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GCF 2012 Concludes with Call for More Openness to Foster Entrepreneurship

The Sixth Global Competitiveness Forum concluded here today after three days of intense discussions, with several speakers emphasizing the need for more freedom and openness, as well as vision, to spur entrepreneurship. The Forum sessions noted that entrepreneurship will thrive with locally appropriate solutions, and in the emerging economies, entrepreneurship needs to be a national effort supported by appropriate eco-systems and policies.

Delivering the closing keynote address at the annual Forum organized by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), former South Korean Prime Minister Un-Chan Chung said more openness, more confidence and more compassion were essential to creating a society of educated people who can aspire to a hopeful future.

In a keynote speech to the Forum on Monday, Prince Turki Al Faisal, Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia, said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would look to play a larger role in the global economic system, which will require a major increase in its lending resources with the assistance of large emerging economies including China, India or Saudi Arabia. "What we can be certain of, is that large developing nations will not provide greater funds without more say in the IMF's affairs."

He also made the point that Saudi Arabia's success and resilience in the current global economic downturn was due in large part to the Kingdom's culture of Islamic finance - most notably Islam's insistence on debt being tied to real equity and real assets.

Saudi Labor Minister Adel M. Fakieh said in his address that employment generation continues to be Saudi Arabia's main challenge as the country needs to create 3 million job opportunities by 2015, and 6 million by 2030. He said the Kingdom's Labor Ministry interventions simultaneously focus on job demand, job supply and market clearance.

Addressing the Forum on Sunday, Saudi Minister of Education Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Muhammad Al-Saud said the Kingdom had developed a comprehensive vision for a world-class 21st century education system.

On the final day of the Forum SAGIA launched a new initiative called the "Entrepreneurship Village", which will create an e-government portal integrating different government services. The initiative aims to make it easy for Saudi entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses.

SOURCE SAGIA (Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority)