RIYADH — Abdulrahman Al-Samari, CEO of the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, said that the growth rate of local content in Saudi Arabia has now reached 43 percent. The spending on content has increased by 20 percent. This is in addition to activating signed agreements to serve companies operating in the Kingdom, he said. Al-Samari made the remarks while addressing a dialogue session at the PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh on Wednesday. The dialogue session is titled “Supporting local content to empower the private sector.” Those who addressed the session also included Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt, Managing Director of Cisco Salman Faqeeh, and Director of the National Development Division at the Public Investment Fund Jerry Todd. On its second day, the PIF Forum discussed the importance of empowering the private sector, exchanging experiences and expertise, developing job skills, and empowering the private sector through supportive programs, supporting digital transformation, cloud services, artificial intelligence, and the latest cybersecurity technologies. Speakers at the session explained that local content is linked to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and spending on content has increased by 20 percent. They stressed that 30 percent out of 70 companies have completed setting their local policy to achieve the desired goals, in addition to developing workers’ skills and training through programs targeting the private sector to support the local economy, in light of the interaction and contribution of Saudi women in the local economy. The speakers noted that 90 percent of companies in the private sector worked in the field of capacity building, and a number of them achieved the targeted plans, while stressing the assistance of the private sector in direct financing with the concerned authorities by signing agreements to obtain bank financing to support the private sector. In his address, Al-Samari stated that major national companies are working in cooperation and coordination to serve the local economic agenda to achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. “The focus has been on local content since the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and that it is an important tool for economic diversification, job creation and supply chains,” he said while highlighting the importance of building local capabilities for local content. Al-Sammari said that the methodology used began with finding appropriate frameworks for local content and specific definitions that enabled to measure local content and performance levels, in addition to local spending and the private sector, which has special policies, in addition to developing appropriate tools to support them. He stated that major national companies are working in cooperation and coordination to serve the local economic agenda to achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.