On December 11, the Saudi Contractor Authority held a ceremony in Riyadh to honor excellence in the contracting sector of Saudi Arabia. Li Peng, President of Sinopec Nanjing Engineering Middle East Co., Ltd. (SNEMEC), and colleagues from SNEMEC Human Resources Department participated in the event.

Recognizing the outstanding achievements made by SNEMEC in the localization of Saudi workforce in 2023, the Saudi Contractors Authority gave SNEMEC the “Saudi Labor Force Development Award (2023)”. Increasing the recruitment of Saudi nationals was one of SNEMEC’s key targets for localized employment in 2023. As of the end of November 2023, there are a total of 488 Saudi employees in the Saudi region, accounting for 15.4% of the total employment in the region. In order to achieve this goal, SNEMEC has made tremendous efforts in recruitment by prioritizing hiring of Saudi nationals, followed by the third-country nationals and Chinese nationals. Ramping up the scale of recruitment, encouraging the development and fully trusting the competence of Saudi employees. SNEMEC has hired Saudi nationals in construction quality, schedule, security and other positions, and has achieved positive results, especially in finance and procurement related positions, which have seen the full potential of female employees.

To increase training of Saudi employees, in addition to commissioning local training institutions to carry out staff training, each project team focuses on on-the-job training (OJT), while hiring Saudi work permit receivers and riggers to translate their classroom knowledge into practical operation skills. Local employees are offered smooth development ladders and clear goals of career growth, making possible the exemplary growth of Meshaal Abdulwahab Matouq Al Jeradan from a safety trainee to site safety superintendent, setting a benchmark for his fellow Saudi trainees.

H.E. Eng. Abdullah Albudair, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing of Saudi Arabia, and H.E. Eng. Zakria Abdulrehman Al-Abdulqadir, Chairman of the Saudi Contractors Authority, presented the award to the winning companies. SNEMEC is the only Chinese company given the award in the event.