Saudi Arabia Approves Contracting Regulations for Companies Without Regional Offices in the Kingdom

The Saudi Press Agency reported that the Saudi Cabinet issued a decision today, Tuesday, approving regulations for the contracting of governmental entities with companies that do not have a regional office in the Kingdom and related parties. This decision comes days before the deadline set by Saudi Arabia in January 2024 for companies to relocate their regional offices to the Kingdom, or risk not securing government contracts valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. The statement released from the Cabinet meeting did not disclose the contracting regulations, and it is unclear whether they allow the government to award contracts to foreign companies without a regional office in the Kingdom.