Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is preparing for a meeting with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia by checking out Samsung affiliates’ projects in the Middle East, the company said Tuesday.

Lee, as the de facto leader of the biggest conglomerate in South Korea, is expected to attend a luncheon hosted by President Moon Jae-in for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. 

The Samsung heir on Monday held meetings with the heads of Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T as he visited the affiliates’ headquarters in southeastern Seoul.

Samsung needs to identify areas where it can excel that also align with Middle Eastern countries’ future business plans, and must promptly seek cooperative measures, Lee said during the meeting.

“To realize those opportunities, we need to think outside the box,” he said.

Lee discussed the engineering, procurement and construction business strategies of Samsung Engineering and C&T at the meetings, which took about 3 1/2 hours.

Samsung C&T is participating in the ongoing Riyadh Metro project, which is slated for completion by 2020 and involves the construction of six 176-kilometer railway lines in the Saudi Arabian capital.

It was the Samsung heir’s first visit to the Samsung C&T office since 2016.

Samsung C&T is the de facto holding company of all Samsung affiliates. Lee owns a 17.08 percent stake in the company after the merger with Cheil Industries in 2015.

Samsung Engineering has been actively bidding for EPC projects in the Middle East. Last year, the company won a $3.1 billion deal to build a crude flexibility project on behalf of ADNOC Refining in the United Arab Emirates. The purpose of a crude flexibility project is to allow a refinery to process a wider variety of crude oils with increased efficiency.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)