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His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Aseer Region
and Chairman of the Region Development Authority, sponsored, yesterday, Saturday,
the launch of "Aseer Investment Forum" activities. His Excellency the Minister of
Investment, Eng. Khaled Al-Falih, His Excellency the Minister of Tourism, Ahmed
Al-Khatib, and the Secretary General of the United Nations Tourism Organization,
Zurab Pololikashvili were present at the event.
During his speech at the opening of the event, His Highness stressed that Aseer region
receives great interest and support from the wise leadership in all development
sectors. His Highness, highlighted the region's strengths and uniqueness, stressing that
the forum was held after the region completed its arrangements in preparing the
infrastructure and conducting economic studies, which will provide accurate
information for investment opportunities. He pointed that the forum seeks to achieve
the goals of the National Investment Strategy, by attracting investments in promising
qualitative sectors, such as tourism, agriculture, sports, and other fields, which in
return will work to achieve the goals of Aseer region development strategy and
stimulate direct local and international investments to develop and transform the
region to a permanent global tourist destination throughout the year. Further, His
Highness explained that the forum aims to expand the investment circle to all
governorates of the region, which are characterized by the diversity of their different
environment.
On his part, the Minister of Tourism stressed the leadership's keenness to develop the
tourism sector in the Kingdom, invest in attractions, and seize available opportunities
by raising the contribution of the tourism sector from 3% to 10% of the Kingdom's
GDP. He also noted that the launch of Asser Strategy Development plan helped the
ministry implement many of its initiatives and projects to improve the tourism sector
and to promote the region's tourism locally and internationally. Additionally, he noted
that the Kingdom has allocated 450 million riyals to train 100,000 young people from
the country to provide tourism facilities with trained cadres, as more than 70,000
young men and women have been trained, 7000 of whom have been sent on
scholarships outside the Kingdom to be trained according to international standards.
On the other hand, the Minister of Investment noted that the ministry is working to
support economic projects in Aseer and encourage businessmen to establish service
and tourism projects to advance the region and stimulate the level of investment
through the system of privatization and partnerships between the private and
government sectors. He also stressed that the ministry is keen to receive proposals,
meet the investors, and work to overcome the difficulties that they may face. He
commended the accomplishments of the Aseer strategy in providing an attractive
environment for investment, inviting investors, as well as providing information to
help investors determine where to invest in the region.
Pololikashvili, commended the Kingdom's leaps in the fields of tourism, in addition to
developing tourist destinations and facilitating visits to the Kingdom, noting the
nature attributes and environmental diversity in various regions of the Kingdom,
which qualify it as a global tourist destination.
The CEO of the Aseer Region Development Authority, Eng. Hashim al-Dabbagh,
showcased the most prominent features and objectives of the region's strategy. He
highlighted its focus on the region's strengths such as nature, landscapes, diverse
environment, cultural heritage, and deep-rooted traditions, in addition to the synergy
and social cohesion of its local community.
The Director of the Investment Department at the Aseer Development Authority, Eng.
Sultan Al-Shehri, addressed the authority's role in overcoming the difficulties
investors may face, as well as providing all available opportunities in the local
market, showcasing the mechanism of attracting and coordinating investments in the
region, which align with the objectives of the strategy, in addition to communicating
with concerned authorities to boost business and support investors.
The Director of the Investment Department in Tourism, Entertainment, Education and
Sports at the Public Investment Fund, Mashari Al-Brahim, spoke about the
importance of the capabilities that are available in Aseer region, which made it the
third destination in the Kingdom’s regions. He noted ,that the hoped-for role of
launching the Aseer Investment Company, which is one of the pilliars of the Public
Investment Fund, to stimulate local and international investments and develop the
region in order to turn it into a global tourist destination.
Moreover, the Secretary of Aseer Region, Eng. Abdullah Al-Jali, presented 25
investment opportunities in the fields of hospitality, hospitalization, retail trade,
agricultural tourism, entertainment, culture, heritage, and sports, indicating that those
opportunities have become available to investors on the Etimad platform.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Investment for Investment Operations, Eng.
Saleh Khebti, delivered an overview of the incentive tools offered by the ministry,
most notably cash grants for infrastructure and cash grants for marketing costs, in
addition to non-monetary incentives such as tax exemptions and preferential pathways
to access public lands.
It is worth noting that King Khalid University participated in the accompanying
exhibition through a wing prepared by the General Administration for Investment at
the university, which included possible investment opportunities.
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