Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi said that foreign direct investment inflows in the Kingdom reached SR22.5 billion by the end of the third quarter of 2022. “Empowering the private sector at the Kingdom level is one of the most important priorities of the National Transformation Program, one of the programs to achieve the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. This program aims to increase the contribution of small and emerging enterprises to the gross domestic product (GDP) to 35 percent by the year 2030,” the minister said while addressing the Empertec International Forum 2023 in Riyadh on Monday.

Al-Rajhi said that the government’s efforts were crowned with success through doubling the number of small and emerging enterprises since the announcement of the vision, bringing the total number of these enterprises to more than 1.1 million by the end of 2022. He said that the National Transformation Program achieved more than 750 economic reforms to develop the private sector in the Kingdom. The program launched its initiatives to raise the Kingdom’s ranking in the relevant global indicators, recording remarkable leaps in the “Invest in Saudi Arabia” initiative. Some 80 international companies also obtained licenses to open their regional headquarters in the Kingdom, he pointed out.

Al-Rajhi said that the Kingdom has created success stories in the economic and financial renaissance, thanks to the continuous efforts made by various government sectors in a way that simulates the goals and programs of the Vision. “These are based on the National Transformation Program, the Financial Sector Development Program, and the Human Capacity Development Program. In the MHRSD sectors, we were able to reduce the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent and the number of national cadres in the private sector reached more than 2.3 million male and female citizens, which is the highest number historically,” he said while noting that the rate of female citizens working in the private sector also rose to more than 700,000 workers, representing 36 percent of the total citizens working in the private sector.

The forum, with the theme of “From Geneva to Riyadh,” was organized by the Social Development Bank (SDB) in collaboration with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The forum stands as one of the most significant international forums for entrepreneurs keen on exploring private sector enablers, emerging technology sectors, logistics, and global best practices. EMPRETEC is the flagship capacity-building program of the UN established by the UNCTAD to promote SMEs.