The vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2030, and emanated Program of National Transformation 2020 have drawn the interest of the US government, businessmen and giant corporations, following reviewing the details of the strategy of the Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Second Deputy Premier and the Minister of Defense during their meeting, during the current visit to the United States of America. 

This visit proved the strong relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States of America and the depth of the bilateral understanding between the leaderships of the two countries to address many regional and international issues, as well as boosting US-Saudi cooperation towards wider horizons, in order to establish a new era of relations, in which more common benefits would be realized. 

This came during a meeting of ministers accompanying the Deputy Crown Prince with the Saudi media men, tonight in Washington, in the presence of Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki, the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, who pointed out the importance of the status of the kingdom in the world and the keenness of the leadership to build international relations characterized by mutual respect, valuing the visit Deputy Crown Prince which has achieved great successes and culminated in meetings he held with President Barack Obama and senior administration s officials. 

For his part, the Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Adel bin Zaid Al-Toraifi said that the meeting of the Deputy Crown Prince with President Barack Obama has been remarkable and successful, during which they discussed various topics, atop of which was the energy, the Kingdom s keenness on the stability of energy prices in the world, and how to find other sources for alternative energy, adding that the meeting touched, in details, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2030 vision and its emanated programs such as: 2020 National Transformation which was launched in the first week of the month of Ramadan, in addition to discussing developments related to the regional files, including the situations in Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. 

He explained that everyone was touched during the meeting, for the keenness of the US president to know the details of Vision 2030 and the meeting ended very positively, in a way that reflects the level of constructive relations between the two countries. 

The minister stated that the Deputy Crown Prince has met with the Secretary of State John Kerry, at the start of his visit to the United States, then met with the US Secretary of Defense and a number of US government officials and confirmed that these meetings are a turning point among for the two countries and bear a vision that the Kingdom follows new different tracks which could be invested to meet the interests of the Kingdom and America. 

On the other hand, the Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf said that the meetings of the Deputy Crown Prince with the economic team of the US administration, represented by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Minister of Commerce, Minister of Energy, the US Trade Representative and a representative of the Advisory Council for Economic Affairs, have discussed reviewed in detail the vision of the Kingdom in 2030 and other related elements such as the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Aramco, and strategic partnerships with other countries and was followed by discussion with the President and members of the American Chambers of Commerce Council, in regard of business sector represented by a number of major US companies.

Although some of these companies operate in the Saudi market and deal with it, but that when they listened to the details of the vision of the Deputy Crown Prince, they expressed intent to expand their investments, in the Kingdom, adding that the Deputy Crown Prince focused in his dialogue with US officials, on the local content in the economy and how to increase it and in a sense that we rely on the domestic industry, either domestic manufacturers or big companies rather than to import, he said, pointing out the Deputy Crown Prince has given the first work permit for the first American company to work in the Kingdom, in an important step to increase competition in the domestic market and to improve the quality of the products and sales, as well.

He concluded by stressing that the objective of the investment is to directly invest in industries and activities in the Kingdom.

For his part, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih said that the important issues that were discussed with the economic team of US government in the Ministry of Energy focused on oil and energy in general, as foundation of the bilateral strong economic relationship.

He continued saying that despite the surplus in oil global production over the past two years and lower prices, the market is still obsessed by the oil key producing countries of the world, because the oil price subjected to high and low cycles, and everyone realizes that after ending the current price decline cycle and the impact on investment in energy, there will be a need for a country such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which has depth and strategic position to balance supply and demand.

Al-Falih pointed out that there was an American interest to see the Kingdom's policy in this side, and they found that the Kingdoms' policy is stable and more responsible in terms of maintaining production capacity and its surplus in the ability to fill any shortage, and that the Kingdom is seeking to balance the supply and demand, and maintain moderate prices for producers and consumers.

Energy Minister said that the topic that occupied the attention of the American side is the subject of "climate change" and the Convention after France meeting. They sought to let this agreement enter into effect after the admission of a number of countries, which emits 55% of the emissions, indicating that the Kingdom would start procedures join this Convention after the completion of legal reviews by the Shura Council and the Council of Ministers.

Al-Falih expressed the hope that the Kingdom could enter this agreement.

Eng. Al-Falih disclosed that there is a strong partnership between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. in the field of research, citing that an initiative was launched coinciding with the meetings of COP21 Paris through which the Kingdom's research agencies work to develop a new technology for the energy efficiency, transferring the encircled carbon to useful products or use it in oil production to reduce the environmental impact of carbon.

In addition, the Americans discussed, according to Al-Falih the renewable energy issue as the Kingdom has announced that it would introduce 10 megawatts of the Kingdom's power consumption through wind energy with the Americans offering their experience in this reared and encourage this industry through loans and other U.S. working mechanisms.

The Saudi side requested that the experience of U.S. research centers in this regard be transferred to Riyadh-based King Abdullah Center for Oil Studies, Al-Falih said, adding that U.S. companies were invited to redouble their investments in the Kingdom in their capacity as secure economic environment as regards the firmness of policies.

He said that the Saudi side hopes to attract the investment experience in basic industries like oil, refining, petrochemicals, Aluminum to two other levels: first the transformative industries and the use of advanced materials produced by the petrochemical industry, taking in mind the availability of incentive-priced electricity, oil and gas together with an unprecedented infrastructure, citing Jubail and Yanbu Royal Commission, Ras Al-Khair, Jazan, and Mudun. He said if matters go like this, we could enter into final transformative industries , including vehicles, local appliances, renewable energy industries, he said, citing wring energy turbines. Secondly, is the field of services in its capacity as the biggest job producers, and that the Kingdom would become the biggest services producer, citing energy, minding and services sector.

He said the vision also seeks that Saudi Arabia becomes a link point between the world's continents, not only through the transportation of materials and goods, but also from the information point of view through an advanced technological network which will be established in the country. In addition to the importance of finding information centers that would support the electric grid between Africa and the GCC countries the Kingdom would turn to be an intellectual sources, due to its deep-rooted status in the heart of Islamic world and a logistical center of manufacturing and transference of goods and communication among the peoples of the world, he said.

He cited the importance of non-profit partnership between the Kingdom and a number of research centers around the world. In this regard, he said National Geographic was invited to become a partner of the Kingdom in research in the fields of nature, the Kingdom's geography, civilicational history through their media means in addition to entering into research partnerships with a number of Saudi research centers, noting that they have shown encouragement to that effect.

He said Aramco is still seeking investments in the U.S. oil market.

He disclosed the intention of the Kingdom to double its gas production, citing new discoveries including traditional and shale gas and other discoveries in the Red Sea.

He said Aramco is planning to go investing in an appropriate way in the renewable energy industry to achieve a local level of 75% in all ingredients of the energy and petrochemicals including materials and services.

Minister of Trade and Investment Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qassabi discussed a number of objectives of the Deputy Crown Prince's visit to the United States, including marketing and introducing the Kingdom's vision 2030, and building on the gained previous partnerships to take advantage of the American giant companies in the Kingdom's needs within the promising sectors in vision, and discussed opportunities for national companies in export and support for its products in international markets.

Dr. Al-Qassabi pointed out that during the visit, Deputy Crown Prince granted the first license to the company (Dow Chemical) to invest in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to operate in the local market according to certain controls based on the general direction of the state to open investment in retail trade that was announced by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during his visit to America in 2015, in addition to providing the quality and knowledge of the industry in the Saudi market without affecting the existence of the citizen in the market.

Trade and Investment Minister said that this investment and others will benefit in opening national factories in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, pointing out, that during this visit, the Deputy Crown Prince will grant permits for two more companies, namely (3M) and (Pfizer), stressing that they will add a lot of value to Saudi market, because they are well-known global companies, while negotiations are still underway about the entry of Apple to the market.

Dr. Al-Qassabi discussed the subject of human investment, through access to "management of small businesses in America" which includes the experience of 28 million facility. He added that the Kingdom has established "small and medium enterprises Authority" and still working on its national strategy, and partnerships were held with small businesses in America to take advantage of them as to match the needs of the Kingdom, as well as mechanism work with the American Chamber of Commerce for the exchange of information as Saudi and foreign investors need for it.

Dr. Al-Qassabi said that they developed mechanisms to implement a project to exchange experiences with the American side in small enterprises, and by the end of September, the delegation will visit the Kingdom to look closely at the steps taken with regard to Small and Medium Enterprises Authority.

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