Northern Border Investment Forum Reviews Promising Opportunities

The Northern Borders Investment Forum 2023 reviewed the promising investment opportunities within the Northern Borders Region.

The Forum highlighted the efforts of the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture in determining possible regulations and systems for investment and presenting investment opportunities under Vision 2030.

It also addressed the role of relevant authorities in organizing investments in the environment, water, and agriculture to improve the quality of life and their complementary consultative role.

The Forum witnessed a session themed “Promising Investment Prospects in the Northern Border Region,” featuring President of the Arab Tourism Organization Bandar al-Fuhaid, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs and Privatization at the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdurahman al-Zoghaibi, Executive Vice President of the National Industrial Development Center for Shared Services Khalid al-Humoud, and Assistant Undersecretary of the Investment Development Agency at the Ministry of Investment Ammar al-Taf.

During the session, the participants underscored the pivotal role of the tourism sector in driving economic growth, fostering investment prospects, advancing sustainable and social development, and bolstering initiatives aimed at enhancing the tourism industry within the Northern Borders Region.

Fuhaid pointed out that the Kingdom’s GDP from tourism in 2022 will reach four percent, indicating that the country plans to increase it to ten percent by 2030.

He added that the Kingdom is one of the wealthiest countries at the regional and global levels regarding civilizational and cultural heritage.

During a dialogue session, the Forum discussed “Business Councils’ Efforts to Stimulate Investments in the Northern Border Region,” the efforts of business councils in stimulating investments in the region.

They addressed the qualitative leaps of Saudi Arabia in the trade exchange index and efforts harnessed to facilitate trade exchange between countries.

The session touched on the role of business councils operating under the umbrella of the Federation of Saudi Chambers in stimulating investments and supporting investors.

Participants in the dialogue session praised the business councils’ role in strategic achievements and projects, boosting relations, increasing the volume of trade exchange, and developing bilateral investments.

They stressed the importance of such meetings in boosting cooperation under a strong will and a qualitative shift in trade exchange to achieve Vision 2030 and its goals of diversifying incomes and increasing trade exchanges and partnerships in various sectors.

The participants called on all investors to exchange information and experiences through active participation in available projects, activating mechanisms that contribute to developing trade and investment exchange, and joint work mechanisms.

They also reiterated the need to join efforts to create a fertile and stimulating investment environment, create appropriate investment conditions, and hold joint investment events to research and explore promising investment opportunities.

The region directorate and the Federation of Saudi Chambers organized the Northern Borders Investment Forum 2023. It presented more than 157 investment opportunities in the northern border region, with an estimated value of $5.8 billion in various targeted sectors.

A drive by Türkiye 's government to modernize the country's tax system will seek to boost revenue by tackling tax avoidance and scrapping incentives that are no longer needed rather than raising the overall burden, the finance minister said on Monday.

Mehmet Simsek said, however, that preliminary draft proposals being discussed within the government envisioned a minimum 15% corporate tax on multinational companies, confirming a report last month by state-owned Anadolu Agency.

According to Reuters, he did not give further details about the proposal. At present, multinational companies face varying levies depending on numerous factors.

Speaking to local broadcaster BloombergHT, Simsek said the government's plans - which would need to be approved by parliament - also included raising the corporate tax on public-private partnerships (PPPs) to 30% from 25% at present.

Simsek, who has spearheaded a year-long policy-tightening program to tackle soaring inflation, said in Monday's interview that the tax plan being discussed by government officials was in the early stages and could be subject to changes before being presented to parliament.

He said there were no plans to introduce a transaction tax on the purchase and sale of stocks, but the government could propose taxes on stock market gains sometime in the future.

Earlier this month, an economy official said Türkiye had almost finalized work on imposing a transaction tax on the purchase and sale of stocks and crypto assets.
The plans are part of broader efforts to boost government savings, fiscal discipline and price stability after years of turmoil that fueled soaring inflation.

As part of the tightening program, the central bank has aggressively hiked interest rates to 50% from 8.5% since June last year. Annual inflation hit 75% in May but was expected to have dipped in June.

Northern Border Investment Forum Reviews Promising Opportunities