Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi told a preparatory committee for the 9th Arab Conference for Mineral Wealth today that his country's hosting of the conference emanates from its keenness and efforts to support and enhance the Arab joint action in all aspects, particularly the economic aspect, in which cooperation would lead to the prosperity of the Arab peoples. Addressing the committee's meeting held in Rabat, according to a rotating system, Alnaimi said the conference aims at introducing the mining environment in the Arab world to investors and paving the way for investment. He expected that the papers to be presented at the conference would reveal giant mining prospects in the Arab world about this neglected sector of the Arab economy. He stated that the Arab world is rich of minerals both in quality and quantity, noting that ideal exploitation of this wealth would contribute to the development of the Arab world economies. He told the committee that the world of today is characterized by three basic closely-related elements that should be taken into consideration: competitiveness, exploitation of the relative characteristics of the region, including the abundance of raw materials, human capacity, energy resources and geographical site and finally the regional and international integration.
