Joshua Hoey Saudi Gazette RIYADH — Experts at the 8th Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF2015) called for supporting the participation of youth in the preservation of national heritage. This came in a session entitled “The local culture: job opportunities provided by national heritage” held on the concluding day of the Forum. Minister of Culture of Bahrain Sheikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa stressed the importance of investing in culture and supporting cultural projects. Dr. Saad Al-Bazei, Shoura Council member, emphasized the importance of cooperation among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to promote and preserve culture and tradition. Dr. Abdul Khaliq Abdullah, professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University, called for marketing the culture and tradition of GCC as an investment opportunity. General Supervisor of Architectural Heritage Center of Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities Dr. Mishari Al-Naim said the Commission considers the national heritage as the future and not the past. The 2015 Global Competitiveness Forum closed in Riyadh Tuesday evening, with the Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority Abdullatif Al-Othman reading out tweets from those who attended, including from the accounts of Saudi Aramco and Google CEO Eric Schmidt. “Supply and demand and the rules of economics drive the oil market,” was the tweet from the Saudi Aramco account read out by Al-Othman. He said the point was “one of the most important” made during the GCF, and again stressed the role of the market in setting oil prices. “His Excellency Minister Naimi emphasised that it's the market, it's the market, it's the market,” said Al-Othman. During the GCF morning session Saudi Aramco CEO Khalid Al-Falih reiterated Saudi government policy, saying the producer could not “singlehandedly” balance the oil market. Al-Othman also commented on a tweet from Google CEO Eric Schmidt that said “Attracting such rich brain power has enriched our discussions and thanks for such a wonderful gathering.” “[Eric] said in our private discussion that he was quite intrigued and really appreciative of getting the opportunity of seeing the quality of the people of Saudi Arabia and the quality of the discussions,” said Al-Othman. The SAGIA governor went on to reiterate Schmidt's comments that Saudi Arabia should be leading the way in developing Arabic content online. According to Al-Othman, Schmidt told him that Google had “provided the platform” and that it was now time to encourage people to populate it with Arabic content. According to data from the International Telecommunications Union, less than one percent of total online content is in Arabic, while native Arabic speakers make up almost 4.5 percent of the world's population. Make good on Abdullah's investments
Connect Saudi Arabia's institutions with positive outcomes was the call from economic and business leaders during the final session of the forum on Tuesday. “The late King has been responsible for the creation of a tremendous number of institutions, and a tremendous number of hospitals,” said the CEO of Larta Institute, Rohit Shukla during the session, which focused on small and medium enterprises. Shukla challenged those in attendance to “actually connect” Saudi Arabia's latest institutes and infrastructure with positive outcomes for the Kingdom, saying that facilities alone “rarely, if ever” are able to drive develop and produce positive outcomes. “Are these enterprises going to be sustainable? Do they return revenue? Are they going to be able to provide jobs? Are they going to make some difference or impact in their local communities,” said Shukla. Panel member Jonathan Ortmans, senior adviser to the Kauffman Foundation, which is focused on education and entrepreneurship, said that the Foundation's data put in doubt the efficacy of incubators alone as a means of fostering entrepreneurship. “We're not entirely sure from the data that incubators actually work,” he said. Also on the panel was the associate director of the London School of Economics Innovation Lab, Christian Busch, who stressed the importance of the local in building successful small businesses. “We've seen it over and over again across the world – clear local needs, having people locally that are empowered, that get the top down support,” he said. Busch encouraged the Saudi government to identify successful local entrepreneurs and give them “top down” support and a stamp of approval. “It makes it much easier to get funding to get international organizations to come on board,” Busch said.
