The Saudi Offset Limited Partnership (SOLP) is expanding the reach of its offset projects by developing commercial, technological, and private sector-public sector partnerships, both internationally and locally in Saudi Arabia. 

Interactive Saudi Arabia Limited (ISA), a portal development company, focuses on e-commerce, e-government, and e-education. ISA has completed a number of IT projects with various Saudi Government entities such as the Government Organisation for Technical Education and Vocational Training, Saudi Food and Drug Authority and Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia), and with the banking industry. Recently ISA became a preferred partner with Microsoft.  Basel Al-Jabr, who once served as Secretary General for the National Committee on E-commerce at the Ministry of Commerce, is the president of ISA.
Plastbau Arabia, manufac-turer of an advanced technology construction system, commi-ssioned its Dammam plant in spring 2006.  Its insulated concrete formwork panels have already been used for the construction of several private homes in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province as well as a special building at the King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh and for erecting its own offices, which double as a demonstration project for the Plastbau system.
Arabian Shrimp Company, one of the largest shrimp projects in the world with 5,000 hectares of shrimp ponds in its final phase, has completed the construction of the first phase of the project.  Dr Fahd Balghunaim, Minister of Agriculture, visited the site with his deputy ministers in early November, in conjunction with King Abdullah’s visit to Jazan to energise the development of southern Saudi Arabia.  The minister and his staff toured the larviculture and hatchery tanks, the broodstock ponds, the laboratory facilities for quality control and high health broodstock testing, and the pump station.  The Arabian Shrimp Company is a model offset project in the agricultural sector, promoting a vertically integrated structure from seed to value-added market product.  At the close of the visit, Dr Balghunaim noted that “Jazan is blessed with so many good things for aquaculture, both shrimp and finfish farming.  In a few years we will be able to make Jazan a centre for fisheries export with associated industries such as feed mills and regional processing centres.  Both employment and investment will come.”
In late October, the first general board meeting of the Saudi National Lamps and Electricals Company convened with representation from shareholders: the National Company for Glass Industries (Zoujaj), Saudi Offset Limited Partnership (SOLP), and Indo Asian Fusegear Ltd.  Site selection in the industrial city of Al Hasa was confirmed; construction of the plant for the $8.5 million project will begin in late 2006 or early 2007. The plant will manufacture energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps and high intensity discharge lamps such as high-pressure sodium vapour lamps and metal halide lamps.  It will promote local national employment and substitute locally made products for imported products.
The Saudi Offset Limited Partnership (DevCorp International, general partner) is a $35 million investment fund in which Raytheon (USA) and Thales (France) invested as limited partners.  The SOLP develops and implements projects from start to finish, developing market and feasibility studies, project implementation plans, financial and technology-transfer relationships, and selecting the appropriate management team for the full development of project potential.
 The SOLP through DevCorp is currently focusing on two major initiatives in Saudi Arabia in conjunction with the Saudi Economic Offset committee and the Saudi Arabian Government Investment Authority: mariculture in both the north and south Red Sea Coast and integrated plastics technology, manufacturing, and training.