The Privatization Program's overarching objective is to strengthen the role of the private sector by unlocking state-owned assets for investment. Privatizing selected government services will improve quality of services and reduce government's spending while taking into account citizens' interest; it will also help the government to refocus its efforts on its legislative and organizational roles-Moreover, the program will attract foreign direct investments and improve the balance of payments. These objectives are in full alignment with Vision 2030.

Privatization is the transfer of ownership of specified assets or services from the government to the private sector. The transfer of ownership can be done in several forms, e.g. (not exhaustive) full/partial assets sale, IPO, management buy-out, PPP (BOT), concessions or outsourcing.

The scope of the Privatization VRP encompasses the following three pillars:

1) Establishment of legal and regulatory basis, including:

Develop General Legislative Frameworks for Privatization & PPP:

To enable the execution of privatization transactions and to develop clear paths to these transactions through which these transactions can be governed. This requires the establishment of regulatory rules and procedures and addressing the obstacles and legislative gaps that exist in the regulatory environment in general. In addition, this framework is intended to increase regulatory fairness, transparency, and integrity in privatization transactions as well as to enhance the benefits (whether economic or social) of privatization.

Develop the Legislative Frameworks of Targeted Sectors for Privatization:

This involves a comprehensive review of the entire regulatory environment in that sector, and then identifying development areas that are compatible with the role of the government as regulator and the role of the private sector as an operator (including a review of man)/aspects of the sector such as pricing services, as well as identifying relationships between entities operating in the sector and aspects of consumer protection and other technical aspects).

2) Establishing institutional basis that contributes to the existence of capable entities to implement privatization in the manner and mechanism that preserves the interests of the government and guarantees the fairness of the process for participants from the private sector, including:

Developing the structural mechanism of the "Opportunity Explorer": A regulatory approach will be developed to explore potential projects for the public-private partnership and asset-sale. This approach can be designed in such a way as to ensure that the preliminary survey study replaces the initial feasibility study and this shall save time and efforts.

Optimizing the Privatization Supervisory Committees (PSCs) and Execution Teams (ETs) and enabling them to attract the talent and manpower to assist the Privatization Supervisory Committees and Execution Teams to prepare, steer and execute the privatization program. By operationalizing the committees and their teams sufficiently, this will greatly enhance the success of the Privatization Program according to the considerations of the interests of the government and the fairness of the process and the sustainability of the privatization model. This will include proper assessment and development of the targeted privatization sector so that it is more attractive to investors.

Define privatization strategies, metrics and incentive mechanisms: After operationalizing the Supervisory Committee for the sector, each PSC works to develop the sector's privatization strategy according to the specific objectives and in accordance with the statutory procedures. Then, privatization metrics and standards will be developed for that sector and the development of elements in the environment surrounding privatization initiatives will stimulate privatization.

National Center for Privatization and PPP (NCP) Enablement: NCP will work on developing or proposing frameworks that will enable and govern privatization transactions. NCP will also ensure that the preparations and executions are carried out in accordance with the approved governance frameworks and to increase efficiency of the Center.

Privatization/PPP Innovation Center: Privatization operations are complex and go through numerous stages and processes. This may result in a loss of emphasis on the importance of the design of the privatization initiative to achieve the desired benefits from it. Therefore, the establishment of this center ensures that the benefits in the minds of privatization employees are not overlooked. The Privatization Innovation Center will be established to develop solutions and initiatives that enhance the desired benefits of privatization and PPP (such as, increasing the local content and enabling the participation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises).

3 (Steer privatization programs initiatives):

Participation in Privatization Supervisory Committees through NCP.

Review of sector-specific strategies and regulatory initiatives

Monitoring of implementation progress and recommend the changes to the Council for Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) if needed.

The Privatization VRP is managed by NCP and has a robust governance structure. This structure has been developed after studying various international models and is in alignment with the Council of Ministers Resolution number (665) 08/11/1438H (which was issued to establish PSCs for each sector). The roles of various entities involved in the governance are explained below:

1) Strategic Management Committee (SMC), part of Council for Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) are leading the achievement of Vision 2030. They direct all twelve VRPs, including the Privatization Program and provide guidance on any strategic decision or issues resolution.

2) The VRP Committee is the direct oversight body of the Privatization Program. It approves recommendations of the VRP Office and reports to SMO/CEDA. It decides whether program-related issues need escalation or not.

3) The VRP Office is responsible to monitor and report progress of the Privatization program. It supports PSCs with development and implementation of privatization strategy and initiatives, through the NCP, and prepares or updates initiatives budget requests, and identifies any program-related issues. Having a consolidated view of the program, the VRP Office helps ensure coherence and alignment across the PSCs through NCP. The VRP Office directly reports to the VRP Committee and is in regular contact with PSCs and ETs.

4) The PSCs and ETs are the sector-specific privatization supervisory and execution bodies; there responsibilities include: Sector strategy development including forming the execution teams and managing consultants, develop sector privatization strategy in-line with NCP guidelines and national objectives and present them to CEDA for approval. Responsibilities also include readiness and enablement (conduct readiness assessments (technical, financial and legal) and identify gaps, develop readiness plans and ensure their implementation, identify and seek approvals for sector specific regulatory changes); Initiatives execution (such as approve privatization models developed by the execution teams and ensure their alignment with the national strategy, standards and regulations, reach out to investors, conduct negotiations and sign contracts, manage the implementation of the privatization opportunities, and periodically report to CEDA).

Initiatives execution will be carried out through the Execution Teams, which will assist the Supervisory Committee to carry out all studies and prepare the necessary decisions to be taken through the concerned Supervisory Committee. Each Supervisory Committee shall include an execution team appointed by the concerned committee based on the powers granted to it to perform the tasks related to privatization and shall be submitted to the members of the committee for decision-making.

5) NCP is the enabler of privatization. It houses the VRP Office and supports PSCs and ETs in the execution of their privatization efforts by providing privatization processes, legal and regulatory expertise. Responsibilities include: Policy making (develop national privatization and PPP regulatory framework, develop PSCs rules and procedures, review sector regulatory framework). Responsibilities also include privatization frameworks (develop sector privatization standards and guidelines to fulfill national privatization objectives), and monitoring /reporting (review sector privatization strategies and ensure their alignment with the sector privatization standards and guidelines, review and validate privatization opportunities, review readiness plans and follow up on their implementation; review technical, financial and legal analyses during transaction execution; follow up on execution progress and escalate to CEDA where necessary), and also what falls under NCP will also provide execution support (when requested by PSCs, manage the execution of privatization opportunities including definition of privatization and PPP models, reaching out to investors, developing the strategy of local and external communication, marketing, strategic communication, and provide all contact information for the privatization process for investors, and conducting analyses and negotiations/deal closure) and prepare a strategic communication plan to ensure consistent communications between NCP and the Supervisory Committees.

The program scope does not encompass the following activities, as these are covered by other institutions:

• Development and regulation of traditional private sector projects with the public sector - this includes legal and statutory regulations and procedures for working with the private sector outside the umbrella of "privatization" and "private sector participation projects"

• Creating overall privatization strategies for industries and sectors as well as privatization models, as this is done by the PSCs and ETs

• Dealing with assets which are owned by the Public Investment Fund, as they are covered by the Public Investment Fund Program

• Dealing with residential real estate assets which are unlocked for private sector usage by contractors and real estate developers, as they are covered by the Housing Program