JEDDAH: The sixth edition of Jeddah Industrial Forum (JIF) was inaugurated by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal with the adoption of an innovative youth-focused national transformation program at the Jeddah Hilton. The Ministry of Trade and Industry in Saudi Arabia has revealed that non-oil exports from the Kingdom have more than doubled in just two years, with the sales volume reaching SR627 billion at the opening of the JIF under the slogan “national transformation, toward the industrial transformation.”
Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, the minister of commerce and industry, and many leaders of the sector representing 10 government agencies and more than 500 experts, specialists, investors, businessmen, Saudi consulting companies and economic entities also attended the forum. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal praised the efforts of the industrial sector in supporting young people to shift toward the sector and for motivating young people to establish small businesses to contribute to the national economy.
He also emphasized the importance of youth in facing the major challenges approaching the Saudi industry, and their ability to find ways to increase exports in the coming period. Al-Rabiah explained that the government has succeeded in developing a new commercial business registrations through which youth can register themselves online.
He also highlighted the successful development of trademark registration procedures and the newly-reduced duration of registration to just two days, which has contributed to increasing the proportion of trademark applications by 42 percent. He said that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched an online portal under a theme “start your factory in four steps” with aims to promote the principles of companies, increase the level of transparency, improve and develop the business environment.
Al Rabiah said that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is facilitating the creation of 34 industrial cities in the Kingdom with incentives for industrial investment; additionally, 604 factories are ready to back up the industry. The volume of industrial investments is expected to reach SR807 billion, representing 27 percent of the size of existing investments.
He pointed out that the ministry is working to strengthen the capacity of the Kingdom’s exports, by supporting 97 workshops with the facilitation of 1,836 trainees and 1,447 companies in 2016. Additionally, 117 workshops with the participation of 1,240 companies over 33 international exhibitions were held in past two years, highlighting the growing industry.
