King Abdullah sponsors 1st Global Competitiveness Forum Series and Bill Gates to deliver its keynote address

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In his first ever visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bill Gates, technology visionary and Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, will deliver the keynote address at the new forum. In his speech titled, 'The role and impact of ICT in enabling the competitiveness of the economy and related challenges for Saudi Arabia', Gates will highlight the strategic role played by ICT in nurturing economic competitiveness in KSA and the impacts of this role on the economic and technological boom Saudi Arabia is experiencing nowadays. The address will discuss also how to tackle the challenges of the ICT sector and develop its success opportunities.

The Global Competitiveness Forum has been launched in line with a series of forums discussing the global economic competitiveness and the development of healthy competitive atmosphere in KSA through the cooperation between the public and private businesses. Directed by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the new initiative aims to bring together the global thought leaders and thinkers in IT and economy to share their ideas and visions with the Saudi businesspersons to enhance investment competitiveness in the Kingdom and address the challenges facing local and foreign investors.

HE Amr Al-Dabbagh, Governor of SAGA, explained that the Competitiveness Forum is one of the tools developed by SAGIA under the 10x10 program that targets putting Saudi Arabia among the ten globally competitive investment destinations by 2010. 'The ICT sector has been chosen as the first theme of the 1st Global Competitiveness Forum because of its vibrant impact on the economic productivity and competitiveness. ICT is by all means a promising sector and has a wide market that has big potential for developing a knowledge-based economy in Saudi Arabia', added Al-Dabbagh.

HE Al-Dabbagh expressed his sincere thankfulness and appreciation to King Abdullah's sponsorship to this event, which reflects his keen care to promote the investment environment in the Kingdom.

The coming forum will address the role and impact of ICT on the national economy and how to employ this vital sector in developing a healthy environment for foreign investments in Saudi Arabia, considering that ICT is one of the main drivers used in establishing the knowledge-based economies.

Commenting on Bill Gates' participation at the event, Dabbagh said, 'Given that he is one of the global thought leaders in ICT industry, Gates will definitely enrich all discussions of the Global Competitiveness Forum.'

Dr. Khaled Al Daher, General Manager of Microsoft in KSA, said,

'Microsoft is committed to developing the ICT sector and putting Saudi Arabia among the top countries benefiting from this dynamic sector. Our strategic cooperation with SAGIA comes on the level of sharing visions and launching initiatives that enhance ICT in the Kingdom. Together, we are working on developing initiatives that lay foundation to healthy knowledge-based economy for the benefits of our country and people.'

Al-Dhaher showed that Gates' keynote address at the coming forum will reflect the joint vision of Microsoft and SAGIA to make the Kingdom one of the top 10 global destinations for the competitive investments. 'It is not only an economic option, but also a strategic demand we all should put hand in hand to address', stressed Al-Dhaher.

Microsoft and SAGIA have previously joined forces during CeBit 2006 Exhibition which was held last March in Hannover, Germany, under the SAGIA umbrella. Along with 14 public and private Saudi entities, Microsoft presented its full support to SAGIA to attract foreign investors into the Kingdom. The event also went a long way towards providing Microsoft's Saudi partners with an opportunity to interact with their global counterparts and other exhibitors, presenting investment opportunities in Saudi ICT sector, updating them with the global top-notch technologies to pinpoint the best IT solutions addressing needs of the Saudi market.