JEDDAH, 14 July 2005 — The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) is focusing its activities on certain strategic investment sectors, education being a key one, according to SAGIA Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh. Meeting a number of CEO’s and senior representatives of leading UK and US educational institutions last week in London, Al-Dabbagh spoke about SAGIA’s initiative of focusing on knowledge-based industries (KBI) and attracting foreign investment for this sector in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, SAGIA reported that first quarter investments in Saudi Arabia were up 820 percent.
Part of the education vision Al-Dabbagh spoke about in London entails attracting private investors into the Kingdom to establish universities and specialized colleges with a view to equipping young Saudis with the knowledge and skills to meet the demands of the modern market. This initiative also aims at helping develop Saudi Arabia as a regional educational destination in conformity with SAGIA’s “hub” concept for the Kingdom. In view of this the governor met with Laura Tyson, Dean of London Business School (LBS), the number one business school outside of the US, to discuss this point.
Another segment of SAGIA’s educational initiative calls for the development of a local system of tailor-made pre-schools with the outlook of making the finest in early childhood educational curricula available to young Saudi children, while giving investors a chance to capitalize on the region’s largest market. Some of the companies in the early childhood education field were impressed by the opportunities and potential presented.
Lowell Milken, Chairman of KU Education, a leading company in providing K-6 educational programs and services, eagerly described to the governor how amenable are KU Education’s curricula to suiting the world’s diverse cultural settings, according to SAGIA sources. To further support the timeliness of SAGIA’s educational initiative, Al-Dabbagh joined the Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom Prince Turki Al-Faisal in his visit to the Foreign Office to meet with Minister of State and former Minister in the Department of Education Dr. Kim Howells. Dabbagh received support for SAGIA’s educational initiative and optimistic views of the opportunities presented in the Saudi market.
While in London Al-Dabbagh participated in the Middle East Association’s (MEA) Symposium 2005.
