Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) plans to open offices in China, the United States, Britain, Germany and other countries in its bid to attract investments in infrastructure projects worth billions of riyals.
SAGIA chief Amr Al-Dabbagh said the Kingdom was seeking some $120 billion investments in power generation, transmission and distribution in its bid to double electricity generation capacity to 60,000 megawatts within 20 years.
A press statement published today quoted Al-Dabbagh as saying foreign direct investment (FDI) was "crucially important" for the Kingdom to finance key projects like power and water desalination plants, communications, energy and others.
SAGIA has recently started an aggressive policy to attract foreign funds, providing incentives and tax breaks for investors and removing hurdles facing them, he said.
The authority concluded 17 agreements with various government departments aimed at knocking down hurdles to local and foreign investment.