The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) has Tuesday signed five investment agreements in the aerospace, technology and finance sectors, demonstrating the country's emerging positioning in global value chains. The agreements were signed on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII6). MISA signed two of the agreements in the aerospace sector, demonstrating the Kingdom's emerging positioning in this strategic industry. An agreement with world-leading aerospace company Boeing and local advanced metals manufacturer Tasnee to advance the Kingdom's aerospace industry value chain; and an agreement with US space training company Orbite to develop investment opportunities in space tourism and entertainment. With an ambitious goal of localizing 50 percent of the aerospace and defense sector's expenditure by 2030, the Kingdom has succeeded in attracting investment from companies across the entire aerospace and defense supply chain, from global original equipment manufacturers to small- and medium-sized enterprises. Major business climate reforms, including easy online licensing, 100% foreign ownership and the establishment of the General Authority of Military industries (GAMI) as the regulatory body have enabled this swift progress. In addition to penning the aerospace agreements, MISA also signed two agreements today in the technology sector and one in the finance sector. An agreement with the American biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks to expand biotechnology capabilities in the Kingdom by implementing innovative public health technologies, establishing synthetic biology support for public health and providing other tools training and data infrastructure. This followed an agreement with Korea's Taihan Cable & Solution to establish a new extra high voltage cable and copper rod manufacturing plant; and an agreement with Brazilian financial company BTG Pactual, one of Latin America's largest investment banks, to establish a regional headquarters in Riyadh. The agreements signed Tuesday illustrate sustained confidence in the Kingdom as a world-class investment destination, one of the key goals of the National Investment Strategy (NIS) launched a year ago. A core component of the strategy is the Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative — launched on Sunday. The initiative aims to enable global investors to create low-risk, low-cost and low-carbon supply chains leveraging the Kingdom's natural resources, strong logistics infrastructure and untapped potential. In its launch phase, the initiative aims to attract more than $10 billion of industrial and service investments in global supply chains to the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia has seen strong growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years as the Kingdom's economic reforms have unlocked a broad range of opportunities for international investors. Last year net FDI growth increased by an unprecedented 257.2%, with inflows totaling almost $20 billion for the year — the highest they have been in 10 years. This momentum continued into 2022, with inflows growing 10% on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter. According to the International Monetary Fund, Saudi Arabia is expected to be the fastest-growing G20 economy this year, due in part to sweeping pro-business reforms, with gross domestic product expected to expand by 7.6 percent, the fastest growth in almost a decade. — SPA
