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Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Wall Street Leaders Discuss Aramco Public Offering | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Oil tanks seen at the Saudi Aramco headquarters during a media tour at Damam city November 11, 2007. REUTERS/ Ali Jarekji/File Photo


Washington- Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Thursday in New York.

During the meeting, the officials discussed cooperation between the two countries in a number of fields, including research, technology, energy efficiencies, computing and renewable energy. They also discussed the current situation in the oil market and supporting joint efforts for the stability of the energy markets and the supply of energy to world markets in a sustainable manner.

Prince Mohammed also discussed investment opportunities with leading financial and investment companies in New York on Thursday.

The meeting was attended by top financial chiefs and heads of giant companies in Wall Street, including Dow Chemical and Bloomberg.

Sources said the talks were very fruitful and touched on the means to promote cooperation between Saudi and U.S. companies. The meeting also tackled opportunities for U.S. investment and financial groups to work in the Kingdom and contribute to the Economic Transformation Program within Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

The deputy crown prince explained to investors the details of Vision 2030 and the planned offering of five percent of Saudi giant Aramco to the public.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., as it is formally known, is one of the largest enterprises on earth. The company is currently valued at roughly $3 trillion.

A number of U.S. investors expressed their interest in privatization plans in Saudi Arabia, including the public offering of Aramco, which is expected to break a new record in the history of Wall Street as the world’s largest publicly traded firm.

J.P. Morgan, Banker Klein and Citigroup have announced their interest to advise on Aramco’s initial public offering.

Business Analyst and expert in New York’s oil markets Alex McGuire said that Aramco public offering will become the biggest stock offering ever, and it is “already generating tons of buzz among big banks.”

Also on Thursday, the Deputy Crown Prince met with a number of Saudi businessmen in New York.
During the meeting, they exchanged views on enhancing partnership and investment opportunities as well as attracting promising investments within the process of nationalizing technologies and rehabilitating national cadres.

Dr. Paul Sullivan, Middle East expert and academic at Georgetown University, said that meetings held by Prince Mohammed to promote Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and attract U.S. and foreign investments would pave the way to a better future for the Kingdom.

He added that the Saudi Vision was a “breathtakingly ambitious plan,” which would reinforce the country’s economic, social and political status.

Sullivan went on to say that the Vision’s implementation would promote the country’s economy to reach rank 15 among the world’s strongest economies compared to its current 18th position.

“Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 is a complex program. Among the most important intended changes are to move the Kingdom’s economy from the worlds’ 18th largest to 15th, to implement reforms to enhance economic competitiveness, increase the share of the private sector from 40% to 60% of the economy, and grow non-oil government revenues by over 10 times,” Sullivan said.