RIYADH — The newly created Private Sector Partnership Reinforcement Program (Shareek) Center is aimed to promote domestic private sector investments to reach SR5 trillion, and supports the creation of more than 100,000 job opportunities and the promotion of local content by 2030. The Saudi Council of Ministers on Tuesday approved the transformation of the Private Sector Partnership Reinforcement Program (Shareek) into a center named "the Private Sector Partnership Reinforcement Center (Shareek). The Cabinet also endorsed the center's organizational arrangements. While addressing the ceremony of announcing the first wave of projects supported by the Private Sector Partnership Reinforcement (Shareek) Program, Abdulaziz Al-Arifi, CEO of Shareek Program, said that the number of companies enrolled in the first wave of the program has now reached 28 companies. "There are eight major companies within the first wave of the program and these companies are working on 12 projects at a cost of SR192 billion," he said adding that the list of the eight companies included Saudi Aramco, Ma'aden, ACWA Power, Saudi Telecom Co., Zain, Bahri, Saudi Advanced Industries Company, and SABIC. Speaking on the occasion, Amin Al-Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, said that the company has five projects with international companies including Total and Google within the Shareek program, with a budget of SR62 billion. "The Shareek program accelerates the projects of Saudi Aramco and the private sector and enhances their profitability," he said. In his speech, Acting CEO of SABIC Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh said: "We have a project that is the first of its kind to produce catalysts inside the Kingdom within the Shareek program. Saudi Telecom CEO Olayan Al-Wetaid said that Shareek is a qualitative and stimulating program for qualitative projects in the private sector, and the company has a submarine cable project within the Shareek program with the aim of transforming the Kingdom into a regional center for data. "The submarine cables project will work to attract foreign companies, especially technical companies, to open headquarters in Saudi Arabia at a cost of up to SR4.5 billion," he added. Ma'aden CEO Robert Welt said that his company plans to add 50 percent production capacity in the phosphate fertilizer sector. On his part, Paddy Padmanathan, CEO of ACWA Power, said that the opportunities in the renewable energy sector in Saudi Arabia are great, and it is expected that many foreign companies that are interested specifically in hydrogen will come over to the Saudi market. It is noteworthy that Shareek is a dynamic and high-impact program that aims to increase domestic investments of private sector companies to reach SR 5 trillion by 2030 through the support and unlocking of government-approved incentives. The Shareek Program is led by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) under the chairmanship of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. The Shareek Program has been structured to enable large companies' local investment, which benefits the whole economic ecosystem of Saudi Arabia, including indirectly benefitting small and medium enterprises and other business operations, through its impact on the overall value chain that results from increasing large companies' investments. The program will have a positive holistic impact on the economy and contribute directly to the prosperity and growth of the Kingdom's economy in accordance with the goals of Vision 2030.
