JEDDAH, 20 September 2005 — The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) hosted on Sunday an OECD Group 4 meeting in Jeddah for its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) chapter themed “Promoting Employment and Economic Diversification for Financial Sector and Enterprise Development.”
Dr. Awwad Al-Awwad, deputy governor for investment affairs at SAGIA, inaugurated the meetings which were attended by 70 international experts.
The Group 4 aims at assisting MENA countries to promote policies for financial sector and enterprise development in support of economic diversification with job creation given particularly high priority.
The meeting tackled strategies for developing the financial sector including private and public financial markets and banks with the purpose of creating job opportunities. The meeting discussed a draft report on economic diversification strategies in MENA countries in addition to discussing a report on the challenges facing reforms of the financial sector in these countries along with proposed solutions.
Participants also discussed a report on job creation and corporate financing and the suggested procedures for implementing these policies.
The meeting also considered suggestions reached during a previous OECD conference held in Istanbul in 2004 with regards to developing policies for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and a plan for increasing awareness among women institutions.
Experts representing MENA countries and OCED member countries attended the meeting along with representatives from other financial institutions such as World Bank, UNIDO, Islamic Development Bank, Arab League and other international organizations.
Earlier this week, SAGIA asked investors in Saudi Arabia to submit data for entry into an OECD MENA Investor of the Year award based on job creation and research and development investment.
OECD is organizing the award and SAGIA was requested to nominate companies in Saudi Arabia for the award.
