Faisal, expressed happiness for hosting the conference by Makkah region. He noted that the human civilization will remain going ahead depending on exchange of expertise and ideas. Prince Khalid said the conference will draw the attention to the fact that membership to the new world order has become an inevitable matter. He noted that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is fully aware of this fact, has been going ahead on the path of reform and development in the light of proper understanding to the teachings and purposes of the Islamic Shariah. Prince Khalid highlighted the efforts of the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz for developing knowledge economy in the Kingdom. He pointed out that the establishment of the first Saudi university for sciences, technology and researches, which will open its doors for researchers irrespective of their nationalities, has come as a fruit of the efforts of the Monarch in this respect. Prince Khalid lauded the efforts of the Kingdom for revision of the methods of education, researches and training for focusing on quality rather than quantity. He said the Kingdom has doubled the number of its universities and allocated one third of its budget for the educational sector. Prince Khalid also praised the Kingdom's efforts in fighting the deviant ideas and terrorism. Citing the unprecedented strides made in the field of telecommunications, he said arrangements are underway to introduce the system of electronic government at all sectors. Prince Khalid thanked the Arab society for knowledge economy, al-Aghar group for strategic thought, and the chamber of commerce and industry of Jeddah for organizing this conference.
