Abu Dhabi: The Chief Executive Officer of Siemens said the Middle East region is important for the company, currently accounting for $10 billion in annual revenue.
Speaking to Gulf News in an interview, Joe Kaeser said: “Middle East is one of the strongest regions for the company accounting for $10 billion in annual revenue and we are looking forward to expand our partnerships with different companies.”
He outlined new opportunities in the aviation and oil and gas sector especially in cooperating with Etihad and Emirates airways and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) in digitalisation.
“We are trying to help Etihad and Emirates airways to improve their operational capability and maintenance capability with digitalisation. They have hundreds of turbines which they pay a lot of money for servicing. With 3D printing technology, they could do service for themselves and save billions of dollars.”
“We also agreed to help Adnoc in optimising oil and gas wells and bring digital technology to the oilfields to increase efficiency. We may not help in increasing oil prices but we can definitely help in bringing the cost down through digitalisation.”
The company is active in sixteen countries in Middle East in mobility, industries, energy and technology sectors. It has power plants in the UAE, Qatar and a number of other countries in the region.
When asked whether the company sees any opportunities in Iran, Kaeser said they are still waiting for things to develop in the country since the lifting of sanctions in January last year.
“We are trying to expand relationship since last January last year but it’s been a complicated environment with increasing tensions. We need to wait and see how things develop in Iran.”
The company is also looking at renewable energy projects in the region. In the coming days, the merger of Siemens with Spain’s Gamesa is going to be completed to create the world’s t renewable energy company in the world, he said.
“We are going to expand this renewable energy company into solar because we believe sun matters and we believe that the mix between fossil and renewable is the perfect mix for affordable, sustainable and reliable energy.”
Siemens will present technology for digitalised manufacturing and industrialisation in the Middle East under the banner of ‘Discover the Value of the Digital Enterprise,’ during the first Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit in Abu Dhabi.
