Under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr.Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, inaugurated here yesterday the "Fourth Saudi-US Business Opportunities Forum", which is organized by the Ministry of Commerce with the participation of a number of decision makers and senior government officials, as well as a number of businessmen and businesswomen of both the two friendly countries, in an effort to promote the new strategic partnership between the two countries to live up to the requirements of the 21st century in various fields. In his speech delivered at the start of the Forum's activities, Dr. Al-Rabiah expressed pride that the Forum is held under the auspices of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for this year in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after having held the past three sessions in the United States of America, pointing out that this patronage shows his interest in the deep-rooted relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, and his keenness to push these relations in all areas to wider horizons and fruitful cooperation. For his part, the Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf said that the growth of the world economy is still less than expectations, as the outlook for global growth has slowed since October 2015 across the world, pointing out that recent months have seen high volatility of global financial markets, which led to restrict funding in the global financial markets, especially for emerging markets. On the occasion, the Governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), Engineer Abdullatif Al-Othman reviewed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's strong and hard movement in the development of its economy, diversification of its income sources and strengthening the competitiveness, shedding light on elements of the Saudi economy and why and how investors have to invest in the Kingdom. On privileges being provided by the Saudi economy, he said that the current time is the optimal circumstance to invest in the Kingdom and this is a message for local and foreign investors alike for the basic elements, where the Kingdom is considered as the largest in the region, fourth globally as the fastest growing and due to its distinct geographical location, in addition to the investment systems and environment and clear vision being adopted by the government in the development of the private sector. Engineer Al-Othman went on, describing the investment system which includes several advantages overlooked by a lot, since most areas are available for investment as well as the possibility of the acquisition fully in most activities, pointing out that work is currently underway between SAGIA and the Ministry of Commerce to set standards in the retail sector and recommendations will be submitted by the end of this month.
