There are no activities planned to train and hire citizens or to issue directives to businessmen asking them to focus on less-developed regions of the country.
This could be done through setting out integrated policies with a strategic vision to manage economic and commercial activities in various sectors and regions.
To achieve these goals, several policy initiatives are needed. We need to shift the focus from non-productive activities or those with less added value to the economy. For example, real estate agents are spreading out everywhere. You can see dozens of agents in every street. I am sure Saudi cities have achieved a world record in terms of the number of pharmacies, which do not employ a single citizen.
Foreigners are dominating the retail sector through concealment of ownership and management. This sector could have been the biggest source of employment for Saudis.
Saudization of the retail sector could be enforced gradually after setting a minimum wage and reducing the number of working hours. This may result in a decrease in the number of shops, and even the closure of some of them. But it will also reduce the number of foreigners dominating this sector. We have more than 100,000 shops in the Kingdom with dozens of them in every district owned and run by non-Saudis. Why don't we replace every 10 shops in each neighborhood with one big supermarket with only Saudis working?
This is just an example to illustrate my point. The entire issue requires in-depth studies. I believe it is time to expedite the establishment of an authority to supervise the overall economic activity in all regions of the country. This authority should be in charge of conducting appropriate feasible studies and drawing up policies and strategies to serve the national economy.
