The minister made his comments while opening the Third Global Competitiveness Forum here on behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
“We have introduced several incentives to attract foreign investors to the Kingdom,” he said while calling upon the world community to take meaningful measures to overcome the current global financial crisis.
He noted that collective efforts would yield positive results. He also said that the concept of responsible competitiveness is growing in the world and that people must work toward strengthening it.
Prince Miteb said the Kingdom has allocated $ 400 billion for the implementation of various projects, which demonstrates the vibrant economy of the country that has withstood the current economic crisis.
In his welcome remarks, SAGIA Gov. Amr Al-Dabbagh said that promoting the idea of responsible competitiveness among Saudi companies is one of the organization’s key objectives.
“Our ultimate goal is to achieve a top 10 most competitive country ranking through a responsible and enduring way,” he said.
He added that the business community must embrace excellence not only in financial terms but also as responsible corporate citizens. Al-Dabbagh cited the World Bank’s “Doing Business Report 2008” that said the Kingdom ranked among the top in terms of investment environment throughout the Middle East and the Arab world.
Saudi Arabia ranked 23rd out of 178 countries in the 2008 report vis-à-vis 38th in 2007 and 67th out of 135 countries in 2005. Similarly, the Kingdom figured among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of economic reforms between 2006 and 2007, according to the World Bank.
Asir Gov. Prince Faisal ibn Khalid said, in quest of excellence, the King Khalid Awards are given to companies that stand out in sustainable development.
“The Saudi business community has an important role to play in building a sustainable and prosperous society,” the prince said, pointing out that King Khalid Foundation is keen on encouraging innovative development initiatives in society. It was founded in 2001 to promote community development work among organizations in the Kingdom.
The prince also said that the foundation is working out new programs for research and development to encourage organizations to work for the progress of the Saudi economy.
The award for the Best Responsible Competitiveness went to National Commercial Bank.
More than 100 world leaders including former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, Shinzo Abe, former prime minister of Japan, and Mary Robinson, seventh president of Ireland, are participating at the forum
