The first Jeddah Commercial Forum (JCF) will be held here on May 17-19, 2009, the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), organizer of the forum, said on Monday. “The forum aims to discuss the need for SR3 billion to finance new projects this year and the need for SR5 trillion to finance projects in the coming years in both the private and governmental sectors,” said Nashwa Abdulhadi, head of the JCCI Commercial Commission. The forum will emphasize the development the Kingdom's commercial rules and regulations. “The Jeddah Commercial Forum is different from the economic forums that have been held in the past in that it will attempt to perfect the relevant procedures, regulations, and rules in both the private and governmental sectors which will put the Kingdom on an equal footing with the top developed countries in the world,” said Mohammed Abdulqader Al-Fadel, chairman of the Board of Directors of the JCCI. “Through this forum, Saudi Arabia will attempt to show its important position on the world's commercial map, especially as the Kingdom employs Islamic rules in its commercial activities,” he added. Abdulhadi further said the forum “will underline the important role of the commercial chambers in finding solutions for many important problems facing business owners in the Kingdom.” He denied that the forum is a substitute for the Jeddah Economic Forum, saying that the Jeddah Commercial Forum will discuss local commercial projects relating to the Saudi market and system. Al-Fadel added that “the JCF is not an alternative to the JEF. The JEF discusses global economic issues whereas the JCF has a different vision. It addresses important topics in national institutions' commercial work to bring this country up to the level of advanced countries in terms of performance, efficiency, legislation, systems and experiments in the public and private sectors.” The next JEF is set in February 2010. Al-Fadel said the commercial forum was gaining in importance through participants such as Abdullah Bin Ahmad Zainal, the minister of Commerce and Industry, and other ministers and heads of related government authorities and members of the Shoura Council. Al-Fadel said the most prominent issues to be addressed by the forum would be financing in the global crisis, government procedures and their effect on the Saudi investment environment, the law, the commercial judiciary, quality control, consumer protection, the media and commercial security. Nashwa Taher, chairwoman of JCF, said the forum had approached directors from over 500,000 commercial companies to discuss commerce and trade issues.
