Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz patronized in Riyadh on Sunday night the awarding ceremony of Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz Saudization Prize. Prince Naif's Prize is usually awarded to private enterprises in recognition of their efforts in employing Saudi nationals and attaining the rate of Saudization set by the Ministry of Labor. In an address, Prince Naif expressed his happiness for honoring national establishments which have recruited and employed young Saudis, as well as achieving the highest rates of job localization. He said the role played by these establishments deserves special mention, for they measure up to the country's aspirations and also reflect the fulfillment of business owners of their responsibility and obligation towards the sons and daughters towards their national soil. “In its noble concept and ultimate purpose, Saudization is a religious demand, national duty and socioeconomic requirement, for it protects our youth – the future and pillars of this country – from the risks of unemployment, which make them fall in the abyss of deviation and delinquency,” said Prince Naif. “We look at the employment of the Saudi youth as a great humanitarian deed that businessmen should be thanked for, and Almighty Allah will reward them for. “Businessmen are indebted to this country and have obligations towards it, for they have been benefiting from its resources. “It is beyond doubt that the Saudization process has an impact on the continuity of businesses, because their continuity is directly linked to the existence of a permanent workforce, unlike the case of foreign workers, who can leave any moment and who are also subject to the principles of supply and demand,” he added. Prince Naif noted that the localization of jobs constitutes one of the most important elements of sustainable development and continuity of national enterprises. He said honoring the establishments that won the Saudization Prize for the year 2006-2007 signifies the great successes and efforts they made in attracting and employing the Saudi youth. “It also reflects the government's recognition of any sincere effort in the interest of our beloved country and its people and also pushes the wheel of socioeconomic development forward.” Apart from this, Prince Naif said this prize also serves as a gesture of thanks and appreciation to entrepreneurs for supporting the government's efforts in localizing jobs, upgrading citizens' standards of living and enabling them to build their future careers by virtue of hard work and constant training, stressing that those efforts will prevent national human recourses from looking for job opportunities outside of their home country. Prince Naif also expressed his appreciation to Minister of Labor Dr. Ghzai Al-Gosaibi for the sincere efforts he exerted in this respect, and also thanked the winners of the prize for the high rates of employment of nationals. He also hoped that the winners would set a good example to encourage business owners to pursue their track in recruiting and employing young Saudis and enabling them to enter the labor market. Prince Niaf urged young Saudis to benefit and make the best use of the available opportunities, and to prove themselves in the Saudi labor market in the service of their beloved country, themselves and community. Following this, Prince Naif handed over the prizes to the directors of the winning establishments. Prince Naif expressed his thanks and appreciation to Waleed Kattan, Director General of the Okaz Organization for Press and Publication, for attaining the highest rate of Saudization among all of the press organizations in the Kingdom for the fourth consecutive year. The winners of the Prince Naif Prize for Saudization also included Aramco Company for Gulf Works, which grabbed the Diamond Prize. Gosaibi said in a statement following the ceremony that many private establishments have achieved a remarkable increase in the number of the Saudis enlisted in their payrolls while others failed to attain this goal. He pointed that the actual number of unemployed Saudis is less than half a million, stressing that the rate of unemployment among Saudi females has started declining. Gosaibi said unemployment is like a coin. “One face represents the private sector and its readiness to employ the youth,” he said, “while the other face projects the youth and their readiness to work seriously and improve their skills through training.” He said the ministry has not discussed any plan at any level for offering the unemployed social security, as is the case in some European countries, adding that six European countries reduced social security given to jobless people out of their belief that this allowance discourage jobless people from seriously looking for jobs, so that many unemployed people in these countries resort to it. Gosaibi said the ministry has initiated many training programs with stipends worth SR1,500, pointing that any unemployed young Saudi can be enlisted in any of these programs. He said the unemployment problem is not an administrative one, and its solution mainly depends on the private sector and the youth themselves. He stressed that there isn't any unemployment among competent and efficiently trained people such as medical, engineering and accounting graduates. He reiterated that the main problem of unemployment is manifested in the secondary school graduates and dropouts of intermediated and elementary schools. Gosaibi said the ministry has drawn up a 25-year employment plan which has already been submitted to the Supreme Economic Council. __
