Under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef has inaugurated the second edition of the Future Minerals Forum, which aims at developing dialogue on the future of minerals and investment in mining, as well as cooperation in this field throughout the area extending between Africa and West and Central Asia. In his opening speech, Al-Khorayef welcomed participants in the sessions and events of the forum, saying: "I am honored today to open this Forum and convey to you the keenness of the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to ensure the success of this forum and realize its envisioned goals for the region and the world, appreciating your presence and effective participation in this edition of the Future Minerals Forum." The minister noted that the first edition of the forum, held in January 2022, aimed at highlighting the mining potential of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and emerging regional countries, which can play an important role in meeting the future needs of minerals, pointing out that the second edition will be discussing a set of urgent topics, including the region's development, increasing its contribution to value chains and supply of critical metals, promoting responsible and sustainable mining, ensuring maximum utilization of mineral wealth in the emerging mining area extending between Africa and West and Central Asia, and developing this area to become a comprehensive hub for producing green minerals, in addition to discussing the development of international cooperation to establish excellence centers in the region to increase its contributions to the supply of future minerals. He also pointed out that the big turnout to attend the events of the forum by specialists and interested people in mining affairs represents evidence that the mining community is aware of the level of challenges, and also means that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has succeeded in shaping its important and big role concerned with the mining sector in the region, launching a constructive dialogue among stakeholders of the sector, and reaching a fruitful cooperation among countries in this field, noting that the second edition of the forum witnesses the participation of more than 12,000 figures from 130 countries and 200 speakers. The minister noted that the 2nd roundtable meeting of ministers concerned with mining affairs was held yesterday to focus on the emerging mining area spanning between Africa and West and Central Asia, which has promising mining potential and capabilities to fill the expected gap in the future demand. Al-Khorayef also referred to the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the mining sector, saying that the Saudi Vision 2030 includes perceptions and programs to develop the mining sector to become the third pillar of the industry, where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has completed a comprehensive revision and updated the mining investment system, which constitutes the regulatory infrastructure of the sector and provides a clear, transparent and easy environment for investors in the mining sector, noting that a full industrial city has been constructed to process aluminum from raw materials and bauxite until reaching end products with added value to be used in the manufacturing of vehicles and packing foodstuff. The minister's speech was followed by commencing the forum sessions that attract ministers and government representatives of several countries, in addition to the participation of investment leaders, presidents of major mining companies, and experts and technical specialists in the field. Over two days, the forum will be discussing several urgent issues in the mining sector, including discussions of global economic and environmental developments affecting the region's mineral industry, environmental and social practices in terms of competition and equal opportunities throughout the value chain to achieve economic prosperity, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's global role and leadership in renewable energy supply and its outlook for the period from 5 to 10 years, in addition to going over a special pillar related to the shape of the future mining company, and the role of bridging the supply and demand gap for minerals and the role of the region in bridging this gap. The forum also allocated an area to showcase the latest current and future mining technologies, an outdoor exhibition area, and a dedicated area to display investment opportunities in Africa, and West and Central Asia, as promising mining zones capable of contributing to bridging future demand gaps for minerals, as well as a zone for signing partnership agreements and cooperation memorandums, and the Saudi pavilion that was organized under the umbrella of the "Invest in Saudi ", which brings together many government agencies to provide information on the latest investment opportunities in the Kingdom.
