Saudi Arabia has progressed from 67th in the world ranking as a destination for ease of doing business in 2005 to 11th in 2010.

Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) said on Tuesday: “We reduced the formation of limited companies time by 70 percent, the number of steps by 80 percent, the cost by 90 percent and the capital requirements, at the time one of the highest in the world, to one of the lowest.”

The reforms were introduced in November 2007 and in December the number of companies formed was double the number for the preceding 11 months of 2007.

“We missed the target (of 10th), but what we have achieved is the foundation in establishing the culture of competitiveness, establishing a common language of benchmarking against best practices and indicators used by different rankings around the world.

In terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), Al-Dabbagh said Saudi Arabia already had major investment income. “Imagine a country where the second biggest export after oil is capital, being the eighth biggest recipient of capital in the world,” he said.

Steven A. Mills, senior vice president and group executive software & systems for IBM Corporation was adamant that the Kingdom’s future depended on the production of talent to feed into existing and emerging industries.

“We need a range of skills in our company, so our future is fundamentally and absolutely dependent on the talent and skills we have in the IBM company.”

He added that IBM placed great value on its people and as a result invested in education.

“The sheer power of human creativity and innovation,” said President and Chief Executive Officer of Putnam Investments Robert Reynolds, drawing on his 30-year experience in the investment management field.

He added that diversification was the central element in investment and SAGIA strategy. “(It is) a central element in SAGIA’s strategy for diversifying beyond the Kingdom’s God given resource base into a knowledge based 21st century economy.”

He praised SAGIA’s “focus on the development of talent, creativity and innovation,” and quoted his colleague who leads the US council on competitiveness, Deborah Wynn Smith, who opined: “Talent will be the oil of the 21st century.”

Wynn Smith described competitiveness using a two-decade-old definition that she felt was still operative.

“Competitiveness is about a nation’s productivity growth, its ability to provide a rising standard of living for all its citizens and the success of its enterprises in global markets and how the wealth creation and value creation adds to the global enterprise in a positive sum-gain, not a zero sum-gain.”