Riyadh is hoping Microsoft Corporation will invest in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s largest market for information and communications technology (ICT) products.

In late April, the governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia), Amr Abdullah Al Dabbagh, met with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to discuss possible investment opportunities for the company in the kingdom, a statement said after the meeting, which took place in Dubai.
Commenting on the meeting, Sagia’s ICT section chief, Dr. Abdulaziz A. Jazzar, described the kingdom’s population as “technology-friendly and financially fluid”, adding it would help generate growth for the ICT market.
“Sagia’s focus on ICT as one of its key sectors for promotion presented an ideal background against which to hold a meeting with Microsoft to ascertain its future business expansion plans and highlight the various investment opportunities available in the kingdom,” he explained.
Saudi Arabia has the right indicators in place to transform itself into an information-based society, a statement issued after the meeting said.  “Mobile telephone users have doubled nearly every year since the 1980s when the technology first entered the market, and the number of fixed operating lines has been increasing at a minimum rate of 10 per cent per year.  The hardware market has grown consistently by 20 per cent over the last five years.  Internet penetration has had corresponding growth, including incorporation of the latest technology at every stage.  In Saudi Arabia, nearly all small-to-medium to large-scale enterprises use PCs, and 82 per cent of these are equipped with dedicated servers.  The country is poised to experience technology growth.”
Microsoft’s general manager for Saudi Arabia, Khaled Al Daher, said his company was committed to working with the governments in the region and aimed to develop initiatives that improve access to technology, create opportunities for communities and drive local economic activities through ICT products.
Sagia was constituted in April 2000 under the directives of the Supreme Economic Council to serve as a catalyst for inward investments and to facilitate an exchange of best practice between the public and private sectors. It also acts as an intermediary between the global community and the Saudi government and its ministries and agencies and contributes to policy making.