the first bundle of projects supported by the Shareek program, which is dedicated for large companies to help unlock the full potential of Saudi Arabia’s private sector, and contribute to achieving the national targets defined by Vision 2030.
The program was launched by the Crown Prince on 30 March 2021, who will also oversee its implementation as the Chairman of the Large Companies Investment Committee. To date, 28 companies are enrolled in the Shareek program.
A number of senior government ministers and private sector leaders attended the ceremony and witnessed the signing of framework agreements for 12 projects that have been approved within the Shareek incentives criteria, across eight companies, in a number of strategic sectors.
The projects will contribute to the Kingdom's economic growth, diversify industries, promote innovation, and further enable public-private partnerships.
The Shareek program seeks helping eligible companies accelerate planned projects and identify new potential partnerships and investment opportunities through government support.
In remarks during the ceremony, CEO of Shareek program Abdulaziz Al-Arifi, said that the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, led by the Crown Prince, contributes to making the Kingdom a leading destination for investment and growth, with its focus on bolstering partnerships with the private sector as a key catalyst for sustainable economic development.
Al-Arifi revealed that the overall value of the announced investments is around SAR 192 billion ($51.2 billion), including SAR 120 billion spent by large companies by the end of 2030 to achieve more than SAR 466 billion in GDP growth by 2040.
He added that these projects support the growth of eight national companies and contribute to raising their international competitiveness, in addition to generating a strong ripple effect across entire value chains.
The signing ceremony included the announcement of strategic projects including one by Aramco, which will receive support to accelerate implementation of five projects, creating more than ten thousand jobs, including a joint venture steel plate manufacturing project, aiming to make Saudi Arabia 100% self-sufficient for steel plate demand by 2030; a cloud project which will attract Google Cloud services into the Kingdom and establish Saudi Arabia as a hub for advanced cloud computing technologies; an engine manufacturing project which will aid in the development of a sustainable maritime sector and unlock greater value from metals and machinery sectors; a casting and forging project in Ras Al Khair.
Also in the energy sector, ACWA Power will receive Shareek support for the construction of the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, which is being developed in partnership with NEOM Green Hydrogen Company and Air Products Qudra. The project demonstrates Saudi Arabia’s capabilities as a green energy leader, in support of the Kingdom’s net zero ambitions.
Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) will receive support to accelerate its Phosphate 3 project in Wa’ad Al Shamal, which is set to position the company as the third largest global producer of phosphate fertilizers by 2029 and enhance the Kingdom’s position in the world’s agricultural value chain, aiding global food security.
Within the Kingdom’s petrochemicals sector, the industry leader SABIC has received support for a catalyst project, primed to reduce Saudi Arabia’s import dependency and enhance its position as an exporter by establishing KSA’s first catalyst manufacturing hub.
Through a joint venture, Shareek will also provide support to Advanced Petrochemical Company to produce methionine, which will contribute to enhancing food security in the Kingdom and raising the efficiency of food security. Stc will implement an EMC cable project, strengthening Saudi Arabia’s position as a MENA region digital hub and reliable route for data traffic. Also, Zain Saudi Arabia will be accelerating a data center project, set to help transform the Kingdom into a digital economy by ensuring readiness for future IT advancements.
Saudi logistics giant Bahri will scale up its capacity for ammonia transportation through a project supported by Shareek, set to provide ammonia transport services for the first time in the Kingdom, reducing international vessel dependency and enhancing local content in the logistics sector.
Shareek aims to unlock SAR 5 trillion in domestic private sector investments by 2030 and contribute to the goals set out in Vision 2030, which target an increase in private sector GDP contribution to 65% and an increase non-oil exports from 16% to 50%.
The program is implemented with the support of several sectorial supervisory committees led by senior government officials. The projects announced at the event represent the first wave of supported projects. Many more projects are expected to be supported, and these will be announced in due course.
