Pacts to pave way for giant industries, create jobs

RIYADH — The landmark agreements signed during the historic visit of US President Donald Trump will pave the way for building several giant industries that would eventually create tens of thousands of jobs for young Saudi graduates.

As part of the agreements signed on Saturday, several global giants will enter into joint ventures with leading Saudi companies bringing about a revolutionary change in the landscape of the local employment market.

  These agreements will be instrumental in achieving most of the ambitious goals spelled out in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), a global IT giant, is expected to generate 38,000 jobs for young Saudi men and women in the field of technology transfer. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware, middleware and software, and offers hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. The agreements signed by General Electric, an American multinational conglomerate corporation, will create jobs for more than 4,000 Saudi jobseekers. Some of the key pacts will be implemented by the joint initiatives such as Sadara Chemical Co., an alliance between The Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Aramco, and Motiva Enterprises, a joint venture between Shell Oil Co. and Saudi Aramco.

There is an agreement for nationalization of advanced technologies with building of plants for advanced defense systems that will give jobs for about 25,000 young Saudis. One of the signed agreements would pave the way for manufacturing and assembling military helicopters that will generate at least 4,000 jobs. Another 1,000 jobs will be generated with the agreement related with developing renewable energy industries.

There are several memoranda of understanding to implement mega joint ventures. They include projects to be set up in the Kingdom for radiography, electronic clouding for health services, and a third one for manufacturing medical appliances and these are expected to create quality jobs for 1,000 Saudi young men and women.

The agreements are also aimed at enhancing the local content through developing the vital service and industrial sectors. The major projects in these fields include one for studying the development of meters for the Saudi Electricity Company and connecting them with optical fibers, besides an advanced information system for King Faisal Specialist Hospital.

The military agreements include one for the manufacture of smart ammunition and another for advanced defense systems. Around 4,000 Saudi staff will be involved in their manufacture. These projects would be instrumental in the transfer of knowledge and technology from one of the world’s most developed markets to the Kingdom. A number of these new projects will bring in a bonanza of benefits and huge foreign investments to the Kingdom due to its strategic geographic location.

Partnerships with major US companies will help boost localization of several projects especially those concerned with goods and services pertaining to oil fields, besides creating thousands of jobs. Some of these projects will lead to the construction of highly advanced infrastructure in the Kingdom.

All these projects have been chosen within the framework of achieving the Vision 2030. The agreements are aimed at enabling young Saudis to acquire skills and expertise in taking up of challenging careers in future. The pacts also envisage provision of studies, training, transfer of technology, and building advanced plants to take advantage of the vast expertise and experiments of the US giants. The focus would be on a prosperous future through bolstering strategic partnership with the United States, the main partner of the Kingdom. The number, quality and volume of the pacts and their duration showed that they are not merely deals but serious business and activities having diverse dimensions and paramount importance-

Source:http:saudigazette.com.sa