JEDDAH: A specialized center will be established in Riyadh shortly to strengthen the capital city’s competitiveness in terms of attracting foreign and domestic investment.
Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman on Sunday set up an executive committee to supervise the formation and operation of the center as well as to draft its rules and regulations. The move comes as part of the Riyadh governorate’s efforts to improve the city’s investment climate in order to attract private companies and investors to carry out vital projects.
“The center aims at achieving a prominent position for Riyadh on the world investment map by highlighting its economic potential and competitive capacity,” said an official statement issued by the governorate. Prince Muhammad bin Salman, chairman of the committee, said his panel would coordinate with government departments and businessmen in the region to achieve its goals.
He said the center’s board of directors would include representatives of government departments and private companies. “Our center will study the strong points of Riyadh in terms of competitiveness. We’ll identify the priority areas for development and present our report to the governor,” the chairman said.
Prince Muhammad said the center would change the economic face of Riyadh and deal with economic issues of the city in a professional manner benefiting its people, businessmen and investors. “It will be a center of new ideas and initiatives,” he added. He said the center would interact with international agencies and provide them with information highlighting Riyadh’s economic strength and competitiveness.
The announcement came a week before the opening of the Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF 2010) in Riyadh on Jan. 23. Organized by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the four-day event will be addressed by top international executives including John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems; Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc.; and Jeffrey R. Immelt, CEO of GE.
Experts taking part in a panel discussion on “Making Tomorrow’s Nobel Laureates” are: Dr. Kristy Ellen Duncan, Nobel laureate and professor of health studies, University of Toronto; John Kao, chairman, Global Innovation Council - the i20, and Institute of Large-Scale Innovation; Dr. Harry Kroto, Nobel laureate, Florida State University; Dr. Rudolph A. Marcus, Nobel laureate and chemistry professor, California Institute of Technology; and Dr. Robert C. Richardson, Nobel laureate and physics professor, Cornell University.
