Saudi Arabia’s first World Defense Show has seen the signing of 22 industrial partnerships with domestic and international defense companies with a value of SR8 billion ($2.13 billion), according to the show’s founder.
The General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI), which is also the regulator of the Kingdom’s defense sector, said that the deals cover a broad range of activities, including the direct purchase of military systems, the building of production lines, knowledge transfer and training, and the localization of technologies and services, according to Saudi media reports.
“The deals come in line with GAMI’s Industrial Participation Program, an initiative launched in 2019 as the successor of Saudi Arabia’s Economic Offset Program to capitalize on existing capabilities and to generate new investments in the defense industries,” according to a statement.
GAMI is the founder of the WDS and the defense industries sector’s regulator. It is overseeing a process of deep industry reform, with an overall goal of retaining 50 percent of defense spending in the Kingdom by 2030, the reports said.
“GAMI is implementing a strategy centered on the development of Saudi Arabia’s human capital, the fostering of industrial partnerships, and a program of supply chain localization that has identified more than 70 domestic investment opportunities worth tens of billions of dollars,” it added.