A $1.2 million exclusive partnership agreement for the 10th Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF ‘09) was signed on Thursday between Abdullatif Abdullah Alfalch, managing director of Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company, and Saleh Ali Al-Turki, chairman, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) at the chamber's headquarters here. The JEF ‘09, with the theme “Globo-Presence: Future by Design,” will be held under the patronage of Makkah Governor Khaled Al-Faisal on Feb.14-17. Al-Turki said the Jeddah business community has accepted the concept of the JEF and the philosophy and aim of holding the annual event. “They want it and the only way we can have it is if we have sponsors. We could easily pay from the chamber budget but then it defeats the purpose. As it will have little or no money left to spend on other programs,” he added. “If we develop a product, the business community has to support it. So it is very important for them to believe in it so that the JEF could continue to be organized. One way to show that is to pay for holding it,” he said, and added that “Dar Al-Arkan is paying $1.2 million for the sponsorship. It is a lot of money, but they believe in supporting the economic gathering. It is a service to the business community and a value added service for themselves.” “We are sponsoring this economic forum because we need to reaffirm to the local and international investors our view of the economy of the country. We strongly believe in the solid economic sustainable growth of Saudi Arabia, which has been on peak in terms of economy throughout its history,” said Alfalch. “We want to impress this upon international as well as the local market,” he added. Asked whether in view of the international economic crisis, the JEF was experiencing any difficulty or problem, Al-Turki said for the last two months the talk in Saudi Arabia is that the Kingdom has not been affected by the crisis yet. “Our economy is very strong, our banking sector is very strong and we believe that there might be a slowdown in the economy in 2009, but as long as oil is in the range of $50 we are in good shape,” he said. “We are not feeling any difficulty in our economy. Our stock market does not reflect the Saudi economy as such.” __
