The conference was opened on Tuesday by Makkah Mayor Osama Al-Bar.

Mazen Batterjee, vice chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI), examined the challenges that investors come across in Saudi Arabia and key sectors that provide lucrative and risk free investment opportunities for Saudi investors.

Hatem A. Al-Ahmad, regional director for Middle East & Africa of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), said in his presentation that SAGIA plays an important role in facilitating the investment process in the Kingdom.

He said SAGIA was created to bridge the gap between foreign investors and Saudi Arabia and helping them obtain special incentive packages to base their businesses in the Kingdom.

Al-Ahmad said the planned four economic cities — King Abdullah Economic City, Knowledge Economic City, Jazan Economic City and Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed Economic city — would provide a wealth of investment opportunities in all sectors.

Nizar Kammourie, general manager of SAWACO (Saudi Brothers Commercial Company — water division), sees big investment opportunities in the Saudi water sector. He said Saudi Arabia has the largest water desalination capacity in the world. It has one of the highest water consumption per capita and about 45-55 percent of wastewater is treated in the Kingdom.

Kammourie said Saudi Arabia has a favorable investment climate . Saudi Arabia's economy is also strong and it has the largest GDP share in the GCC region and contributes about 50 percent of total GDP in the Gulf.

Kammourie added Saudi Arabia has the largest population in GCC and growth rate is about 2.4 percent a year. He said there are three key factors are driving water demand in the Kingdom — population growth, economic and industrial development and government strategies.

He said 80 percent of overall water consumption is from the Kingdom's agriculture sector, while the government's food security policy has dedicated a high allocation of water resources to the agriculture sector. Household water saving, improving efficiency within the distribution networks, privatization process and use of treated sewage effluent (TSE) are among the government’s strategies.

Kammourie sees big investment potential of about $60 billion for the next six years in the Kingdom. He said investment in water, wastewater, industrial water and water use, is expected to be in the range of $6.20 billion in 2011 and will rise to $7.90 billion in 2012, $9.10 billion in 2013, $10 billion in 2014, $11.10 billion in 2015 and $13.15 billion in 2016.

Jarmo T. Kotilaine, chief economist at NCB Capital, shed light on regulatory issues and developments and its impact of the Saudi economy. He said the Kingdom relies on four major sources of finance — bank lending, equity capital, bonds and sukuk and foreign direct investment (FDI). He added with reforms continuing, Saudi Arabia swiftly leaped to the world's 11th most business friendly nation in 2009 from 67th in 2004, leading a surge in FDI.

Kotilaine said total FDI stock into the Kingdom increased from $21.9 billion in 1990 to $147.1 billion at the end of 2009. He said foreign direct investment inflows increased significantly from around $165 million in 1991 to $504 million in 2001 and reaching $35.5 billion in 2009.

He said recent losses in equity and real estate markets have fueled risk aversion and once again shifted individual preferences toward bank deposits. Total deposits increased from SR849 billion in 2007 to over SR1.02 trillion at the end of 2008 and SR1.08 trillion in 2009.

In partnership with Star Group Holdings, naseba hosted the gathering of Makkah's decision makers, in association with Kingdom Investment Summit.