Prince Turki Al Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, spoke at a meeting last night, with a number of prominent personalities from the state of Iowa, about the care given by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to develop the Saudi economy; the current economic developments and advances in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Prince Turki Al Faisal pointed out the Kingdom's concern to encourage development in the fields of banking, information technology, industrial sector and investment in projects that generate employment opportunities such as King Abdullah economic city which is planned to be set up with the cost of $ 27 billion and to be a center for the Saudi private sector and investments in the Kingdom. The Prince also viewed the efforts undertaken by the Kingdom to upgrade educational systems to cope up with the progress of the Kingdom and formulate curricula that emphasizes nationalism, productivity, health protection, environment preservation and respecting human rights. In this regard, he pointed out the issues raised on the role of women and youth in the community within the national dialogue program. Prince Turki Al-Faisal also underlined the importance of the accession of the Kingdom to the membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying that the membership will access the Kingdom's exports to the world markets; provide jobs opportunities for its citizens; and help to attract foreign investment into the Kingdom. He said that there are investment opportunities worth more than Six hundred billion dollars in the Kingdom for the next fifteen years. "These opportunities include a number of fields, including natural gas sector, information technology, developing tourism and mining and allocating more government institutions, including the Saudi Arabian Airlines", he said. Prince Turki Al-Faisal described the Saudi economy as the largest economy in the region and the fastest growing one. "The Saudi capital market is also among the largest new financial markets in the world. In the field of technical development, the use of the Internet in the Kingdom increased by 1000% during the last five years. Also, six satellites for communications and control were launched during that period", he said. The Prince highlighted the trade and investment agreements between the Kingdom and several countries including Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the United States and Britain. He also pointed out the importance of the developing Saudi-American commercial relations, saying that the economic reforms in the Kingdom will provide the Saudi economy with opportunities for growth and competitiveness ability in world markets. He also stressed that the economic partnership could be the cornerstone in the efforts for achieving peace, stability and prosperity in the Middle East and world-wide.
