JEDDAH, 23 January — The three-day Jeddah Economic Forum ended yesterday with a call to Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East-Gulf region to keep pace with the rapid changes in the IT age by investing in communications technology.
"We should start with a clear vision, set up a Saudi information society and chart an IT course for the Kingdom by 2020. Also, establish a Jeddah technology valley (like the Silicon Valley), smart schools and IT villages," Hisham El-Sherif, the chairman and CEO of IT Ventures and a leading authority on telecommunications and the Internet in Egypt, said. Deputy Minister of Commerce Dr. Fawaz Al-Alami was his co-speaker during the opening session of the final day of the three-day forum.
"In addition to smart cities and IT villages there is also a need for smart countries in this IT age," El-Sherif added. Both speakers highlighted the extreme division and challenges that face the developing world in the age of globalization.
El-Sherif said youth was the important engine of growth for the region as half of its 300 million population was under 20 years of age. While 40 percent of the 280 million US population use the Internet, less than a quarter of a percent of the Arab world has access to the Internet, he said.
He challenged the Middle East to wake up to the digital age and ensure its own commercial future at a time when other developing countries like India and Malaysia were going ahead. "For a smart Arab region, our kids have to be the smartest of all. But then we must invest in technology. Every school, office and library in the Middle East must have access to the Internet, otherwise our children have no passport into the 21st century, despite the fact that it has already begun," said El-Sherif. "Those who have the Internet have endless opportunities available to them. The rest are taught with blackboards and chalk. How can business flourish in this environment?" he asked.
The developed world, according to El-Sherif, can do business with a click while others are struggling to get a telephone line. "It's an ever-dividing world." El-Sherif said. Government must encourage and assimilate this vision of technology into the private sector, he added.
The forum this time saw a distinguished series of speakers -- politicians, world business leaders and economists --debating some of the most essential issues in world trade today. Led by former Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl and former French President Valery Giscard D'Estaing, the main issue discussed at the forum was the Arab world's lack of technology integration and the question of a single Arab currency to create a unified economic course.
Dr. Al-Alami forcefully spoke about how foreign investment was essential for the Kingdom's economic development. "There is now also the development engine of new world economy to consider -- technology-based education," he said. "The barriers between countries that technology overcomes is a significant issue for the Kingdom, as the Kingdom's recent commercial and trade reforms were an attempt to integrate the economy with the rest of the world and were meant to pave the way for accession to the World Trade Organization," Al-Alami added.
Later in the day, Dean of London Business School Professor John Quelch concentrated on the Kingdom's attempts to attract foreign investment with a speech on marketing a nation state. Comparing the Kingdom with the very successfully marketed states, such as Singapore and Dubai, he pointed the way forward for Saudi Arabia. "The recent changes in the Kingdom's visa rules to promote tourism mean that marketing has become an essential skill for the Kingdom to acquire despite extreme competition."
The final day's speeches also included an in-depth analysis of entrepreneur opportunities within dotcom companies by MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Simon Johnson. He spoke on "Global entrepreneurship" and "Creating successful high-tech companies." Abdullah Y. Al-Mouallimi, president, Dar Al-Mouallimi Consulting, was the discussant. Mouallimi, a member of the Shoura Council, is also a member of the Consulting Commission to the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council and advisor to the Olayan Group. He serves on the boards of some companies.
At a press conference later, Carlyle Group Chairman David Rubenstein, who spoke on foreign investment at the forum, wondered why foreign capital was yet to flood the Kingdom. "Firstly, there have got to be more talented private equity investors based in Saudi Arabia. Those with the skills have often acquired them abroad and have stayed there. When they return the right atmosphere may prevail to ensure more people learn those skills within the Kingdom," he said, adding that from a government perspective it was essential that there was a completely positive attitude toward foreign investment capital.
Among earlier speakers were Unilever Chairman Niall FitzGerald on "E-business: potential and priorities" and Sir David Walker, managing director of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, on "Enterprise and the new recession."
Amr Dabbagh, chairman of the Jeddah Market Board, an affiliate of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which organized the forum with the cooperation of the MIT Sloan School of Management, speaking to reporters said: "The forum is essential for local and regional businessmen as the recent reforms of the Saudi economy mean the issue of wealth creation in a knowledge-based economy -- the theme of the event -- is central to the Kingdom's vision of the future for its citizens. We must face up to the challenge of modernizing our economy through IT if we're to advance and take a commanding lead."
Summing up the forum's deliberations, Lester C. Thurow, professor of management and economics at MIT, said with an apparent reference to the hesitation in certain quarters to exploit the Internet to its full use: "No invention is a shame, but not using it is a shame."
