JEDDAH: The 10th Jeddah Economic Forum, scheduled from Feb. 14-17, has been put off. “The JEF ’09 has been postponed by three to four months, as we have not received government permission,” Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (JCCI) Secretary-General Mustafa Sabri told Arab News yesterday.
“As soon as we get the license, we will go ahead with the holding of the JEF,” he said, adding that there were no other problems coming in the way of staging the “much awaited and prestigious” event. “We now hope to organize it around May,” he added.
The decision to postpone the JEF was taken at the board meeting of the JCCI this week. The meeting regretted the decision, as it had not received the official ‘go ahead’ from the Ministry of Commerce. The event is held every year with the support of the Makkah governorate since 2000.
Sabri, who spoke to reporters following the meeting, denied that the postponement had anything to do with the global financial crisis.
However, a JCCI member speaking on condition of anonymity, said aside from the delay in getting the official permission, two other factors were responsible for the postponement — the impact of the global financial crisis on some of the event sponsors and co-sponsors as well as exhibitors, and, secondly, hesitation on the part of speakers and participants to travel within the region due to the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza.
Another businessman said that the JEF’s original schedule was coming close to the Global Competitiveness Forum, which is set in Riyadh from Jan. 25-27. “Both are important forums, so how could they be held within a month apart. They need to be staggered and so the JEF has to be postponed.”
JCCI Chairman Saleh Al-Turki said in one of the recent chamber meetings that efforts were continuing to get sponsors and co-sponsors for the JEF ’09. “We can easily pay from the chamber’s budget toward the annual event, but then that will be at the cost of many of our other programs,” he said during the signing of a $1.2 million exclusive partnership agreement related to the forum between the JCCI and Abdullatif Abdullah Alfalch, managing director of Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company.
Al-Turki maintained that the international economic crisis had not yet affected the Kingdom. “Our economy is very strong and resilient. We believe there may be a slowdown this year, but as long as oil remains in the range of $50 per barrel we can hope to be in good shape,” he said.
According to Al-Turki, the JEF is being held annually over the last nine years with a view to establishing an event that would play the role of the ‘Think Tank of the Middle East.’ It has been able to set the standards for national and regional economic events aimed at job creation, economic development and identifying economic opportunities, offering a blueprint for the economic future of the Kingdom and the rest of the region. As announced earlier, the 2009 JEF will include keynote speeches by a select number of world leaders, followed by discussion and debate with key players in the economies of the world.
The 2008 edition of JEF focused on the theme of value creation through alliances and partnerships. The event attracted a group of speakers from diversified backgrounds representing more than 160 countries.
