On the sidelines of Riyadh’s first World Defense Show, the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) announced the signing of 22 industrial partnerships with domestic and international defense companies. Together, the agreements are worth around SAR8 billion and include activities such as direct buying of military systems, the building of production lines, knowledge transfer and training, and the localization of technologies and services.
GAMI’s Industrial Participation Program replaces Saudi Arabia’s Economic Offset Program, which launched in 2019. This program leverages existing capabilities and generates new investments for the defense sector. With the signing of the industrial partnerships, the Kingdom’s inaugural World Defense Show has achieved remarkable success. A biannual forum for leading defense companies and policymakers, the international trade event offers the Kingdom the opportunity to showcase the many investment opportunities emerging from its dynamic defense industry.
The event takes place over four days, from March 6 to 9, and has as its theme defense interoperability across all domains – air, sea, land, and space. GAMI is the founder of the WDS as well as the sector’s regulator. With a goal of retaining 50% of defense spending in the Kingdom by 2030, it is overseeing a process of deep industry reform. GAMI’s Industrial Participation Program is a key component of the Kingdom’s defense industries sector strategy as it contributes to value creation and localization within the defense contractor partnership.
In addition, GAMI is implementing a strategy centered on the development of Saudi Arabia’s human capital, the fostering of industrial partnerships, and a program of supply chain localization that has led to the identification of more than 70 domestic investment projects worth tens of billions of dollars.
