GENEVA, 18 October— In order to attract foreign investors to Saudi Arabia, the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry is holding a two-day conference in Geneva.
Many investors questioned the timing of the conference, particularly when the Muslim and Arab world is faced with an unprecedented scale of prejudice.
One Saudi businessman, who asked not to be named, told Arab News that he was undecided about whether he would attend and only made up his mind at the very last moment.
He was not the only one harboring doubts. The number of attendees is small, reflecting the general fear and paranoia people around the world are experiencing.
Yet the conference may have served the cause.
Prince Abdullah ibn Faisal ibn Turki, the governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (GIA) and one of the speakers, underscored ways to tackle the sense of fear and insecurity about this part of the world at present.
“These attacks affected us as Arabs and Muslims,” he said. “But we will not allow a minority to stop our lives or affect our economies.”
He went on to attack the role of the media in misusing information. “Firstly, no one can stop living just because of an attack. If you look back at Saudi history, especially from the sixties onward, you realize that this country has faced many similar threats,” he told the audience.
In his view, Saudi Arabia can offer foreign investors the perfect investment climate. However, he conceded that although the economy is strong there is a problem regarding how many young Saudis refuse to enter certain job sectors.
The organizers focused on representatives from sectors in which the Saudi government has devoted great attention, such as gas, telecommunications and tourism. Not all came with new information. In fact, some merely used the opportunity to advertise their companies through their speeches.
One member of the Shoura Council, Fahd Al-Mubarak, presented an interesting analysis of the current economic situation and the impact of reforms on the economy, highlighting the continuous developments furthered by the Saudi government.
“We want to achieve a productive outcome. In that context the reforms have been useful, such as creating the Water Ministry, the GIA, and the Supreme Economic Council,” he told Arab News.
Many Saudi businessmen took the conference to be an opportunity to get informed about the latest developments. And they seemed to understand why there was a lack of foreign — especially Swiss — attendees.
The attacks on the United States would likely weaken Saudi Arabia's economic performance in 2002, but would only have a modest impact for the remainder of 2001, a Saudi American Bank report said yesterday.
The bank's chief economist, Brad Bourland, said in the report the most likely case economic forecast for 2002 was for no real gross domestic product growth, a $5 billion government budget deficit based on a three percent increase in spending year-on-year and a $4 billion current account deficit.
