JEDDAH, 19 January 2003 — The private sector will become the driving force behind the Saudi economy, with the state playing a supporting role, declared Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Abdullah Zainal Alireza last night at the start of the fourth Jeddah Economic Forum.
The 2003 forum was formally opened by Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed.
Jeddah Marketing Board Chairman Amr A. Dabbagh and Professor John Quelch, a senior associate dean at the Harvard Business School, also gave opening speeches to the packed audience of leading businessmen and decision makers at Jeddah’s Hilton hotel.
In his address, Professor Quelch predicted that the Jeddah Economic Forum will within 10 years achieve the same international status as the prestigious Davos summit.
Also present at the opening ceremony were Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Al-Ragheb, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, and Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
All three will give keynote addresses at the three-day event.
In his opening address, Dabbagh formally announced the creation of the Prince Abdul Majeed Economic Award, named after the governor of Makkah, which will be given in recognition of achievements by Saudi businesses. It would, he explained, include and award for both Saudi Businessman and Saudi Businesswoman of the Year.
However, while seeing the honor of the award being named after him, Prince Abdul Majeed nevertheless requested that its name be changed to the Jeddah Economic Award, in recognition of the leading role the city has played in building the Saudi economy.
That way, he added, it could contribute to strengthening Saudi relations with the whole world.
It should be awarded not just to Saudis but also to those foreigners who help promote international business cooperation, he insisted.
Apart from the groundbreaking women’s forum earlier in the day (see related story), the most striking aspect of this year’s event is the presence of a battalion of leading Russian businessmen.
Some 30 captains of Russian industry and finance, among them the heads of several of the country’s leading energy and petrochemical companies, are accompanying Primakov at the forum. This represents the largest top-level Russian economic delegation ever to come to the Kingdom, and new major economic links between the two countries are expected as a result.
Primakov, now president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will address the forum on Monday afternoon.
Prior to the opening session, Professor Quelch called on the US not to close its doors to Saudi and Middle Eastern students.
"It would be extremely unfortunate if current political circumstances were to result in fewer students from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries coming the US," he told a press conference.
In response to a question from Arab News on what kind of discrimination, if any, Saudi and other Arab students are presently facing in the US, Professor Quelch said that Harvard University is an international intellectual community and as such rejects on principle any discrimination against any of its students.
"The universities in the US have made tremendous efforts to represent the interests of those students from the Middle East, not only in terms of ensuring their safety but also by lobbying the US government so they continue to have unhindered access to universities in every part of the country," he explained.
