Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia’s strategy to localize military industries offers a breadth of opportunities to global investors as well as US defense partners, said Ahmad Al-Ohali, governor of the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI), during a webinar on Wednesday.

The development of the military industry sector requires a whole ecosystem of research and technology institutions, a skilled workforce and other support functions in addition to local production capabilities, Al-Ohali noted.

Organized by the GAMI in collaboration with the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council (USSBC), the webinar titled “Understanding Saudi Arabia’s Military Industries Sector Growth Strategy” saw the participation of a number of representatives from US companies.

Established in 2007 to boost the Kingdom’s military industries sector, GAMI is responsible for the sector’s development and empowerment in line with the Vision 2030 target of localizing more than 50 percent of defense expenditures by 2030.

As a result of GAMI’s commitment to its mandate, the military industries sector witnesses a rapid transformation and is now on a steady path to become a major contributor to the Kingdom’s non-oil GDP. In just a few years, the sector’s localization rates have more than doubled to 8 percent of total expenditure, Al-Ohali added.

He highlighted GAMI’s role in developing the Kingdom's military industry sector and provided an overview of the national military industry strategy, Industrial Participation Program (IPP) and the role of research and technology in Saudi Arabia's defense strategy.

Moderating the debate, USSBC president and CEO H. Delano Roosevelt recalled the long history of cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia and hoped that the US would continue to play a dominant role in supporting the Kingdom through future strategic relationships.

He added that the USSBC will also continue its roles of facilitating connections between American and Saudi companies and educating US businesses about the benefit of engaging in the Saudi market.