International companies obtained regional licenses in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Ministry of Investment announced that a large number of multinational companies responded to the government’s call to open regional headquarters in the Kingdom.

PepsiCo, PwC, and Unilever are among 350 global companies that complied with the decision and obtained licenses for regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia. Other companies, including Boeing, also applied to obtain these licenses, according to Al Arabiya. The Kingdom announced in February 2021 that it would stop dealing with any international companies whose regional headquarters are not located within the country by 2024. The Kingdom, which is the largest economy in the region and the largest oil exporter in the world, plans to stop contracts with companies and commercial institutions whose regional headquarters are located outside Saudi Arabia, in a move aimed at encouraging foreign companies to have a permanent presence in the country that would help provide job opportunities. For the Saudis, but these companies will have the freedom to work with the private sector in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Minister of Investment, Engineer Khalid Al-Falih, confirmed in a speech during the “Human Capacity Initiative” conference in Riyadh that investments push the workforce to acquire new skills, develop talent, and achieve their full potential, indicating that there is a strong symbiotic relationship between investment and human capacity, and that This symbiotic dynamic is not new to the Kingdom. For more than 90 years, the Kingdom has been a leader in the energy sector. He stated that by the current decade, the Kingdom aims for its economy to be twice what it was before the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and the partnership with the private sector will continue, as it aims to raise partnerships from 40% to 65%. Al-Falih pointed out that more than $3 trillion of investments will be pumped into the local economy, a large portion of which will be in new economic sectors, such as the digital economy, tourism, and finance, in addition to health care, pharmacy, and biotechnology, as these investments will provide tremendous opportunities for capital development. It will also require a different set of skills, as well as a new worldview and outlook.