Saudi Aramco identifies SMEs development opportunities with $16 bln market gap

State-run Saudi Aramco has identified 140 development opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across nine industrial segments, with a market gap of over $16 billion, Ahmad A. Al-Saadi, senior vice president of technical services, said on Monday.

“That is only a fraction of our $400 billion capital program over the next decade,” he added in a keynote speech during the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council’s premier SME Forum, held in Los Angeles.

SMEs currently account for just 20 percent of Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP), less than half the level in most industrialized nations.

Saudi Arabia seeks to encourage large and small American companies to invest in the Kingdom, thanks to the various incentives and support offered to partners, as part of its plan to raise the SME contribution to 35 percent of GDP.

Participation in the event builds momentum of Saudi Aramco’s efforts to promote a world-class supply chain, and localization in line with the company’s In Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) program.

IKTVA began as a strategy to increase Saudi Aramco’s energy goods and services supply chain to 70 percent local content by 2021.

“By helping create quality jobs, building an innovative workforce and stimulating economic growth, localization aligns with the economic and social aims of Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s economic diversification program,” Al-Saadi added.