The fourth Global Competitiveness Forum begins Saturday in Riyadh, gathering noted experts from around the world, among them Nobel laureates, to discuss this year's theme of “sustainable competitiveness”. Held under the patronage of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the four-day forum is hosting 15 workshops that will look at “concepts of understanding, incentives, and requirements involved in achieving sustainable competitiveness from sociopolitical perspective.” The gathering will also study global efforts to end the use of carbon fuel and ascertain when renewable fuels will become competitive through technological progress, and look at development in the global health system and correlating cost to the quality of health services. Among the prominent figures scheduled to speak are Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance, Muhammad Al-Jassir, Governor of Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency (SAMA) and a number of executives from international businesses. 100 fastest-growing firms The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) which founded the forum in 2006 is also scheduled to reveal to those gathered Sunday its second annual list of the 100 fastest-growing Saudi companies. “SAGIA is committed to making the Kingdom one of the most competitive countries in the world,” said SAGIA governor Amr Al-Dabbagh. “To achieve that, the Kingdom needs to sponsor up-and-coming companies which constitute the very oxygen of the economy. They provide a model for success and send a powerful message that Saudi Arabia is one of the best places to develop new projects.” The SAGIA governor said that the 2009 list of 100 had had a significant impact on the companies in terms of credibility and their “substantial role” in the Kingdom's economy. SAGIA describes the Global Competitiveness Forum as an “annual meeting of top business leaders, international political leaders, and selected intellectuals and journalists, to be held in Riyadh.” The first forum in 2006 in Riyadh saw over a thousand leading global businesspeople take part, with its keynote speech given by Bill Gates, the then chairman of the Microsoft Corporation. The mission of the forum, SAGIA says, is to “formally raise awareness and enthusiasm around competitiveness challenges, and to critically evaluate competitiveness theory and practice as related to International Trade, Regional Development, FDI, Environment, Innovation, Human Resources Development, Sustainability, Globalization, and the Micro- and Macro-economic consequences of becoming globally competitive.”Saudi-Oxford leadership On the sidelines of the competitiveness forum, SAGIA is holding Saturday the Saudi-Oxford Leadership Forum – SOLF-2010 – organized with Oxford University from the UK. The forum, headlined “The Role of the Leader in Society and Organizations”, will exchange views on the impact of global and local challenges on the competitiveness of Saudi organizations and how managerial leadership can address them. Graduates from Oxford University and the Saudi-Oxford Leadership Program who have attended the previous forums will talk about the program and discuss strategic thinking skills to improve “competitiveness abilities at higher executive levels.”
