Today, Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo and Minister of Commerce Majid Alkassabi launched the U.S.-Saudi Arabia Commercial Partnership Shared Work Plan, a roadmap that will guide cooperation between the U.S. Department of Commerce and Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Commerce as our countries continue to deepen our bilateral commercial relationship.

The Work Plan aims to guide our cooperation in four areas, which were selected based on the U.S. and Saudi Arabia’s shared goals of open, prosperous markets and inclusive growth. These areas are: the green economy, strengthening the role of women and small medium enterprises (SMEs), promoting innovation, and increasing two-way investment.

Under the auspices of the Work Plan, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce have outlined several intended collaborative efforts to promote deeper cooperation and enhance U.S.-Saudi commercial ties.

Some of these intended activities include:

• An executive-led Clean Tech Trade Mission to Saudi Arabia (as well as Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar) in March 2023;
• The development of a U.S.-Saudi Arabia Incubator/Accelerator Connector Program with ITA’s Commercial Service office in San Francisco. It is intended that this series of events will focus on providing Saudi startups with a better understanding of incubators and accelerators based in the United States and will conclude with pitches from Saudi SMEs to U.S.-based incubators and accelerators.
• A series of webinars aimed towards harmonizing standards in emerging tech sectors such as cyber security, smart cities, renewable energy, waste management, energy storage and smart grids. It is intended that these webinars will be developed by U.S. Standards Developing Organizations and relevant U.S. government officials, in collaboration with Saudi Arabia's Standards Body and the Gulf Standards Organization.

Continued engagement with Saudi Arabia’s Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority and U.S. industry representatives to provide input on Saudi regulations impacting U.S. businesses in sectors including cloud computing, financial services and e-commerce, cross-border data flows and interoperability.