Kingdom opens investment chances to Korean businesses

Nearly 40 Korean companies and 100 participants recently attended the “Downstream Manufacturing Opportunities in Saudi Arabia” forum in Seoul, South Korea, as a way to promote investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

Organized by Aramco Asia-Korea (AAK) in collaboration with Sadara Chemical Company, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu’ (RCJY), and the Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company, the forum was designed to brief Korean industry players on the rapidly changing business environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ways to capture business opportunities in the region.

Korean petrochemical companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises related to Sadara downstream and conversion industries, venture companies, and government associates were among the attendees.

Saudi Arabia, the 20th largest economy in the world, witnessed 3.4% growth in its gross domestic product rate last year. With an expanding demand for petrochemical derivatives, its chemical industry is shifting from historical portfolio of commodity products to performance polymers and specialty chemicals.

After the forum, AAK arranged individual meetings for Sadara and RCJY and six Korean companies that have shown initial interest to review potential investment opportunities within Sadara downstream and conversion industries.

Individual one-on-one meetings covered in-depth discussions of potential investment cases by exchanging the initial idea of potential investment plan and the detailed information on the Sadara value chain and infrastructure of RCJY.