JEDDAH: The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) announced Tuesday that the Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF) 2010 will take place Feb. 13 to 16 under the title “The Global Economy 2020.”
“The forum will examine the future of the global economy over the coming 10 years against the background of the current post-crisis (economic) situation,” JCCI Chairman Mohammed Al-Fadl said at an iftar press conference.
Asked why the event, which was earlier scheduled in early 2009, was not staged, Al-Fadl attributed the cancellation to “technical reasons.”
The JEF will be held at the JCCI’s Jeddah Center for Forums and Events on Madinah Road.
“We are also working toward holding a daylong session at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology,” he added.
“We have been short-listing our prospective national and international speakers for the forum, which has attracted leaders and experts from the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Malaysia in the past,” he said.
The 10th edition of the forum will look beyond the current global economic crisis and focus on the shape and leading characteristics of the next phase of global growth.
Al-Fadl said the president of the forum would not be from the JCCI board as was the case earlier. This time the JEF president is Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, which is the organizer of JEF 2010.
Asked what the JCCI proposed to do with the previous JEF sponsorships totaling SR21 million, he said: “We’ll continue with our efforts to deal with them. The JCCI will compensate any shortfall.”
Sager said that after the inauguration, there would be three sessions on each of the next three days. Sessions on the first day will discuss global economic governance after the crisis, and the future of currency, banking and finance.
The second day will be devoted to energy and the environment, conservation policies, trade and investment, and agriculture and food security.
Issues related to health, education, and science and technology will be discussed on the final day.
