JEDDAH, 28 September — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, will attend a major economic conference to be opened by Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed tomorrow. The conference will focus on job nationalization, with an emphasis on ways of increasing the number of Saudis in the job market.
More than 1,000 participants, including businessmen, economists and university professors, have been invited to the sixth conference of Saudi businessmen in the resort city of Taif between Sept. 29-30.
Ismaeel Abu Daoud, chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry which is sponsoring the gathering in cooperation with Taif chamber of commerce, said the conference will discuss the possible effects on the Saudi economy of the globalization drive and the Kingdom’s entry into the World Trade Organization. It will also debate the role of the private sector in the Kingdom’s economic process.
“This participation by the Crown Prince reflects his keen interest in seeing the economic process in the Kingdom further develop and prosper. It reflects a deep sense of concern for the role of the private sector which continues to enjoy the Crown Prince’s support,” Abu Daoud said.
The first day of the conference will be devoted in full to discussing plans to put more Saudis in the job market over the coming years.
The government has already taken several steps in this direction to fix the percentage of Saudi workers that national companies are required to employ each year and setting up a special manpower development fund. There are at present more than four million foreign workers in the Kingdom, whom the government wants to gradually replace with Saudi citizens.
One paper to be presented to the conference will focus on attracting foreign investments in light of intense regional and international competition. Under a new foreign investment law, the Kingdom hopes to attract billions of dollars in foreign capital. In June the Kingdom signed accords with leading oil companies for three giant gas projects that are expected to attract $40 billion. It is estimated that every $1 billion invested in a given year can create as many as 20,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Abu Daoud said the conference would review progress in the implementation of recommendations adopted by the last conference on such areas as job creation, training, development of business information networks and the activation of the tourist sector.
Chairman of the Taif Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Kamal said the business conference will be a springboard for the private sector to actively and increasingly participate in the Kingdom’s economy because the occasion paves way for fruitful discussions between investors, officials and other experts.
An important paper to be discussed in the conference will be a development strategy to be formulated with additional stress on the need for broadening and diversifying the revenue base without depending on oil.
