The statement asked all Chinese officials in all regions to reduce the number of international conferences and seminars. The government urged officials to put an end to pointless meetings. The government also warned against holding conferences with similar themes and asked organizers to reduce invitations to senior officials and Communist party members.
Reading this news, I immediately starting thinking about our situation in this regard. Our government departments annually hold scores of conferences, seminars, meetings, symposia and gatherings under various names but the contents are always similar.
Many of the gatherings held in our country have the same objective, which is to ensure organizers get as much media exposure as possible.
The organizers want to put the limelight on themselves and lavish the top officials with unworthy praise. There is no coordination. You will find two similar conferences being held simultaneously in the same city.
In most of our conferences, the target audience is absent. For instance, if a conference is to discuss issues concerning the youth, you will find only old people participating! In all our conferences, the list of invitees is the same. The same group of invitees moves from one city to another and from one conference to another. The reason is to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship. You invite me to your conference, and I will invite you to mine!
In most cases, the conference halls are empty except for some organizers and participants who will deliver working papers. The other invitees will be fast asleep in their luxurious hotels, hanging around the lobby or visiting friends and families.
The conference usually ends with bombastic recommendations that are artistically phrased. They recommendations start and end by praising the organizers. When the conference is over, the invitees pack up to go to another one in a different city. The recommendations remain ink on paper and are stashed in cupboards wrapped in nice files.
The end result is the dissipation of millions of riyals from public funds or from the budget of the sponsoring company. All this money is spent on nothing.
We must, therefore, follow the Chinese experiment. We should reduce the number of our conferences and gatherings. All our meetings should be held under one umbrella organization that approves them after choosing the subjects that are of interest and value to the citizens and to the country.
This body should also look after expenditure and coordinate with concerned parties to implement the recommendations. Let us not waste our money for nothing.
