The Saudi ports represent a fundamental and important pillar in supporting economic growth and have an exceptional role in the development of regional and international trade, on which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relies on, to achieve successive development plans as the main factor in the trade and industrial exchange between the Kingdom and the world. The Kingdom has 10 ports, namely: Jeddah Islamic Port, King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, King Abdullah Port in Rabigh, King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu, Yanbu Commercial Port, King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail, Jubail Commercial Port, Jazan Port, Dubah Port and Ras Al Khair Port. Four of these ports are located on the coast of the Arabian Gulf and six on the Red Sea coast, through which 13% of the world trade volume passes, and are directly related to all economic, industrial and commercial activities in all the Kingdom's regions and cities. The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) is responsible for organizing, supervising, operating and developing nine Saudi ports to serve various operational and logistic projects that benefiting the national economy and strengthening the commercial movement in the Kingdom. The Kingdom has a strategic location, through which it overlooks the Arabian Gulf from the east and the Red Sea from the west, which are crossed by many shipping and passenger vessels from three continents of the world, Africa, Asia and Europe. The geographical location of the Kingdom is also a link to the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe and its coasts extending east and west, and has a series of ports ready to meet strong export and import movement and serve transit vessels. Due to the importance of the Saudi ports, the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has invested in developing the Kingdom's ports to keep up with developments in international shipping standards by allocating huge budgets to establish and develop Saudi ports on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf coast. As part of the qualitative leap in the development of Saudi ports, Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs inaugurated the King Abdullah Port in Rabigh, the first port in the Middle East which is owned, developed and managed fully by the private sector, during his visit to King Abdullah Economic City, which also included announcing a number of agreements signed by the port management with many parties. In this context, the Minister of Transport and Chairman of the Saudi Ports Authority, Dr. Nabil bin Mohammed Al-Amoudi said: "This important national project and the achievements we are witnessing today would not have been possible without the care, keenness and support of the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for all that would push the development of this dear country. " The great support provided by the State to revitalize Saudi ports has resulted in the launching of 10 major initiatives by the Saudi Ports Authority to achieve its vision and the Kingdom's Vision 2030, the most important of which is the development of infrastructure, operational efficiency and regulatory reform. --More 10:41 LOCAL TIME 07:41 GMT 0001 www.spa.gov.sa/1913866
