he details of the national transformation program which was approved by the Council of Ministers in its regular meeting held late yesterday under the Chairmanship of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud were announced as one of the programs of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 presented by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs chaired by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense. This came during a press conference held here yesterday evening with the participation of Minister of State and Cabinet's Member Mohamed bin Abdulmalik Al Al-Sheikh; Minister of Civil Service Khalid bin Abdullah Al-Arj; Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdurrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli; Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Faleh and Minister of Hajj and Umrah Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Bentin. For the program, many innovative ways were used to accommodate the challenges facing the work of government and public sectors in the country, and address them to achieve positive results for the country and citizens and the program includes a number of strategic objectives to be achieved during the next five years, to be followed by other stages including other agencies on an annual basis, and develop detailed plans for the program, depending on phased indicators to measure and follow-up the performance. The press conference started with a speech for the economist Talat Zaki Hafez, in which he dealt with the objectives of the national program, indicating they achieve a mechanism of action and outcomes more efficiently and effectively in the planning and integration of government action in line with the "Kingdom's Vision 2030", translate the strategic objectives into specific executive initiatives, maximize the impact of these initiatives in the achievement of national priorities and enhance transparency by the announcement of objectives and results. He stated that the national transformation program defined a number of common national priorities of impact and public interest and based on the strategic objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, after initiatives were analyzed by specialized support chambers in accordance with choices aim to maximize the contribution of the initiatives to achieve the common national goals. He also drew attention that the program contributes to the generation of more than 450,000 jobs in the non-governmental sectors by 2020, thereby contributing to the achievement of the goal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's vision 2030 through the development of opportunities for all, promotion of the partnership with the private sector, providing about 40 % of government spending on initiatives and increasing the private sector's contribution to Gross Domestic Product to 65 %. For his part, the Minister of State and Cabinet's Member Mohamed bin Abdulmalik Al Al-Sheikh highlighted the importance of national transformation program, saying it emerges from (Kingdom's Vision 2030), which set goals expected to be achieved during the next 15 years, and include a number of programs, including the national transformation program, which was developed by 24 government agencies with the participation of a group of ministers to identify the challenges facing each sector and address them, noting that the stage of launching the program is the first stage to address the challenges, whether regular, procedural or operational by those 24 government agencies to achieve the results of the (Kingdom's Vision 2030). As for the Minister of Civil Service, he said that in line with the (Kingdom's Vision 2030), his Ministry has participated in the design of the national transformation program to be one of the steps of this ambituous nation to develop a functioning government by restructuring the general function to improve the government performance in general and the establishment of the principle of transparency by employing its initiatives to focus on the customer and transfer services to be provided electronically, in addition to what had been provided as an independent initiative for governance of other public agencies and initiatives of the efficiency of human resources to improve productivity, and raise the efficiency of spending under the initiative (Quam). For his part, the Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Faleh said that the ministry included a number of industrial, mineral and energy sectors, along with important bodies to complete the added value of scientific research and the empowerment of knowledge through King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy with sectors related to infrastructure such as the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. He added that the restructuring of the Ministry is an actual translation of the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, noting that the Ministry aims, through the national transformation program to develop the working based on the principle of sustainability for the sectors of energy, industry and mineral resources with all its various stages, such as the stage of value for these sectors to achieve higher added value for the national economy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by increasing the gross domestic product (GDP), generating jobs and availability of many investment opportunities. He also revealed the existence of more than 130 initiatives to be financed mostly by the private sector at an estimated cost of more than SR 103 billion until 2020, stating that Aramco has, through partnership, signed a number of agreements with international companies for the completion of the World Marine Industries and Services Complex, which will directly and indirectly provide 80,000 jobs in the medium term, and ceasing imports worth 12 billion dollars a year, which is considered a very strong indication of the success of the national transformation program. For his part, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdurrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli said the Ministry is seeking, through its initiatives to the national transformation program to achieve (16) strategic objectives investing the elements of strength and areas of opportunities and expanding the maximum benefit for reaching the desired results thereof. He said that the first strategic goal of his Ministry is to contribute to the achievement of a comprehensive and sustainable food security in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the development of an effective program for strategic food reserve and storage and developing a strategic plan in the Saudi agricultural investment abroad and a national program to reduce waste in food and good practices based on international experiences and standards. Furthermore, the Minister of Hajj and Umrah Dr. Mohammed Bentin stated that his Ministry focused on providing all the services to visitors of the Kingdom for Hajj or Umrah in implementation of the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud who is keen to emphasize this principle all the times, noting that the King issued his orders to provide all services for Umrah performers in the month of Ramadan, to perform their Umrah rites easily and conveniently. He explained that the Ministry's policy, through the national transformation program is to provide the opportunity for the largest number of Muslims to perform Hajj and Umrah rites in a distinctive religious journey based on the best possible services. He added that the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah works, within the framework of the national transformation program to transform a lot of challenges into promising investment opportunities for the private sector to contribute to the growth of the national economy.
