The Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, Bandar Alkhorayef, conducted a row of bilateral meetings at the headquarters of the department with ministers of several countries involved in the Future Minerals Forum 2026. The Deputy Minister of Mining Affairs, Khalid Al-Mudaifer, was also present at the meetings.
In his meeting with the Brazilian Minister of Mining and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, Alkhorayef discussed how the two countries can work together within the mining and minerals industry and noted the most significant opportunities that can be used in developing joint mining investments.
During a meeting with the Minister of Petroleum, Ali Pervaiz Malik of Pakistan, he talked of widening the horizons of strategic collaboration in the mining sector between the Kingdom and Pakistan, specifically in the area of mineral industries involving food security improvement.
The minister also held a meeting with the Minister of Solid Minerals Development of Nigeria, Dele Alake, where they discussed the opportunities to build cooperation and exchange technical skills in the mining and manufacturing industry, with the focus on the central economic role of the African nation in West Africa.
Alkhorayef also engaged in discussions with the Minister of Mines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Louis Watum Kabamba, to discuss collective investment opportunities in the mining business and how to facilitate the exploitation of the opportunities by the private sector to enhance the supply chains of strategic minerals.
In another related development, the Saudi minister had a bilateral meeting with the World Health Organization Regional Director of the Eastern Mediterranean, Hanan Balkhi, in which they addressed cooperation between the Kingdom and the WHO in the manufacturing and supply chain of medicines and vaccines.
They also talked about how to make the world health security stronger and establish the Kingdom as a strategic partner of the WHO, in addition to a potential regional pharmaceutical industry hub.
The fifth edition of Future Minerals Forum, which is scheduled to take place in Riyadh between January 13 and 15, is preceded by Alkhorayef meeting the ministers.
The conference is one of the major global forums of discussion on the future of the mining industry and also a means of establishing successful collaborations between the government and the mining industry in the effort to enhance the sustainability of the mining industry. It also strengthens the status of Saudi Arabia as a mining and minerals center in the world.
