Riyadh – Mubasher: CEO of the Saudi Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, Abdulrahman Al Samari, said the decision to cease contracting of government entitles with foreign companies that do not have a regional headquarters in the kingdom after 2023 will provide valuable investment opportunities to global firms.
Speaking to state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Thursday, Al Samari said the policy would develop local content components from the workforce, products, services, as well as assets and technology.
The decision came after announcing the objectives of the Riyadh Strategy 2030 during the recently-held Future Investment Initiative Forum when the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) announced agreeing with 24 international companies to move their regional headquarters to Riyadh.
The decision will enable companies with headquarters in the kingdom to benefit from local content preference mechanisms through contracting with government bodies in the kingdom or those entities owned by it by 2024.
Earlier this week, Minister of Finance, Mohammed al-Jadaan, told Reuters that “If a company refused to move their headquarters to Saudi Arabia it is absolutely their right and they will continue to have the freedom to work with the private sector in Saudi Arabia, but as long as it is related to the government contracts, they will have to have their regional headquarters here.”
