JEDDAH — The second edition of Cityquest Forum, the leading high level exchange on the world's most important new cities, was launched Monday at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) with the participation of a total of 150 international participants from across the private, public, academic and non-profit sectors. In his opening speech, Eng. Abdullatif Al-Othman, Governor of SAGIA and Chairman of ECA, emphasizes that the ECA is going on with the investment plans that focus on the economic cities as investment hubs spread around the kingdom in collaboration with related governmental entities. He said “The Kingdom identified the most promising and significant sectors that contribute in creating job opportunities, technology transformation and exports development.” He pointed out that the Kingdom has developed the economic cities based on a strategic vision for each city to be characterized by certain sectors. He said KAEC represents a great model that was established as a logistic hub in Saudi Arabia with the launch of King Abdullah Port (KAP). “KAEC also focus on pharmaceutical manufacturers, FMCG, Construction and automobile companies. That was the reason why this forum was made and this is why it's important to us in the Kingdom,” he noted. As for the Cityquest Exhibition, Al-Othman affirmed the importance of “connecting new cities” to facilitate knowledge transfer, exchange ideas in terms of economic cities development, pave the way for growth, and activate its role as a tool for socio-economic sustainable development. Meanwhile, Fahd Al-Rasheed, Managing Director and CEO of KAEC Group, expressed his appreciation to the chairman of ECA and secretary general of KAEC-Cityquest Forum for their support and interest in the activities. He further that KAEC represents an important part of the Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's interest to reinforce the economic development, attract foreign investment, open jobs for Saudi young talents, and provide residential solutions for citizens which brings the benefit to different commercial, industrial and social sectors in the kingdom. He said: “KAEC has become a new platform to exchange knowledge and a global destination to attract foreign investments to eventually introduce global initiatives such as KAEC-Cityquest Forum embraced the experiences of 20 new cities around the world with more than 200 participants from 35 countries.” According to organizers, the New Cities Foundation estimates that, taken globally, the investment in new cities exceeds $500 billion, amounting to one of the largest investment programs in history. Over 150 new city projects are being developed worldwide. In total, these cities expect to attract over 50 million residents. A joint initiative of the New Cities Foundation and KAEC, Cityquest is designed to spark a vital, cross-sector conversation and foster a lasting global network of leaders and builders of the most important global new city projects.
