Abdullatif Al-Othman

Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA) Chairman Abdullatif Al-Othman opened the Global Innovation Summit and the 2015 annual meeting of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC) on Sunday.

The Global Innovation Summit, combined with the GFCC annual meeting, is a three-day interactive program of panels, discussions, workshops and presentations by global thought leaders, corporate leaders, senior government officials and heads of premier research and academic institutions.

The event will address a number of important topics related to investment, development, and innovation infrastructure — physical, virtual and — social — and its impact on a nation’s competitiveness. This is the first time the GFCC will be held in Saudi Arabia.

Opening the event, Al-Othman spoke about the measures Saudi Arabia has taken to increase its competitiveness.

He said: “Since our accession to the WTO in 2005, increasing our competitiveness to attract a new generation of investments for diversifying the economy has truly become a national effort. Today’s summit will provide us with further insight into what next steps can be taken to catapult Saudi Arabia to the next level.”

The governor said much has been done in the past five years to improve, in particular to increase the ease of doing business, but important decisions and announcements — many in developing infrastructure — will be made soon to further signal to the global business community that Saudi Arabia is open for business.”

The GFCC President Deborah Wince-Smith, joined Al-Othman at the opening.

Commenting on the event, Wince Smith said: “I am very excited to co-host the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils’ (GFCC) 6th Annual Meeting and Innovation Summit at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), one of the world’s largest infrastructure projects to create a new cluster of innovation and learning. “

He added: “The GFCC this year will bring together leaders from 30 countries to share best practices to enhance competitiveness strategies. In that respect, GFCC is more than just a knowledge, policy and strategy creation platform. The GFCC is an action organization, giving members the tools to enhance the competitiveness of their home countries, regions and organizations.”

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