JEDDAH, 31 October 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday urged Arab states to achieve self-dependence and strengthen their cooperation, especially in the area of exploiting their vast mineral resources.
Opening the 9th Arab Conference for Mineral Resources at Jeddah Hilton, Abdullah urged delegates to translate the conference’s main theme (Arab partnership in mining for a better future) into reality. “Economic unity is as important as political unity,” the king emphasized.
King Abdullah said the Arab world was not short of anything. “We have men, we have money and if we have the determination we can establish joint ventures, build free zones and replace duplicity with integration,” the king told the gathering that included several Arab ministers.
“If we are able to achieve this we can say that we have taken important steps toward Arab economic unity,” he said. In his keynote address, the king also stressed the role of mineral resources in boosting industrial development and promoting progress and prosperity in any country.
“Gone are the days of depending fully on others in drilling, extraction and industrialization of mineral resources. We are now in an era of depending on our efforts (after God) and our constructive cooperation,” he said. “We cannot achieve power except through progress and we cannot achieve progress except through cooperation,” he added.
Organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization, the two-day conference’s objective is to encourage investment in the mineral sector in order to capitalize on Arab minerals, focus on the importance of this sector for Arab economic development and provide an attractive investment climate in the Arab world. The conference is accompanied by a “Mineral Investment Exhibition” for Arab and foreign authorities, companies and concerned bodies to show their mineral products. The third day (tomorrow) of the conference is for field trips to the Mahd Al-Dahab mine 350 km east of Jeddah and to quarries for the exploitation of limestone, clay and gypsum in Rabigh. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali Al-Naimi said in his opening address that God has privileged the Arab world with various riches such as oil, gas, water and agricultural products, and among these vital resources, minerals have a special importance for industry and economy. “We have to work hard at exploring, extracting and investing in a way that contributes in developing this sector,” he said.
“The abundance of mineral resources in the Arab world represents a real strategic, developmental and vital dimension because minerals and their products play an essential role in the life of people and enter in the manufacturing of almost all his needs,” said Al-Naimi.
He went on to speak about the Kingdom’s experience in the mineral sector for the past 50 years. “Through planning for the future, the Kingdom has been active in achieving one of its main goals and that is diversifying its revenue sources and expanding its national economy. Naturally and logically, exploring and exploiting mineral resources is among those plans,” he said.
To achieve that, the ministry in cooperation with geological societies and specialized companies has implemented programs for mineral exploration. By the end of 2005, almost 1,200 mining licenses have been issued for about 600 companies. Annual earnings of the investors reached SR13 billion, profits SR4.1 billion and estimated investment of more than SR32 billion.
These investors have extracted gold, silver, cement raw material and construction material for local market and exporting. In order to continue with the development of the mining sector, some important decisions, including the new mining investment system, were made to encourage national and foreign investment based on transparency and ease of procedures.
The ministry is putting a long-term strategy for exploring minerals and providing investment opportunities based on research and information and focusing on human resources.
The Arab ministers concerned with the mining sector held the first consultative meeting chaired by the Al-Naimi to exchange ideas and experiences for cooperation and coordination in developing mineral exploration and industry. Although there has been some growth in mining investment, the sector’s share of the total Arab countries’ GDP is around only 1 percent.
“I think this is due to the need to create an attractive investment environment for national and foreign investors,” said Al-Naimi to the ministers. He said there are some obstacles that have to be addressed including financing difficulties, international competition, lack of information and the need for transparent and flexible laws and regulations. “We should look at these difficulties as incentives for us to work harder at finding solutions, determine the causes and continually cooperate and consult with each other.”
The organizing committee has suggested two points for the ministers to discuss: activating Arab cooperation and coordination in the mining sector and holding coordination meetings of concerned officials, experts, companies and organizations for exploring, manufacturing and marketing mineral raw material.
Key points of the conference, besides the environment and opportunities for investment, include focusing on exploration, research and development of Arab mineral resources, the current status and potential, regulations and politics, preservation and safeguarding and Arab partnership of mineral resources.
Eighteen workshops during the two days address these key points by managers, geologists and researchers from the Arab countries and some foreign countries.
SAGIA governor, Amr Al-Dabbagh, opened the first session yesterday by talking about the Saudi investment environment. He reviewed the achievements made in attracting investment, the growth of the nonoil sector and contributions of the private sector. He then focused on the mining sector and the new investment regulations, incentives and economic cities and emphasized the Kingdom’s competitive advantages in terms of abundance of different minerals and low cost of production. Dr. Zuhair Nawab, president of the Saudi Geological Survey, spoke about the means of inter-Arabian cooperation development in the mining sector. He listed the impediments that hamper investments in Arab countries and called for cooperation in such things as research, updated modern information tools and training.
The secretary-general of the Arab Union for Cement and Building Materials, Ahmed Al-Rusan, shed light on the cement industry in the Arab world and said that despite development during the past few years, the number of factories, 106, represents only seven percent of the total number of current factories in the world. He suggested that Arab companies consolidate to be able to compete with international companies.
The president of the Egyptian Society for Mineral Resources, Dr. Hussein Hamouda, spoke about the mining activity in Egypt, a country that has succeeded in becoming a main exporter of cement and in exploring in different minerals.
The president of Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), Dr. Abdallah Al-Dabbagh spoke about the next stage in the development of the mining sector, which for Maaden includes developing four gold projects and developing complete mining system at Ras Al-Zour industrial area linked by railways with the company’s industrial utilities and a port for exporting phosphate and aluminum products.
