Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said in a speech at the Third GCC Petroleum Information Forum held in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi today, that the GCC countries are witnessing significant historical changes and developments, the most important of which are the development visions and ambitious economic reforms, which aim to diversify the sources of income and achieve sustainable development, citing the Kingdom's Vision 2030, the United Arab Emirates Strategy 2050, Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, the National Vision of the State of Qatar 2030, the Vision of the State of Kuwait 2035 and the vision of the Sultanate of Oman 2040. Al-Falih said that despite the appreciation of these comprehensive development visions of the vital role played by the petroleum industry in the economies of the region, it has sought to reduce dependence on oil as a main source of income, and has made plans and exerted great efforts, including serious investment in increasing the share of energy in the total mix of renewable energy and work in parallel to increase energy efficiency in general as well as expanded investments in all economic sectors. Eng. Khaled Al-Falih proposed the idea of changing the name of the Forum to be the "Energy Information Forum for the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries", thus expanding its base to include all energy sectors and related ones, reflecting the expansion of the GCC countries' attention not to petrolum only but also to energy in its broad meaning.
