Space and aviation industry leaders in Saudi Arabia and India recently said their industries are good opportunities for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, calling it an ideal time to partner with the improving industries.
The leaders promoted the idea at the recent Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi.
The aviation industry in Saudi Arabia has been improving with privatization, liberalization and expansion, and its passenger and fleet numbers have doubled over the last few years.
Within the next 20 years, Saudi Arabia will become a self-sufficient force, fully maintaining and assembling its aerospace industry with its components sector. This is a significant step forward for the industry as well as the regional economy.
"For those people who have cash in their pockets, this is the time to move into the kingdom," Abdulmohsen Aynousah, director of technical sales and marketing for Saudi Aerospace Engineering Industries, said.
Experts estimate that the industry will make notable contributions to Saudi Arabia’s non-oil GDP in the next 15 years. The contributions, which could be 10 to 15 percent, would improve the GDP’s current level of 2 percent.
"We are now training people to become involved in second tier assembly of aircraft parts - the first stage in the manufacturing process,” Alsalam Aircraft Company CEO Yahya Al Ghoraibi said. “It requires a lot of investment to provide the skills to the level required for the manufacturing sector. We are gradually moving into the assembly of aircraft. We are committed to provide bring value-added work to the kingdom with quality and at low cost.”
India also is taking proactive steps with its civil aviation policy, intending to formalize it soon so that the nation can set up its own operations within Abu Dhabi as soon as possible.
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