By Innovation-sa on November 8, 2017 in News
Thales Group, a French multinational company focusing in aerospace, space, defense, ground transportation and security sectors, expressed its keen interest in the Kingdom’s military productions.
The group will focus on assisting Saudis in localizing activities in the defense industry, security and civil businesses through training and knowledge-transfer programs, noted Patrice Caine, chairman and CEO of Thales Group.
Thales Group, which operates throughout the Kingdom have over 700 employees within the country of which 30 percent are Saudis. It has offices located in Riyadh, Jubail and Jeddah.
Thales is already involved in the production of certain products exclusively for the local markets in collaboration with Saudi companies. Its move to localize part of its manufacturing sector in the Kingdom would be a great contribution to the Kingdom’s economy, in line with Vision 2030, added Caine.
Earlier in May, when Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) was launched, Caine called it a great initiative and expressed the group’s desire to work in collaboration with it.
Though the group has investments in several sectors globally, in Saudi Arabia, 60 percent of its projects are related to defense. They play a major role in providing security to the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah.
With the Middle East defense market expecting to reach $180 billion by 2020, Thales is rapidly growing in the region. Saudi Arabia and UAE are among the top 10 countries spending on defense.
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