RIYADH — Minister of Commerce Dr. Majed Al-Qasabi said that Saudi Arabia witnessed a surge of 43 percent in the rate of commercial registrations during the past six years. Al-Qasabi revealed that there are 1.5 million commercial registrations, of which 570,000 registrations belonged to new investors who entered the market," he said while addressing the Shoura Council session in Riyadh on Wednesday. The Council Speaker Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sheikh chaired the session. Replying to queries from Shoura members, Al-Qasabi said that the closure of some small and medium establishments is a normal matter, as investors, who have left the market are usually investors in establishments who are in the beginning of their business journey. He attributed the intensity of competition, high costs in some sectors, or failure to follow an innovative model in providing added value in service to the possible reasons for their exit from the market. "We have a mechanism to monitor all establishments that enter the market and those that leave, and we work to follow it up and find out the reasons, so that we can benefit from this in future," he said adding that ministry had conducted a study of the reasons for the closure of small and medium enterprises in some cities and regions. In his speech, the minister thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman for everything they provide to boost the commercial system in the Kingdom. "My attendance at the Shoura Council session and the discussion of the topics of the Ministry of Commerce under the Shoura dome comes within the framework of fruitful cooperation between the Council and government agencies to serve the interests of the nation and the citizens in a way realizing comprehensive development goals and the objectives of Saudi Arabia's ambitious Vision 2030," he said. Al-Qasabi gave a presentation on the achievements of the Ministry of Commerce, the developments of the commerce system, and the most prominent achievements that accompanied Saudi Vision 2030, through which he reviewed the development of the governance of the commerce system. The legislative environment in the commercial sector was developed by reviewing and developing 110 pieces of legislation, he said while drawing attention to the development of market rules, including consumer protection, price control, commercial fraud, and combating commercial concealment. Al-Qasabi reviewed the achievements of the Ministry of Commerce and developments in the commerce system. Replying a question from Chairman of the Shoura Commerce and Investment Committee Hanan Al-Sammari about the initiatives that the ministry is working on to protect basic commodities from unexpected price rises, he stressed that the ministry has an observatory for basic prices that is updated daily to ensure the abundance of products through smart control so that the stock is not exploited. He also indicated that the rise in prices has causes including the impact of the global crises. Regarding the difficulties faced by many consumers in filing complaints, Al-Qasabi explained that the ministry has multiple channels for submitting complaints, which are received through the commercial report application and the unified number 1900. The ministry has received more than 860,000 reports during the past five months, which are being approved and working on processing it, and if the report is closed, it can be reopened again. In a question about the existence of a monopoly in car dealerships, the minister indicated that the regulations in Saudi Arabia prohibit monopoly. "There is what is called competition, and wrong practices have been monitored in the market and penalties have been issued in this regard," he said. Replying to the ministry's plans to confront the commercial concealment, Al-Qasabi stated that there is integrated work between 13 government agencies within the commercial system to combat the commercial concealment, during which artificial intelligence is used to build the commercial concealment index, in addition to issuing a regulation to correct the conditions of violators of the anti-cover-up system and developing an electronic system dedicated to reporting cases of suspected cover-up and directing oversight teams. The deliberations held at the Council in the presence of Al-Qasabi focused on the citizen, his concerns, complaints, and aspirations, while the minister's answers were characterized by transparency and positive interaction. Al-Qasabi promised to study the proposal to establish an independent consumer protection body. The Shoura members discussed for three hours everything that is on the mind of the merchant and the consumer, including what is related to car, food prices, monopoly and exit of SMEs.
