China’s Huawei opens first flagship store in Saudi Arabia

People pass by the Huawei stand during the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Nov. 15, 2016. (Xinhua/Pau Barrena)

The Chinese tech giant Huawei on Saturday announced the inauguration of its first flagship store in Saudi Arabia, which is also its largest store in the Middle East and Africa.

At the opening ceremony in the capital Riyadh, Sultan Mofti, deputy governor for Investment Attraction and Development at Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, hailed Huawei’s efforts to provide the best information technology and communications services in accordance to the highest global standards for quality and security.

According to Mofti, Huawei is also working to develop Saudi talent through its training initiatives such as the STEP which aims to train 10,000 Saudi candidates, both men and women, by 2020.

“Huawei is a great example to all foreign companies investing in the kingdom,” he said.

In 2016, Huawei became the first Chinese company to be granted a 100-percent ownership in Saudi Arabia. Recently it was awarded the first Prize of King Khalid Award for Responsible Competitiveness.

Bill Yu, vice president of Huawei Tech Investment Saudi Arabia, said the opening of Huawei’s first flagship store in the kingdom demonstrates its commitment to the Saudi market.

“In order to provide an advanced and classy shopping experience for our customers in Saudi Arabia, we have brought and adopted the latest retail systems in our store in Saudi Arabia, which will provide a new experience that includes intelligent storage, online ordering, home delivery and off-site payment as well as a slew of other services which will take our customer service experience to the next level,” Yu said.