JEDDAH, 8 March 2006 — The first forum on the future of family-owned businesses after the Kingdom’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) would be launched on March 13, at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel.
The event is expected to draw more than 1,000 participants of various political, economic and managerial backgrounds in addition to local and international owners of family based companies.
Anwar Eshqi, head of the Middle East Center for Law and Strategic Studies, said that such an event would play a great role in developing the Kingdom’s economy. In addition it would create a mechanism to help in facing the upcoming economic challenges under globalization.
He said the forum targets more than 2,000 family-based companies in the Arab world with a capital of $150 billion. Such companies, he said, have their heavy influence over the national economy, which results to the importance of researching their future aspects and survival methods.
The forum, he said, would hold six sessions to address six important subjects, including strategic perspectives of the WTO, legal and organizational aspects of the Kingdom’s enrollment with the organization and how to overcome the challenges facing small and medium-sized companies under the laws of the WTO.
Saudi family-based companies form 95 percent of the business community in the Kingdom and they form an important element of the national economy, according to the center.