Riyadh – Mubasher: The US-based Apple and Amazon are holding discussions with Saudi Arabia to inaugurate projects, two informed sources said on Thursday.
These negotiations are part of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to draw the high technology to the Kingdom.
Apple is in talks with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and Saudi Arabian foreign investment authority, Reuters reported, citing a third source as saying.
“Both companies already sell products in Saudi Arabia via third parties but they and other global tech giants have yet to establish a direct presence,” the agency added.
Amazon’s discussions with the Kingdom’s authorities are led by its subsidiary the cloud computing division firm Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Two sources affirmed that the licencing agreement for Apple stores with SAGIA is forecast to be implemented in February 2018 and there is an initial retail store that will be opened in 2019.
On the other hand, talks with Amazon do not reveal any data for coming investment plans in Saudi Arabia.
