RIYADH, 25 January — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, yesterday called upon Saudi businessmen to repatriate their funds in order to establish new development projects in the Kingdom and promote the country’s economic progress.
The crown prince made this remark during the inauguration of the three major educational, health and housing projects and the Al-Rabie Quarter established by the Kingdom Holding Company. The projects cost a total of SR1.7 billion.
“I am very happy to open the Kingdom Hospital. But it gives me greater happiness to see the national contribution of a successful businessman like Alwaleed ibn Talal,” he wrote in the hospital’s visitors’ book. He expressed the hope that other businessmen would follow the example of Prince Alwaleed, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company.
Prince Abdullah urged Saudi businessmen “enticed by the glamour of the West and the East who invested abroad searching for quick profits” to establish businesses inside their country. “It is unfair to ignore or deny the good done to them by God and the country,” he added.
Addressing a ceremony held at the Kingdom Schools on the same occasion, Prince Alwaleed thanked the crown prince for opening the 170-bed hospital, the school, the Kingdom City — with 330 villas and modern residential apartments — and Al-Rabie Quarter. He said the four projects were constructed in order to meet the requirements of the modern age.
He urged the private sector to play a supplementary role with the public sector to promote the country’s development. “The age of total dependence on the state has gone. The state’s role must be to provide the necessary infrastructure and encourage the private sector to build a free economy in the light of Islamic teachings,” he said.
Prince Alwaleed noted the new economic reforms introduced by the government including the formation of the Supreme Economic Council, the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Mineral Affairs, the General Investment Authority and the Higher Tourism Authority.
