RIYADH — The Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Yasir Al-Rumayyan, called on the private sector to step up its role in Saudi Arabia’s next phase of economic transformation, as the Public Investment Fund moves from building strategic sectors to integrating systems and scaling growth across the economy.“We meet today at a pivotal stage of the Kingdom’s economy, where ambition reaches where opportunities are measured by returns, diligence, and determination,” Al-Rumayyan said on Monday in his opening address at the fourth edition of the PIF Private Sector Forum.He described the forum as “the largest platform of its kind to seize partnership and cooperation opportunities with the private sector,” noting that participation has reached 25,000 since 2023, including government and private-sector leaders and global investors.Reflecting on the previous edition, Al-Rumayyan said dialogues were translated into tangible outcomes, with more than 140 agreements signed, valued at over SR15 billion.He said the results underscored “the partnership that binds us” in transforming the Saudi economy and reaffirmed the fund’s commitment to enabling the private sector “to contribute to leading the economic transformation in the Kingdom, to be an enabler of growth and a creator of opportunities.”Al-Rumayyan said the PIF works with the private sector to “maximize the impact and build an integrated economic system that leads sustainable growth,” following an investment-cycle approach that begins with risk-taking in strategic sectors and extends to partnerships and initiatives that stimulate local content, supply-chain localization, capability building, industrial development, and infrastructure.He said spending by the fund and its portfolio companies on local content reached SR591 billion between 2020 and 2024, driven by the Local Content Development Program.The Contractor Development Program, he added, contributed SR10 billion through innovative financing solutions, raising the participation rate of local contractors in PIF projects to 67 percent in 2025.Al-Rumayyan said the fund’s platform for optimal deployment has provided more than 190 investment opportunities worth over SR40 billion through international partnerships and localized supply chains.“The effects were not limited to supply,” he said, adding that the initiatives also raised company readiness, built national competencies, and created job opportunities “within a system that applies according to the highest standards of efficiency, transparency, and governance.”He said growing demand for investment in the Kingdom was evident in the presence of hundreds of companies that have started or expanded operations in Saudi Arabia. “We welcome them as partners in the growth journey,” he said.Looking ahead, Al-Rumayyan said that since 2017 the fund has opened new horizons through long-term investment in strategic sectors, and that under the third phase of Vision 2030 and the PIF’s five-year strategy, the focus is shifting “from building sectors to integrating systems and from launching opportunities to commoditizing growth.”“This is an open invitation to the private sector to invest and partner in creating a diverse and exciting economy,” he said, adding that while the fund will continue to enable systems and lay the foundations for growth, the next stage requires the private sector to show higher readiness, ambition, and capacity to scale and deliver.He said the private sector’s role is expected to move “from implementation to contributing to building the economy and creating value throughout its chains,” amid rapid transformations in labor models, artificial intelligence, capital markets, content trends, and production chains.“The opportunity before the private sector today is the strongest opportunity to participate in leading growth, shaping the future, and achieving sustainable returns,” Al-Rumayyan said, “and to participate with us in the journey of national economic development.”