Saudi Gazette CAIRO — General Electric (GE) successfully ended 2015 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Aramco to establish the National Power Academy (NPA). Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Hisham Al-Bahkali, president and chief executive officer of GE Saudi Arabia & Bahrain, spoke about the MoU and his company's expectations for 2016. NPA includes several founding stakeholders such as the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Siemens. "This contract has been reached in order to support energy demands from a technician's standpoint and how we can help Saudi youth from an education standpoint," he said. "We signed this MoU with Aramco and we will have more discussion how GE will support this... including the areas of training to build the right cadre for the energy market," he said. "The power sector is very big and there are a lot of areas that big companies like GE can contribute to. So, we were approached as a partner by Aramco who is leading this initiative with the rest of the founders to provide GE technology, GE expertise," he added. Al-Bahkali said that his company concluded it was a great idea. He also said that GE's strategy includes becoming a main partner in Saudi Arabia and that the NPA falls under its aims for the country. "We are supporting the technology and knowledge transfer, and building the people, youth, engineers and other non-technical staff, including males and females," he added. Al-Bahkali said GE has achieved a great deal in 2015 and seeks to further its success in 2016 and contribute further to growth within the Kingdom. "We are key growth partners here in Saudi ... we had a great year this year and last year, and in 2016 we are expecting another good year for GE. We are going to continue our strategy and continue our growth within the Kingdom," he added. About the expectation and the upcoming projects, he said "each year there are projects there are opportunities and events that we think that GE will participate in; I'm sure that in 2016 and beyond there will be great stories for GE." He said "we are expecting to have our first gas turbines manufacturing in 2016; we are doing gas-insulated substations also and are expecting to manufacture LED." GE announced in November 2015 that its $1 billion investment in Saudi Arabia would create a path for new initiatives in localization, technology innovation and manufacturing to drive the country's digital transformation by 2020. GE also announced in 2015 its commitment to substantially increase localization in the energy supply chain from extraction to consumption. The new initiatives announced under GE's Saudi 2020 Sustainability Program will result in critical outcomes aligned to the country's growth priorities, including doubling its Saudi workforce from 2,000 to 4,000 by 2020, doubling its Saudi supplier base from 150 to 300 to build a strong Saudi supply chain that supports GE's local manufacturing facilities, doubling training in energy, healthcare and localized research for over 10,000 Saudi professionals through local and global programs and focus on achieving $100 million in value of exports of products and services from GE to different parts of the world including the US and Europe.
