A number of senior officials of Saudi Aramco Company have commended the contents of the Kingdom's vision 2030 approved by the Cabinet in its session under the chairmanship of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud after it was submitted by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and President of Economic Affairs and Development. They stressed in statements to Saudi Press Agency that the announcement by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the launch of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, the blessing of the Crown Prince of its launch, and the supervision of the Deputy Crown Prince of the stages of its preparation and application on the ground will make everyone sense what it will yield of positive steps for the interest of the homeland and its citizens. Supreme Vice President for Downstream of Saudi Aramco Engineer Abdulrahman bin Fahd Al-Wuhaib said: "Some of Saudi Aramco's most significant achievements in recent years have been in developing new international and domestic partnerships in the downstream space. Major global businesses are choosing to invest locally in our refining and chemicals sector, thanks to our committed approach. Alongside the expansion of the Public Investment Fund, I believe that Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan can deliver further opportunities to help us consolidate those downstream relationships still further. Delivering Saudi Vision 2030 will also attract new partners in energy-related sectors. Increased inward investment, especially when the investor has a local operation and stake, will help strengthen the economy." For his part, Supreme Vice President for Upstream of Saudi Aramco Engineer Mohammed bin Yahya Al-Qahtani said: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is certainly a nation blessed with hydrocarbons, and while the Kingdom's economy must reduce its over-dependence on oil, make no mistake, our unrivalled oil and gas assets will help continue to drive the Kingdom's economic growth, long into the horizon on a sustainable basis. We have the world's highest quality of reserves and product grade quality, we are the world's lowest cost producer, and our recovery rates are among the highest in the world." "In addition, our upstream research and development are focused on increasing recovery from existing assets and optimizing reservoir management, and increasing oil and gas exploration and discovery, striving to replace 100% of produced oil with new reserves and growing reserves annually. All of these factors are embedded in our strategy to contribute even greater value to the Kingdom's economy." "As well as supporting our customers through commodities export, strengthening our role as the world's most reliable energy supplier, Saudi Aramco will continue to support the Kingdom's domestic energy needs: supporting the shift to gas to drive utilities expansion and improved national energy efficiency; oil to support transport fuel efficiency; and, petrochemicals feedstocks supply to support rapid economic diversification through the growth of SME manufacturing sectors that are reliant on downstream conversion into high-quality consumer products." "Saudi Vision 2030 will consolidate and augment Saudi Aramco's role at the heart of our nation. Critically important is the role that highly skilled local talent will play in creating a more vibrant and diverse economy. Saudi Aramco will continue to invest in strengthening its world-class engineering capabilities and training and development programs. This focused effort will help to ensure that future generations of young Saudis are well prepared to manage the Kingdom's energy resources." For his part, Supreme Vice President for Operations and Business Services of Saudi Aramco Muhammad bin Mohsen Al-Saggaf said: "Saudi Vision 2030 recognizes that the Saudi people are the Kingdom's most precious resource. Lowering the national rate of unemployment from 11% to 7% by 2030 is a challenging but achievable goal. Enhancing national education levels, embedding skills for the knowledge economy, and increasing women's participation in the workforce are all critical to helping achieving it. Saudi Aramco will continue to support initiatives that enrich our workforce with world-class science, technology and engineering skills and training, but also through partnerships that fit with our company and Kingdom strategy." "For example, through Saudi Aramco's partnership with Tata and GE, the Riyadh Business Process Outsourcing Center is delivering vital business services, efficiently and affordably to customers around the world. And it's doing so by employing a skilled and talented female-only workforce in a way that's both customer-centric in terms of excellence of delivery and employee-centric in terms of flexibility. I am confident that by 2030 the Saudi Vision blueprint will have enhanced and diversified our entire national labor force for the better across many sectors. This is both what we need and what the nation deserves." "Saudi Vision 2013 is very well thought of, ambitious and inspirational. It sets the stage for major transformational change in all aspects of the Saudi economy, society and culture. The main engine of change would, of course, be the Saudi people, who are the most precious resource." On his part, Supreme Vice President for Technical Services of Saudi Aramco Engineer Ahmad bin Abdulrahman Al-Sa'adi, said: "Saudi Vision 2030 calls for an accelerated and broad diversification of the economy, driven by entrepreneurship, technological innovation and targeted investment. Saudi Aramco's In Kingdom Total Value Add localization program is one example of how this vision is being put into practice today by promoting the development of localized energy sector businesses so that the company and the Kingdom benefit from a cost competitive local supply chain and the creation of new high quality jobs for Saudis. This is a model that I believe can be expanded upon and extended nationally across many industrial sectors to create thousands of new, well paid and highly skilled jobs that will appeal to our youthful workforce." In his turn, Supreme Vice President for Finance, Strategy and Development of Saudi Aramco Engineer Abdallah bin Ibrahim Al-Saadan said: "Delivering Saudi Vision 2030 will transform our national economy and reduce the over-dependence on oil. The listing of Saudi Aramco and other privatizations will increase investor confidence in the local stock market and boost foreign direct investment, market stability and overall growth. This will be good for the country and for Saudi Aramco and its customers, partners and suppliers." For his part, General Counsel of Saudi Aramco Dr. Nabeel bin Abdulaziz Al-Mansour said: "Saudi Vision 2030 outlines dramatic actions to be taken which will cut bureaucracy and implement wide-ranging transparency and accountability reforms nationally. These steps will make it easier to do business within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and will, in turn, increase commercial activity, foreign direct investment, and job creation. In addition, the prospect of an initial public offering of Saudi Aramco will elevate the international visibility of our strategic decision-making and accountability practices. This will promote a greater understanding of Saudi Aramco's business capabilities and increase confidence in our long-term strategic orientation and governance, and thus be a positive development for the Company."
