RIYADH (Bloomberg) – Saudi officials are talking to 7,000 companies around the world about opening regional headquarters in the kingdom, offering tax breaks and other incentives to turn their desert capital into a global business hub that rivals Dubai.
More than 40 multinational companies including Baker Hughes Co., KPMG and Schlumberger received licenses on Wednesday as part of the new program to facilitate business. The firms will get exemptions from work visa limits, eased regulations, and help with the relocation of staff, officials said.
“The region simply has untapped potential and the largest untapped potential is the kingdom and the city of Riyadh,” Fahd Al-Rasheed, chief executive of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, said in an interview. “We are going to make sure we take our share, which is going to be the lion’s share of the business in the region.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to transform the capital into an international hub for business and talent – a push that’s increasingly posing a challenge to the neighboring United Arab Emirates. Competition is heating up as the prince overhauls the oil-dependent economy and eases social restrictions in the conservative kingdom.
The carrots are paired with a stick: From the start of 2024, the government and state-backed institutions will stop signing contracts with foreign companies that base their Middle East headquarters elsewhere in the region. But Al-Rasheed downplayed the idea of competition, pointing out that many of the companies they want to bring in don’t have any base in the region yet.