RIYADH, 30 May 2007 — Crown Prince Sultan will open the 16th Annual Symposium entitled “Financial Services in Saudi Arabia.” The symposium, organized by the Saudi Economy Association (SEA), will take place in Riyadh next Saturday, a senior SEA official announced yesterday.
Senior government officials in the economic sector including Minister of Commerce and Industry Hashim Yamani, Minister of Economy and Planning Khaled Al-Gosaibi, Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Hamad Al-Sayari and others will participate.
In a press conference yesterday, Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Salman, deputy minister of Petroleum and Minerals and honorary president of SEA, said that the opening by the crown prince was a boost to the financial sector in the Kingdom. “It will have a direct impact on financial and economic activities related to the interests of citizens in the private and public sector,” he said.
According to Prince Abdul Aziz, the symposium will focus on four subjects: Commercial banks, insurance companies, the financial market and real estate funding. Other topics to be discussed are the Saudi stock market, accession to the World Trade Organization and its effect on the Saudi economy, the development of electronic banking transactions in Kingdom, the role of financial brokers in the financial sector in the Kingdom in the past three decades as well as financial services through Islamic Shariah laws.
He said SEA sought to benefit from the expertise of officials, businessmen, bankers, and financial experts to discuss and provide possible solutions to many of the topics which affect the local market.
The prince said the symposium was open to everyone. He urged businessmen and entrepreneurs as well as all citizens concerned about the financial sector in the Kingdom to attend.
He said that SEA had chosen insurance as a topic for discussion due to its potential future in the Saudi market. “The insurance sector in the Kingdom has been organized in a way which will contribute effectively to the economy. In the long run, the citizen will receive services with competitive prices,” he said. He also said the insurance market would provide job opportunities for young Saudis in the future in addition to being a source of revenue.
Responding to a question about whether human resources in the Kingdom were ready for future financial challenges, the prince said it was impossible to say that human resources were sufficient in Saudi Arabia. “Training and education play a large role in the future development schemes,” he stressed. He said that recommendations released at the end of the symposium could be used by some of the ministries or government departments but that it was the responsibility of each government official to take the actions he believed appropriate.