Keynote Ministerial Panel

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Arab world and the wider Middle East and North Africa region, and is the only Arab member of the G20. Since Saudi Arabia announced its ambitious Vision 2030 strategic framework to diversify non-oil sources of income, it has made many structural changes. These aim to achieve economic transformation by attracting investments and establishing giant vital projects that are likely to stimulate iron and steel consumption. Has the process of economic transformation in the Kingdom been affected in light of the previous decline in oil prices, which lasted for a period before values rebounded to good levels now? Indeed, to what extent has the growth in oil prices following the outbreak of war in Ukraine improved Saudi Arabia’s public spending and overall economic outlook? Has the Covid-19 pandemic, whose effects are gradually receding, delayed the economic transformation process? How have these factors affected the economy of Saudi Arabia, and what are the measures taken by authorities to ensure that growth continues as planned? How can different authorities best harmonise their efforts to stimulate local investment and attract foreign investment to support the national strategy for the development of national industry sectors, including iron and steel as a strategic national industry? What are authorities doing to support an increase in non-oil foreign trade, including Saudi steel exports, which have accelerated in recent years? What progress is being made on training up the next generation of Saudi engineers to ensure a sufficient native labour force for industrial expansion?

Key Themes:

  1. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the timeline of Saudi Vision 2030.
  2. Saudi Arabia’s position on overcapacity which is subject to continuous discussions in the Global Forum on Steel Capacity
  3. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s measures to increase economic investment associated with stimulating domestic and foreign investment
  4. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) project/investment outlook, progress in Saudi economic diversification
  5. Stimulating and supporting the industrial sector in light of Saudi Vision 2030 – What will the Kingdom look like at the beginning of the next decade?
  6. Renewable energy investment as part of Saudi Vision 2030 – what are authorities doing to support the global trend of decarbonization?
  7. How have Saudi steel exports evolved since they were liberalised in 2017, and what support are authorities giving the industry to trade abroad?
  8. Saudi Arabia is opening up more to international business. What is the government doing to encourage foreign talent to live and work in Saudi?
  9. The progress of training up the Kingdom’s next generation of engineers to operate the steel plants and manufacturing plants?
  10. How will the war in Ukraine impact Saudi Arabia’s economy and what measures is government taking to ensure the situation benefits rather than hinders growth?
Speakers

(Order according to alphabetical sequence)

H.E. Bandar Ibrahim AlKhorayef

Minister
Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources

H.E. Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Faleh

Minister
Ministry of Investment

MODERATOR

Noor Shabib

Vice President for Strategic Planning & Business Development