DHAHRAN — Saudi Aramco participates in the Armed Forces Exhibition for Diversity of Requirements and Capabilities (AFED) as a Diamond Localization Partner, and shares its experience in localization. The exhibition is taking place from Feb. 25 to March 5, 2018, under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and organized by the Saudi Armed Forces in Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center.

“This exhibition is a great opportunity to explore avenues of partnership and collaboration to localize industries and increase the share of local content as outlined by the Kingdom’s ambitious roadmap Vision 2030,” said Abdulaziz Al-Abdulkarim, Saudi Aramco Vice President for Procurement & Supply Chain Management. He added: “Saudi Aramco’s In-Kingdom Total Value Add Program (iktva) is a landmark initiative that catalyzes localization in the energy and energy-related industries, leveraging the economic role of SMEs and increasing their contribution to the GDP, and adds thousands of quality job opportunities.”

Al-Abdulkarim said an average annual spending of approximately $12 billion was directed at over 4,000 SMEs during the past few years, either directly by Saudi Aramco or through its supply chain. He emphasized the importance of creating an ecosystem that enables SMEs to flourish and grow in order to achieve a sustainable economic development in the Kingdom.

iktva program aims at creating value from the opportunities offered by the Saudi energy sector. The program is designed to increase the share of local content in energy-related products and services, increase exports, localize the energy value chain in the Kingdom, create thousands of job opportunities for Saudis, and leverage the role of SMEs in economic development.

Through iktva, Saudi Aramco plans to deliver a world-class, locally-sourced supply chain in the Kingdom, with an overarching objective of achieving 70% of locally supplied content by 2021. This is in line with the goals and objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 that aspires to raise the contribution of local content in industry and to foster the economic role of SMEs as engines for innovation and sustainability. Currently, SMEs contribute around 20% of the Kingdom’s GDP. Saudi Vision 2030 has set an initial target to increase that share to 35%.

In addition to presenting Saudi Aramco’s experience in localization and local content, the company’s pavilion at the exhibition presented King Salman Energy Park and Aramco Entrepreneurship Center (Wa’ed).

Located between Abqaiq and Dammam, King Salman Energy Park offers a fully integrated industrial city with world class infrastructure and services developed to attract world leading manufacturing and service companies, supporting the Energy Sector. The city will be developed, operated, and anchored by Saudi Aramco, and it is aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. At maturity, the Energy Park will contribute over $6 billion annually to the Kingdom’s GDP and create thousands of direct and indirect jobs. It will be developed on a 50 square kilometer site in the Eastern Province, and will focus on upstream, downstream, petrochemicals, power, and water and waste water. Development of the project’s first phase will start in Q2, 2018.

Wa’ed, since its inception, has funded a number of new and innovative projects in various industries, including oil and gas, healthcare, education, industrial services and others.

AFED 2018 gathers participants from all of the Saudi Armed Forces branches, government entities and private sector. It presents tens of thousands of investment opportunities in manufacturing equipment and spare parts. Objectives of the exhibition include presenting manufacturing opportunities of materials and spare parts, establishing communication and partnerships among attendees, presenting the capabilities of relevant Saudi organizations, promoting and developing local industry to achieve higher global standards, supporting localization and knowledge transfer, creating opportunities for the private sector, and attracting foreign investments. — SG