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Saudi Arabia’s Al-Khateeb: Tourism Key Supporter of Economic Diversity

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb speaks at the Local Content Forum 2024 held in Riyadh. SPA
Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb speaks at the Local Content Forum 2024 held in Riyadh. SPA
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Saudi Arabia’s Al-Khateeb: Tourism Key Supporter of Economic Diversity

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb speaks at the Local Content Forum 2024 held in Riyadh. SPA
Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb speaks at the Local Content Forum 2024 held in Riyadh. SPA

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb has underscored the tourism sector’s potential to create jobs across Saudi Arabia, given the diverse tourist sites and facilities that the Kingdom boasts.
The minister made the remarks on Wednesday during a panel discussion called “Future Directions for Local Content Under Saudi Vision” at the Local Content Forum 2024 held in Riyadh.
Al-Khateeb stated that the tourism sector plays a significant role in supporting economic diversity and sustainability in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
The minister highlighted that the tourism sector has increased its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) from 3% in 2019 to 5% in 2023. The Kingdom aims to raise this figure to 10% in the upcoming years, aligning with the global average.

He pointed out that tourism has played a significant role in increasing job localization, moving from 3% in 2019 to 10%, in line with the global average.

The minister highlighted the Kingdom’s construction of major tourist cities such as NEOM, the Red Sea, Qiddiya, and Diriyah, along with private-sector projects like The Avenues, with investments estimated at over $500 billion over the next 15 years.
Al-Khateeb underscored the importance of localizing investments in terms of design, execution, and operation. He said the ministry allocates $100 million annually to train 100,000 citizens, both male and female.

He also highlighted projects achieving a 50% localization rate, including the Red Sea.

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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.