Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is spearheading a campaign to convince multinationals from Google to Siemens to relocate their regional headquarters from Dubai to Riyadh.
Under the initiative, dubbed “Programme HQ”, authorities are offering incentives to blue-chip companies in sectors such as IT, finance and oil services to move to Riyadh, according to consultants advising the government and executives who have heard the pitch.
The aim of the initiative is to bolster foreign investment and support the crown prince’s ambitious vision to establish the kingdom as a regional business hub. “They are looking at the regional HQs, not the operating units, so they basically want the senior leadership,” said an executive briefed on the plans. “I think it’s about the optics: ‘we are a serious player, we are the largest market, we want the companies that do business here to be based here’”.
The campaign underscores how Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s biggest economy, is using its financial clout to step up competition with Dubai, the regional trade, finance and tourism hub, as Prince Mohammed drives the development of a string of megaprojects. Virtually all big companies operating in the oil-rich Gulf have their regional headquarters in the United Arab Emirates. The Saudi move comes as Gulf economies are struggling because of the pandemic and the collapse of the oil price.
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