RIYADH — Vice Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources for Mining Affairs Eng. Khalid Saleh Al-Mudaifer stressed that Saudi Arabia is on the way to becoming a global supplier of hydrogen and a center for green minerals and high competitive manufacturing.

This is in addition to empowering the development of mineral industries in the area through attracting investments, spreading digital and developed technologies and applying high standards on the performance of sustainability.

In a roundtable meeting, held on the sidelines of the 9th Session of Saudi-South African Joint Committee held in Pretoria, South Africa, Al-Mudaifer noted that their huge benefits for the public and private sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and South Africa, mainly due to close relations and joint interests between the two countries.

The vice minister said that the experience of Saudi Arabia in the mining sector is considered relatively new compared with the long history of South Africa in extracting minerals and its rich expertise in the field, reiterating that Saudi Arabia enjoys huge potential in the fields of oil and petrochemicals that can provide opportunities to exchange expertise and enhance cooperation.

He also stressed promising cooperation fields not only in exploration, technology and operations fields, but also in other fields like negotiations, administrating relations with major global companies for goods and commerce, and developing value in the fields of products and works related to the production of minerals.

He added that the geographical location of the Kingdom acts as a strategic hub between the east and west, which allows access to European and Asian industries, noting that South Africa is also an entrance to the southern part of the African continent and a connection between the two Americas, and the Indian and Pacific oceans.

He pointed out that the amount of required minerals over the 10, 20 and 30 coming years will be unprecedented due to the transformation of the energy and strategic industrial sectors, such as electric and military vehicles and outer space.

Saudi Arabia seeks to develop mega projects to refine and process iron, steel and green minerals in integration with hydrogen factories that were established by the Saudi ACWA Power Company, one of the biggest companies in the world and with highest responsibility towards the environment. — SPA