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Global leaders to discuss sustaining competitiveness at Global Competitiveness Forum

The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) announces that its 4th Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) will be held from 23 to 26th of January 2010 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Amr Dabbagh, Governor of SAGIA, expressed his thanks and gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, for his patronage of the Fourth GCF.

He added that "The Global Competitiveness Forum brings together global leaders and thinkers to develop the concept of sustainable competitiveness across international markets and to make a conscious, positive contribution to the growing body of research and thought leadership on this important topic and establishing it at the forefront of modern business practice."

Founded in 2006, the GCF is the largest international economic event and the largest leadership gathering in the Middle East. It provides an international platform to raise awareness of the challenges facing competitiveness, critically evaluating the micro and macroeconomic requirements for becoming globally competitive.

GCF 2010 will feature over 100 speakers including the Saudi Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Harvard Business School Professor and founder of the theory of competitiveness Michael Porter, the Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Dr. Mohammed Al-Jasser, Founder of 'Dell' of computers Michael Dell, Founder and VC of the Global Investment House Maha Al-Ghunaim, President of Cisco Systems John Chambers, and James Wolfensohn, Chairman, Wolfensohn & Company LLC.

Mr. Abdul Mohsen Al Badr, CEO of the GCF, added:

"The GCF has established itself as a major global thought leadership event. The incredibly strong presence of local and global business personalities speaking at GCF 2010 confirms the event's increasing international importance. The GCF has become an important intellectual meeting point for world business leaders, influential academics and pioneers of new business thinking. It also provides a high profile platform for best practice initiatives which encourage, develop and support sustainable social and economic activity."


The theme for GCF 2010 will be sustainable competitiveness and various discussions will focus on key topics related to recent developments in the global economic climate by shedding light on the developments a year after the global economic downturn and the vision for 2010 and beyond. The role of governments as well as the private sector will also be discussed by looking at the challenges, incentives and requirements for sustainable competitiveness.

Other major topics include the environment and health care which will include contributions from five Nobel Prize winners and Saudi Female Professor Ghada Al Mutairi, winner of the NIH Director's Pioneer Award Program for inventing a new technology that treats illnesses without surgery will all be participating at the forum.

New initiatives aimed at increasing the competitiveness of public and private sectors will also be announced in addition to the launched in previous forums - The Responsible Competitiveness Index, the Saudi Fast Growth 100 and the Porter Prize.
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Notes and media contacts

About the Global Competitiveness Forum - www.gcf.org.sa:
The Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) was founded in 2006 by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). It is an annual meeting of top business leaders, international political leasers, and selected intellectuals and journalists, to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques HM King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

The ultimate goal of the GCF is to be a global platform that raises awareness and enthusiasm around competitiveness challenges, and critically evaluates the state of competitiveness theory and practice as they relate to International Trade, Regional Development, FDI, the Environment, Innovation, Human Resources Development, Globalization and the Micro- and Macroeconomic requirements for becoming globally competitive.

From its inception the GCF has fostered dialogue on competitiveness and idea exchange between high prolife leaders. At the first Global Competitiveness Forum the theme addressed was 'ICT as an Enabler for Competitiveness' which explored the impact that ICT can have on competitiveness and how to harness it. The second GCF Forum provided a high-profile and global perspective on the highly successful pro-growth competitiveness agendas being pursued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and many other successful industrialized and emerging economies. The 2010 event will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh.

About SAGIA - www.sagia.gov.sa:
SAGIA, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, was established in 2000 as part of the new foreign investment law in Saudi Arabia. Its purpose is to attract investment to Saudi Arabia and more recently its mandate has evolved to encompass the enhancement of the Kingdom's overall competitiveness. SAGIA plans to attract sufficient investment to achieve rapid and sustainable economic growth in Saudi Arabia, capitalizing on the Kingdom's competitive strengths as the global capital of energy and as a major hub between East and West. It aims to position Saudi Arabia among the top ten most competitive nations by 2010 through the creation of a pro-business environment, a knowledge-based society, and by developing new, world-class 'Economic Cities'. In September 2009, the World Bank recognized the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia amongst the Top 20 most business-friendly countries in the world in its annual 'Ease of Doing Business' report. Recent reforms in Saudi Arabia improved the Kingdom's position from 13th out of 181 countries in the World Bank rankings.

To help boost competitiveness, SAGIA established the National Competitiveness Center (NCC) in 2006 to act as an independent body to monitor, assess and support the development of competitiveness in Saudi Arabia. The NCC serves as a think tank for change by conducting and developing competitive assessments and monitoring the implementation and results of change programs.

Contact:
Yasmin Adem
Account Executive
Hill & Knowlton
Tel: +966 1 288 6734/35
Fax: +966 1 288 6736

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