Prince Khaled Al-Faisal Joud Al-Amri Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, will participate in the upcoming Jeddah Economic Forum slated on March 16-18. The event will welcome ministers from Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, Ireland, Singapore and Brazil as well as other international delegates. This year's event will be based on open workshops and discussions rather than speeches, which are scheduled to take place lately. The main focus is on “housing the growing population" as housing becomes a challenging issue locally, regionally and internationally, said Saleh Kamel, Chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the chamber's headquarters Wednesday. The forum hopes to provide solutions and suggestions for the housing concerns. This year, Kamel said, they will have recommendations and suggestions for solving the issue. He added that the participants hope to reach clear and specified plan to serve the housing sector by highlighting house construction, ownership and rents. Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Mansour bin Mutaib bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, Minister of Housing Dr. Shuwaish bin Saudi bin Duwaihi, Minister of Economy and Planning Mohammad Al Jaser, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Governor Fahad Al-Mubarak are participating in this year's gathering. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, was scheduled to take part at JEF, but sent an apology lately. Kamel further said the number of sponsors is not as high as expected and called on companies to sponsor the event, adding that any shortage will be covered by the JCCI. This year's budget for the Forum is SR15 million.
