The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Motor Company, with the aim of enhancing cooperation in vehicle manufacturing in the region.
The government said the cooperation will help realise the national strategic goals for industry in developing local manufacturing capabilities and is in line with the targets of Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the country’s economic base.
The signing took place in the presence of Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef, Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al-Ibrahim, Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Eng Osamah Al-Zamel, Saudi Industrial Development Fund CEO Dr Ibrahim Al-Mojel, and Hyundai Motor Company Executive Vice President and Head of Global Operations Division Seon Seob Kim.
The MoU describes planning for building a Saudi Arabia-based CKD assembly plant for electric cars and internal combustion engines cars. The Saudi Arabian government says Hyundai showed “high interest and plans to explore joint investment opportunities” with Saudi Arabia to “achieve entrepreneurship in businesses and projects that guarantee environment safety and sustainability”.
The Saudi National Industry Strategy aims to “localise” the vehicle sector and increase investment opportunities there, where light car sales are expected to increase in the Kingdom by 2.2 per cent by 2030. The government says it expects the localisation of the sector to “yield big benefits” to the Kingdom.