RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has been attracting the attention of the global clients of US-based asset manager BlackRock as they see strong demand in the Kingdom’s infrastructure investments, reported Reuters.
Rachel Lord, BlackRock’s senior managing director and head of the Asia-Pacific region, said the company had deployed over $15 billion in natural gas pipelines in Saudi Arabia.
She added that the Kingdom is a very appealing destination with “a strong set of investment opportunities to come.”
In November, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and BlackRock signed an agreement to jointly explore infrastructure projects in the Middle East, primarily focusing on the Kingdom.
The PIF has signed a memorandum of understanding with the firm to help attract regional and international investors to projects, including those in the energy, power and utilities, transportation, telecommunication and social infrastructure sectors.
The MoU comes as the PIF explores new opportunities in the Middle East while boosting the participation of the Saudi private sector. It also aligns with the fund’s objective to further bolster its domestic and regional investment portfolio.
In May, the PIF also expanded its strategy by developing a unit with a capital of $3 billion to invest in industries across Iraq.
According to Muteb Al-Shathri, acting CEO of the Saudi-Iraq Investment Co., the unit will be headquartered in the Kingdom. It will look for funding opportunities in infrastructure, mining and real estate development, among other areas.
The PIF is crucial in accelerating the Kingdom’s economic diversification as part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy.
The transformational strategy aims to increase foreign direct investment contribution to the gross domestic product from 0.7 percent in 2016 to 5.7 percent by 2030.
In addition to the PIF, platforms like Invest in Saudi have also launched initiatives to invite investors to the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia also announced a new business visa earlier this month as part of the Kingdom’s drive to attract foreign funding into the economy.
The “visiting investor” visa is being launched by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Investment, which worked closely with the Kingdom’s Foreign Affairs department to develop the new permit.
