RIYADH, 6 September 2005 — A high-level Saudi delegation, including Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi and Minister of State Abdullah Alireza, will leave for Houston to participate in the second US-Arab Economic Forum scheduled to be held there from Sept. 14 to 16.
The forum, which will bring together over 1,500 leaders from both the United States and the Arab world, is being held under the patronage of former US President George W. Bush and supported by the US State Department, the Commerce Department, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council. The forum’s theme is “One World, Two Cultures, Endless Possibilities.”
Omar Bahlaiwa, secretary general of the Committee of International Trade (CIT) belonging to the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, told Arab News that the Saudi delegation would also include ten Saudi businessmen.
Besides the Saudi ministers, another keynote speaker includes Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority. He said the delegation’s forthcoming visit to the US comes in the wake of the bilateral trade agreement signed recently between the Kingdom and the US as a prelude to Saudi Arabia’s accession to the WTO.
The official signing ceremony is expected to take place this month when Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal visits Washington D.C, this month for the ratification of the treaty by the US Congress.
Referring to the deliberations of the Forum, Bahlaiwa said it will tackle issues related to transparency and accountability, human capacity building, trade infrastructure, public-private partnerships and the empowerment of women through economic reforms, among other topics.
He said the forum’s list of speakers reads like the who’s who of the world’s business and high profile political personalities. They include the presidents and CEOs of Boeing, Chevron Corporation, Cisco Systems, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Shell Oil Company, BBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook as well as Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, among others.
“Unless we achieve the 2005 Forum’s theme of One World, Two Cultures, Endless Possibilities, we will continue to be overwhelmed by the weight of historical misperceptions between the two nations,” said Sam Hamdan, co-founder and chief strategy officer of the forum. The 2005 US-Arab Economic Forum is a biannual event and is organized by the American Middle East Economic Affairs.