JEDDAH, 24 June 2004 — The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry yesterday announced a new strategy to put the city on the global map of international business and tourism, and enhance its contribution to national development and job creation.
“We aim to become a national role model and set global standards in planning and implementation for sustained all-round economic growth,” JCCI Deputy Chairman Ghassan Al-Sulaiman told a press conference at the chamber yesterday.
“The Jeddah Marketing Board, a wing of the JCCI, will be stimulating significant initiatives compatible with the mission to start work on its new strategies,” he said.
Consisting of 10 business units, each with a dedicated management team, JMB has expanded both its scope of work and potential. The units are: Events and forums management including annual Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF), strategic exhibition development including Jeddah International Exhibitions Center, marketing services, Umrah and tourism development, international trade and relations, investment development, cultural programs and World Trade Organization support services.
“We’re enthusiastic about the re-engineering of JMB and subsequent initiatives that will follow,” said Emad Mugharbel, CEO and managing director of JMB. “The expansion of JMB is a reflection of the new vision and direction that the JCCI has undertaken to place the city on the global map of international business and tourism.”
The role of JMB, established as a non-profit center in May 2000, will include identification of issues and opportunities of each market sector and development potential in favor of stakeholders. “For each opportunity, the board will research current needs, satisfaction levels, and objectives and strategies,” Al-Sulaiman said, adding that through this process JMB aims to match opportunities with the stakeholder’s interest to create initiatives that meet identified demands and deliver results compatible with its mission statement and strategic intentions.
Detailing preparations under way for the sixth annual Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF) set at Jeddah Hilton from Feb. 19-21, 2005, Mugharbel said 60 distinguished speakers and 2,000 delegates will take part in the event. The theme of the forum is “Capacity Building: Developing People for Sustainable Growth.”
The three-day session will also highlight the achievements of countries that have pursued strategies for human resource development as a prerequisite for sustainable growth.
JCCI Secretary-General Muhammad Al-Sharif said various issues raised in the previous JEFs would be separately dealt with at year-round programs and conferences. One of them is a forum on energy, an issue that figured prominently in the 2004 JEF. Likewise there will be some other forums and conferences including one on products and services.
For the second year in a row, the selected academic partner for the 2005 JEF is London Business School, a leading international management institution, said Amr Enany, chairman of the JEF 2005. “We’re announcing the dates and timings for the JEF early, as all related bookings have to be completed by the end of November,” he said. Registration will open in September.
