The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) was created by the Saudi Government on April 10, 2000 as part of measures geared towards formalizing the process of economic liberalization. SAGIA is responsible for managing the investment environment in the Kingdom. Its objective is to achieve rapid and sustainable economic growth by creating a pro-business environment, providing comprehensive services to investors and fostering investment opportunities in key sectors of the economy, including energy, transportation, ICT and knowledge-based industries.
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The objective of SAGIA’s ambitious “10 x 10” program [1] is to place Saudi Arabia among the world’s top ten competitive investment destinations by the year 2010. With this in mind, SAGIA has created the National Competitiveness Center (NCC), which compares the performance of Saudi Arabia’s investment opportunities to more than 300 indicators of global competitiveness, assessed in such publications as the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report, the World Economic Forum’s “Global Competitiveness Report, and the IMD’s“World Competitiveness Yearbook”.[2]
Guiding the drive toward greater competitiveness, job creation and economic diversification are the Economic Cities. These are mega projects in the form of integrated cities of the future. They are private-sector ventures which take full advantage of Saudi Arabia’s pre-eminence as the energy capital of the world and its strategic location as a major hub between East and West. The Economic Cities will offer investors an unparalleled, business-friendly environment within a globally competitive regulatory and incentive-offering framework.
In developing the Economic Cities, over a thousand of the world’s free zones were surveyed. The sixty deemed most successful were meticulously studied to determine key success factors. As a result, the Economic Cities represent the ultimate innovation in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP). Thanks to their innovative design, residents of these fully integrated developments will be able to live, work and play in the Economic Cities.
The objectives of the Economic Cities are to:
Mr. Amr Al-Dabbagh, is the Governor and Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), with the rank of Minister. He was appointed to the position on the 22nd of March, 2004, by Royal Decree of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, who had previously appointed Governor Al Dabbagh to two consecutive, 4-year terms as a member of the Regional Council in the Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Amr Al Dabbagh in brief:
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