RIYADH, 18 January — Saudi Arabia and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) are working jointly on a project to bring out a report within three months in a new move to identify where Saudi Arabia stands in terms of human resources development and how resource allocations should be made at this point.
This will be the first report of its kind to be prepared exclusively on the Kingdom on the model of the annual Human Development Report published by the UNDP.
This was disclosed by Jose Eguren, UN resident coordinator, here during the presentation of the "Human Development Report 2001," which ranks 162 countries according to their level of human development on Wednesday. The Kingdom ranks 68th on the scale of human development index (HDI), which measures a country’s achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.
The presentation of the 265-page report was made by Moez Doraid, the visiting UNDP regional program adviser, at the UN building here.
The report, which includes a ranking indicating the world’s leading hubs of technological innovation and achievement, argues that information technology together with biotechnology can actually make major contributions to reducing world poverty and promoting human resources.
Eguren said the report on Saudi Arabia, to be published by the Ministry of Planning in cooperation with the local chapter of the UNDP, will be released in Arabic and English simultaneously. The report will help the planners of the Kingdom to identify gray areas requiring special attention and to allocate resources for several local and global initiatives for human development.
Eguren said the local chapter of the UNDP has recently signed a technical agreement, initially for two years, with Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority to organize specialized training programs, conduct feasibility studies and advise on policy matters to facilitate foreign investment in this country.
"This program will be financed fully by SAGIA," he noted.
Doraid said the Kingdom is in "medium human development group" globally and regionally with adult literacy at 76.1 percent, school enrollment at 61 percent, per capita income at $10,815 and life expectancy at 71.3 years. The Gulf states Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar are in "high human development group," said the report.
These countries are followed by a list of countries including Yemen, Djibouti and Sudan falling under "low human development category". The report, however, said the Arab world is the fastest growing region in terms of female education.
Doraid called for formulating new national strategies and new global initiatives. These long-term plans will accelerate the pace of nationalization of the work force in the Kingdom, whose population is projected to exceed 31 million in 2015, according to the UNDP report.
In terms of commitments to health, the report said that 100 percent of the Kingdom’s population are using adequate sanitation facilities, 99 percent have access to essential drugs and it has 166 doctors per 100,000 people.
