Author: Wed, 2020-03-04 21:51 JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s industry minister joined business leaders in Jeddah for the first meeting of an influential industrial council. Bandar Alkhorayef and members of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce discussed initiatives aimed at upgrading the industrial sector and supporting the national economy in line with the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan. Under the title, “Empowering Industry in Jeddah to Achieve Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030,” the minister of industry and mineral resources attended the launch of the new forum along with leading industrialists and officials. In his opening speech, the Jeddah chamber’s secretary-general, Imad bin Muhammad Hashem, said the council would provide a meeting point for industrialists to plan sector strategies to help achieve the Vision 2030 targets for the national economy. The council aimed to strengthen links between industry chiefs and the ministry, expand communications, and share ideas for creating sustainable industrial development, he added. The forum’s sessions covered industrial infrastructure, development prospects, services and empowering industry and mining. Participants called for more emphasis on investment as the main engine for driving industrial development, the channeling of funds to small- and medium-sized manufacturing industries, the creation of an action plan to remove obstacles to the expansion of Saudi industry, and localization of the sector. According to a recent Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources statement, the Saudi National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) aimed to increase the industry, mining, logistics and energy sectors’ GDP contribution to SR1.2 trillion by 2030. The NIDLP initiative seeks to stimulate investments worth more than SR1.7 trillion, raise non-oil exports to more than SR1 trillion, and develop the labor market by creating 1.6 million new jobs.Main category: Saudi ArabiaTags: Saudi Arabia Dr. Sami Al-Homod, assistant minister for planning and development at the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral ResourcesThree industry dedicated expos held in Riyadh