SAGIA keen to double French investment across Kingdom

14/10/2015 05:16 AST

Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) has identified attractive opportunities for foreign investors, its Director Faisal Bafarat told the delegates at the investment forum.

Stressing the importance of strategic and historical relations between Saudi Arabia and France, especially on economic and investment levels, he said there is scope for broader development of bilateral ties.

Bafarat revealed that there are 194 projects in the Kingdom partly or fully-owned by French companies with a total capital of about SR75 billion. He said SAGIA’s ambition was to double the size of these investments in the light of the various incentives offered by the Kingdom and its attractive environment for domestic and foreign investments.

He added that the Kingdom recently paved the way for foreign companies to invest in the wholesale and retail trade sectors with 100 percent ownership, exceeding the targets committed by the Kingdom at the World Trade Organization.

He also pointed out that under the guidance of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and SAGIA have introduced new services to facilitate the work of international companies and provide them with incentives for those wishing to invest in the Kingdom, with the aim of attracting international manufacturers directly to sell their products to consumers.

This is in addition to SAGIA’s recent announcement to apply fast-track service mechanisms for the issuance of licenses, which includes reducing the required 12 documents to three only so that licenses are issued within five working days.

Investment licenses for outstanding companies can also be extended for up to 15 years to guarantee the presence of licensed investment companies in the Kingdom and to promote opportunities for investors to become an important pillar in achieving the developmental objectives of the state.

Regulations were also implemented to grant investor status to entrepreneurs and owners of innovative companies in order to support the Kingdom’s transition to a knowledge-based economy and to diversify the production base by stimulating small and medium-sized investments that contribute to the transfer of knowledge in the Kingdom.

Bafarat pointed out that the Saudi economy is the largest in the region and one of the 20 largest in the world. He said the Kingdom’s GDP doubled from about $328 billion in 2005 to about $752 billion in 2014, a growth rate of 129 percent. This growth was the highest among the 20 largest economies in the world.

The Kingdom also has one of the lowest public debts to gross domestic product ratios. Given the attractiveness of the Saudi economy and the investment opportunities it offers, the Kingdom provides many facilities and incentives for investors and welcomes investments from leading companies that contribute to the promotion of technology transfer and innovation, Bafarat.

These incentives are accompanied by efforts actively seeking to remove obstacles facing investors and continuous development of regulations and legislation to facilitate ongoing procedures.

There are also institutional efforts to improve the investment environment and develop opportunities to achieve an effective partnership between investors and the Kingdom, said Bafarat.

These efforts are supported by “unique” political and economic stability, as well as “rewarding” investment opportunities for investors in a number of promising sectors and regions. Discussing the consolidated investment plan set by several government agencies in the Kingdom that aims to establish investment entities to achieve sustainable development, Bafarat said this approach and the creation of an integrated plan for each investment sector “will help these sectors to achieve global competitiveness and become a major contributor of the economy, and reflect on the state's efforts in achievin

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