JEDDAH, 18 November — The new board of directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry met here last night and elected Abdullah Zainal as the chamber’s new chairman.

The meeting, which was chaired by Ismail Abu Dawood, the chamber’s honorary chairman, also elected Walid Al-Juffali and Ghassan Al-Suleiman as vice chairmen and Ibrahim Al-Jomaih as the chamber’s representative to the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Speaking to Arab News after the meeting, Zainal said the newly elected board would focus on small and medium scale business establishments in the new term.

He also disclosed plans of possible reshuffle to the chamber’s supplementary committees. The chamber, in its first move, appointed Muhammad Al-Fadhel to take charge of the small and medium scale establishments department.

The meeting was attended by all members of the board except Muhammad Al-Esai, who is abroad on business.

Zainal expressed his happiness on being elected chairman and voiced optimism of working with his colleagues in the chamber to boost the Saudi economy. He also thanked all members for their support and the confidence bestowed on him.

Ghassan Al-Suleiman, one of the vice chairmen, said the new term would witness more transparency than the previous terms. He also asserted that the chamber would actively play its role in promoting the interests of businessmen and industrialists.

He said the board would meet shortly to discuss its new strategies and plans to strengthen the economic development of the country.

The elections marked the end of the 40-year-long leadership of the chamber by veteran businessman Abu Dawood. His exit followed behind-the-scenes adjustments by a troika of senior businessmen including himself, Zainal and Al-Juffali.

They took this step to keep out ambitious newcomers to the lobbies of power in the chamber as well as to avert a repeat of the crisis that followed last year’s elections. Last year, the Ministry of Commerce had to intervene to end a stalemate in the chamber and bring in Abu Dawood as a compromise candidate for the presidency even though he did not contest the elections.

An agreement was reached before the elections to make Abdullah Zainal the chairman and Al-Juffali his deputy irrespective of the number of votes each of them polled. The decision was significant because according to precedent the winner of the highest number of votes used to become the chairman.

The troika had also decided to confer the post of honorary chairman on Abu Dawood for life in recognition of his services to the business community. He will also serve as a balancing power in the event of any disagreement between the chairman and his deputies.

In the 18-member board, elections are conducted for 12 seats, while the remaining six seats are filled by the Commerce Ministry’s nominees.

The board members were elected in a recent election, which was closely contested. There are 17,000 eligible voters in the JCCI.