At the Saudi-South African Investment Forum in Jeddah, Eng. Khalid Saleh Al-Mudaifer, the Vice Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources for Mining Affairs, spoke about the best investment opportunities in a range of industries in Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
During his speech, Al-Mudaifer stressed that Saudi Arabia and South Africa are willing to find solutions to develop the mining sector in the two countries by focusing on increasing the quality of life via development projects and producing minerals and metals necessary to face climate change.
He also emphasized the importance of establishing refining centers and processing green minerals and providing cheap and credible supplies for renewable energy with the use of.
He noted that Saudi Arabia will utilize its capital and strategic geographical location in realizing these targets, in addition to increasing awareness of the challenges and opportunities that are represented by this new era of minerals through opening serious and qualitative channels with investors and stakeholders.
He added that Saudi Arabia seeks to establish a mining system at a global level in cooperation with South Africa, which is considered a suitable destination for partnership to realize these targets, especially since Saudi Arabia today has become a main consumer of steel, aluminum, copper, and other minerals to realize targets of manufacturing and huge infrastructure projects, whose total value exceeds $1 trillion.
He pointed out that Saudi Arabia has set practical goals to develop projects of “green iron” and green mineral projects that integrate with hydrogen stations that Saudi Arabia is constructing with companies like Saudi ACWA Power Company, which is among the leading international companies and most concerned about the environment.
In 2021, Saudi Arabia’s exports to South Africa amounted to more than SR12 billion in oil exports and SR3 billion in non-oil exports.
Saudi non-oil imports from South Africa totaled SR3.14 billion, with Saudi exports to South Africa focused on a variety of sectors such as petrochemicals, construction materials, packaging, and textiles, with a number of promising export opportunities between the two countries expected to be considered.
