Jurisdiction Saudi Arabia Website Official website | Headquarters Riyadh Founded 2000 | |
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Agency executive Abdullatif Al Othman, Governor Profiles | ||
The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) is the foreign investment license provider for the Kingdom. It was created by the Saudi Government on 10 April 2000, as part of measures geared towards formalizing the process of economic liberalization. SAGIA is a governmental body that reports to the president of the Supreme Economic Council, with its headquarter in the city of Riyadh. Its objective is to achieve economic growth by creating a pro-business environment, providing services to investors and fostering investment opportunities in key sectors of the economy, including energy, transportation, ICT, and knowledge-based industries.
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The Global Competitiveness Forum
The Global Competitiveness Forum is an annual program of activities held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia organized by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority and attended by global business leaders, international political leaders, and selected intellectuals who share a common interest in competitiveness. GCF's mission is to continue fostering awareness and enthusiasm around the issue of competitiveness, and to evaluate the applicability of competitiveness theory and practice as a tool for generating real solutions to contemporary global challenges. The GCF 2016 will focus on “Competitive Sectors” and shed the light on the ingredients that are essential in driving the competitiveness of sectors, the strategies that governments should follow to accelerate competitiveness, and, most importantly, the role of competitive sectors in maintaining a sustainable economic growth. Furthermore, in its 9th edition, the GCF will draw focus on the priority sectors that have been identified to have a direct impact on economic and human development; sectors such as Healthcare and Life Sciences, Transport, Education, ICT, and the Services sector (i.e. Tourism, Financial Services, Real Estate, Professional Consulting) will be discussed throughout the program of the GCF 2016. Global and local perspectives on issues such as the importance of innovation and ensuring high levels of productivity towards achieving competitiveness in sectors will take a significant part in panel discussions. In addition, discussion will highlight the achievements of economic diversification and the creation of jobs for a growing youthful population.
The “10 x 10” Program
The objective of SAGIA’s “10 x 10” program is to place Saudi Arabia among the world’s top ten competitive investment destinations by 2010. With this in mind, SAGIA has created the National Competitiveness Center (NCC), which compares the performance of Saudi Arabia’s investment opportunities to more than 300 indicators of global competitiveness, assessed in such publications as the World Bank’s Doing Business report, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, and the IMD’s World Competitiveness Yearbook.
Guiding the drive toward greater competitiveness, job creation, and economic diversification is the "Economic Cities" program. The Economic Cities program will create a business-friendly environment within a globally competitive regulatory framework that offers business incentives.
The Economic Cities
In developing economic cities, over a thousand of the world’s free zones were surveyed. The sixty deemed most successful were studied to determine key success factors. The objectives of the Economic Cities are to:
Governor of SAGIA
First SAGIA governor was Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki Al Saud whose tenure lasted from 2000 to 2004. Later, Amr Al Dabbagh became the Governor of SAGIA on 22 March 2004 and his term lasted until 18 May 2012. Abdullatif bin Ahmed Al Othman became governor of SAGIA on 18 May 2012. Al Othman was senior vice president of Saudi Aramco before his appointment.
Other SAGIA managers
Deputy governor of SAGIA for investment affairs is Prince Saud bin Khalid Al Faisal since December 2010.