RIYADH — Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef said that the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), under the ministry, approved a total of 212 industrial loans, amounting to SR17 billion during the year 2020. “This is an unprecedented amount ever since the establishment of the fund. The ministry has a clear orientation in empowering and supporting industrial investors through packages of financing provided by SIDF,” he said. The minister made the remarks while addressing an open meeting with a number of investors, businessmen, entrepreneurs, and the youth in the Al-Qassim region. He noted that the industrial sector is passing through a golden age and is witnessing continuous harmony among all sectors of the system. Al-Khorayef stressed the ministry’s resolve to develop the industrial sector and create new industries based on innovation and digital technologies, in addition to scoring the best performance results. “There are important paths that the ministry is working on to complete building on the existing base and benefit from natural resources and work to deepen the added value from them. The ministry is also working on Saudization of sectors of locally consumed products by stimulating investment in the industrial sector to convert what we import into local production, and adopting the techniques of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to make important leaps in this promising sector,” he added.