Abdulaziz Abdulkarim, Saudi Aramco Vice President of Procurement and Supply Chain Management, participated today in an event marking the expansion of General Electric’s Manufacturing and Technology Center (GEMTECH) in Dammam Industrial City. GE Saudi Arabia hosted the event at the newly constructed facility, which was held under the patronage of HRH Prince Saud bin Nayef, Governor of the Eastern Province.
The inauguration of the facility was attended by H.E. Khalid A. Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, who delivered a keynote speech and took part in a ministerial panel discussion on “Digital Transformation of Industry and Saudi Vision 2030: Driving diversification and localization in the Kingdom.”
Speaking at a panel discussion on “Driving successful customer outcomes through the Digital Industrial ecosystem” where he discussed Saudi Aramco’s flagship In-Kingdom Total Value Add (iktva) localization program, Abdulkarim said: “As strongly as we believe in iktva and local value creation, we do not underestimate the task at hand. We understand deeply the ecosystem that is required to enable connections, collaboration and meaningful opportunity.”
He added: “Over the last few years we have been laying the economic groundwork to facilitate success for our supplier network and enable the success of iktva and the transformation of the Kingdom’s economy to a more diversified industrial base. These preparations have included work with government agencies to expand facilities for training the workforce our suppliers will need, and to develop the economic clusters required to support new industries.”
The expansion of GEMTECH, which will include a heavy-duty gas turbine manufacturing facility, marks an important contribution to meeting the company’s iktva objectives by increasing spend with local manufacturers, creating meaningful jobs for Saudis, while also providing training opportunities for local talent. Iktva is strongly aligned with the industrial transformation of the Kingdom and Vision 2030, helping drive investment by the company’s supplier network in impactful ways, such as increasing the production of local goods and services.