Leading local and international organisations line up to support GCF 2008

Following the success of the inaugural Forum held in Riyadh in 2006, many companies have committed to support the GCF 2008 which will be held in Riyadh under the patronage of the Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia between 20 - 22 January 2008.

The GCF 2008 competitiveness partners include Mobily, the brand name of Etihad Etisalat, a mobile network operator in KSA that has been ranked by the GSM World Association as the fastest growing mobile operator in the Middle East and North Africa region. Alongside is Boeing, the world's leading player aerospace industry and a major service provider to NASA. Being the largest global manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircrafts, Boeing is one of the largest U.S. exporters in terms of sales with customers in more than 90 countries around the world. In 2006, Boeing reported revenues of $61.5 billion.

Joining the competitiveness partners this year are, RAKISA Holding, a regional firm with a focus on leading and developing strategic large-scale diversified investment opportunities. Since its establishment in 1993, Rakiza has initiated and participated in major investments in different industries. Dar Al Arkan, an SR5.4 billion publicly listed company which focuses on housing development and large scale residential units. The company was able to develop a great number of residential units and numerous projects.

GCF 2008 strategic partners list embraces both Deutsche Bank, a global provider of financial solutions, and Veolia Water, the water division of Veolia Environnement, the world's leader in water and wastewater services and the Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG), the leading integrated and leading publishing group in the Middle East. - and finally, the Forum will feature two competitiveness sponsors, namely, PASONA, the first temporary staffing and full-time placement firm that's focused on Japanese businesses in the United States and King Abdullah Economic City, a mega-project that's situated off the Red Sea in the north of Jeddah and embodies the Kingdom's on-going drive to expand the economy, creates employment opportunities and helps attract inward investment, to Saudi Arabia

Themed "Competitiveness as an Engine for Economic Growth", GCF 2008 is devoted to address some of the primary international issues with a special focus on improving investment environment prioritisation in the wake of recent world events. It will feature presentations on key business topics such as the gradual and sustainable improvement of investment environment in Saudi Arabia as dictated by the 10 X 10 target whereby KSA becomes one of the top 10 countries in terms of investment environment competitiveness by 2010.

"Leading business organisations sponsoring GCF 2008 gain a pre-eminent platform on which to appear alongside the critical business issues of the modern age," says Mr. Amr Al Dabbagh, Governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), Chairman of the GCF 2008. "Together with the list of high profile international and local speakers and discussants, the prestigious competitiveness partners underlines the prominent global reputation that the forum has gained being a major agenda-setting event for Saudi Arabia and the region."

"Many local, international business leaders and keynote speakers have been invited and confirmed participation in GCF 2008, now widely regarded as a regional premier business and economic think tank," said Abdulmohsen Albadr CEO of the GCF 2008,

"We have been overwhelmed with the high level of response we have received from sponsors whose role will be instrumental in helping us stage such a world-class event and attract leading personalities from the global worlds of business and politics," add Albadr.

The highly successful 1st GCF, held in November 2006, featured Mr. Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft as a keynote speaker, while the GCF 2008 convenes at the background of the reform taking place in Saudi Arabia contributing to the improvement of its ranking as inward Investment attracting environment.

According to "Doing Business Report 2008" released by IFC of the World Bank, KSA ranked the top investment environment throughout the Middle East and the Arab World. The report assesses business and trade environment and investment competitiveness in 178 countries worldwide. Saudi Arabia ranked 23 of 178 countries in 2008 report visa-vis 38 in 2007 and 67 of 135 countries in 2005. Similarly, KSA was one of the top ten countries in the world that carried out tangible economic reforms between 2006 and 2007 according to the World Bank.