Saudi crown prince unveils National Industrial Development and Logistics Program

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended the launch of the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program on Monday, which aims to fuel up 12 sectors in the Saudi economy, including energy, petrochemicals, mining and the automotive industry.

At the closing ceremony of the forum held in Riyadh, 37 Memorandums of Understandings were signed between local Saudi companies and various international ones aimed at fulfilling the objectives laid out by the new program.

In total, agreements worth 235 billion Saudi riyals were signed during the forum, including significant partnerships in the military industries and a major agreement between Saudi Aramco and SABIC to convert oil to petrochemicals.

The program is part of the kingdom's 2030 Vision that aims to diversify its economy which has been heavily dependent on oil prices.

“We promise to make the industrial development program a path to the fourth industrial revolution," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said during the forum’s closing ceremony.

“We have ensured that the forum included a detailed presentation of the industrial development program. We have offered the private sector more than 65 investment opportunities worth about 80 billion riyals, including the four sectors focused in the program,” he added.

Among the agreements announced were two MoUs between the Saudi military industry program SAMI and French firm Thales and CMI Defence of Belgium.