JEDDAH, 9 April 2007 — A three-day Saudi International Banking and Investment Conference 2007 opened at the Jeddah Hilton last night, with Prince Abdullah ibn Fahd, deputy governor of Makkah region for security affairs, officiating as the chief guest on behalf of Makkah Gov. Prince Abdul Majeed.
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Governor Hamad Al-Sayari referred to the growing acceptance of Islamic financial services and urged speakers to deliberate on various challenges that the banking sector faced in particular.
He referred to the emerging investment-friendly climate across the Kingdom and hoped that the conference would shed light on how to make the market more attractive to overseas investors.
Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Secretary General Saleh Al-Turki spoke about the increasing role of the private sector in the country’s economic development and hoped that there would be in-depth discussion on how it could benefit more from the banking and financial sector.
The Kingdom, with its rich natural resources, buoyant economy and excellent investment environment, will surely encourage an increasing number of foreign investors to come in,” Adel A. Shakoor, chief executive officer of Trade Exhibitions and Conferences Ltd. (Tradex Arabia), which has organized the event, said.
Since the Kingdom’s accession to the World Trade Organization, many influencing factors have surfaced that required a thorough evaluation from various perspectives. “It’s against this background that the idea of a conference dedicated to the challenges facing the banking and investment sector came up and the conference planned,” Shakoor said.
The session this morning will be devoted to discussion on new investment environment and its implication on Saudi banking services and the afternoon session on the insurance sector in the Kingdom after joining the WTO.
Speakers include banking and investment experts, professors and businessmen.
Regular sessions of the conference will be held for two days from today, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
