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Saudi Energy Ministry Launches Strategy to Develop Mining Sector | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Riyadh-Saudi Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources launched an initiative to develop the mining sector in the country to increase the contribution of the this sector to the GDP and create more than 25,000 job opportunities by 2020.

The initiative comes within the fourth track in the Ministry’s initiatives, which is the “optimal use of mineral wealth.”

The Ministry explained in a statement Sunday that the major initiative in this field will be “approving and implementing a comprehensive strategy for the mining sector” that will be supported by other initiatives, mainly the one regarding developing Waad al-Shamal Industrial City in the north, mining projects in Ras al-Khair and the initiative to build centers to produce gold in northern and central areas.

For his part, Undersecretary at Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Eng. Sultan Shawli said that the initiative to approve and implement a comprehensive strategy for mining sector aims to make the mining sector the third pillar in the national economy following the oil and petrochemical sectors.

Shawli noted that the main objective of this initiative is to promote optimal utilization of mineral wealth and increase its contribution to the GDP.

He added that implementing the initiative will contribution to the GDP from SR 64 billion to SR 97 billion, and that will be accomplished by facilitating private sector investments, establishing Saudi fund for detecting, developing financing methods for the development of the mining sector and launching centers of excellence to support projects and institutional empowerment.