JEDDAH: Saudi-based Al Salem Johnson Controls wants to expand operations in Uzbekistan, as the country offers a lot of opportunities for private companies, according to a top official.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of Saudi-Uzbek Business Council in Jeddah on Wednesday, Mohanad Al-Shaikh, CEO of Al Salem Johnson Controls, said there are a lot of good synergies between Ƶ and Uzbekistan in various sectors.
“Uzbekistan is focusing on agriculture, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals. And I think we do have the base to supply many of those industries out of the Kingdom of Ƶ, with the accumulated knowledge and experiences we developed here,” he said.
Al-Shaikh added: “I’m talking mainly about our field, HVAC, industrial refrigeration, the controls, fire suppressions and detections, systems.”
Talking about the opportunities in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector, the CEO noted that Ƶ has the expertise to cooperate and help the knowledge transfer.
“Johnson Controls does have an office in Uzbekistan, and it’s mainly on the industrial refrigeration side. But I would like to see Saudi-made products exported to Uzbekistan. That’s where I see the wonders of opportunities taking place,” he added.
Al-Shaikh said that Ƶ is the second largest market for Johnson Controls globally.
“Ƶ is considered to be the second or third largest operations globally (for Johnson Controls). And we’re talking about a $40 billion company. We would be honored to be supporting Ƶ and that is allowing us to build the right knowledge and expertise in our field,” he further noted.
