The Technical College System of Georgia has signed an $8.2 million agreement with Saudi Arabia to help create a community college in the city of Abqaiq and expand workforce development in the country.

System officials will help hire faculty and staff, establish curriculum and obtain accreditation to open King Faisal University Community College. The agreement comes after a group from King Faisal University visited Georgia Northwestern Technical College, Athens Tech and Atlanta Tech in January.

Those three campuses will play prominent roles in the new partnership, including awarding joint degrees with the Saudi Arabian institution.

Officials from Georgia and Saudi Arabia signed the agreement during a ceremony in Atlanta on May 29.

The Saudi connection with the TCSG evolved after KFU officials sought input from one of their nation’s largest employers, petroleum giant Saudi Aramco, and identified more than 40 technical training areas that needed to be enhanced in order to improve the quality of the country’s workforce.