JEDDAH, 18 February 2005 — Overseas speakers and delegates have started arriving for the 6th Jeddah Economic Forum, which is being held at Jeddah Hilton for three days from tomorrow. The forum, being held with the support of Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed, is hosting a number of local and foreign financial and political leaders, and while some of them are already here, some others will arrive by tonight, according to Jeddah Marketing Board CEO and Managing Director Emad M. Mugharbel. The JMB, the events and marketing arm of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is organizing the JEF 2005.
Egypt, the UAE, France, the United States, Yemen, the UK, Brazil, Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, Spain, Syria, China, Afghanistan, the Czech Republic, Algeria, Maldives, Switzerland, Singapore, Austria and Senegal are among the countries from where speakers and delegates are coming.
Keynote speakers include Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Brazilian Foreign Relations Minister Celso Amorim and Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the UK. Madinah Governor Prince Muqrin and Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission of Tourism are among the leading local personalities participating in the forum whose theme is “Capacity building: Developing people for sustainable growth.”
Considering that 65 percent of the Kingdom’s population is below 21 years of age, the forum will reflect on the voices of the future with a panel of students taking part in the deliberations, with Effat College Dean Dr. Haifa Jamalallail and Arabian Stores Co. President Dr. Ghazi Binzagr as moderators.
“This time, we’ll adopt a more holistic methodology that expands the hard economic approach to development in order to encompass the softer social dimension with a focus on concepts such as capacity building, expansion of social capital, and adequacy of soft infrastructure,” Mugharbel said, adding that discussions will center around how institutions of learning, production, regulation and social support all fit together and support social and economic development.