Saudi Arabia’s delegation concluded its participation at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2022, which was held in Davos, Switzerland, from May 22 to 26 May 2022, under the title “History at A Turning Point: Government Policies and Business Strategies”.
The Kingdom’s delegation participated in many public and private dialogue sessions headed by Minister of State and Cabinet's Member Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf.
The Saudi delegation consisted of Minister of Finance, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan; Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Alswaha; Minister of Economy and Planning, Faisal bin Fadel Al-Ibrahim and Princess Haifa bint Mohammed Al Saud, Assistant to the Minister of Tourism.
This year's edition of the forum was the first to be held in person since the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic. It hosted more than 2,500 international personalities from country leaders, business leaders, investors and decision makers, who tackled issues like climate and environment, technology and innovation, jobs and skills, improving the business environment, health and healthcare, international cooperation, and society and justice.
WEF was an opportunity to convey the Kingdom's vision to the world over major issues addressed by the forum. It was also an opportunity to highlight Saudi Arabia's efforts in addressing them locally and internationally.
The Saudi delegation conveyed the important developments that the Kingdom is witnessing in terms of developing the business environment, through diversifying the economy and sources of income, boosting competitiveness and economic cooperation, and efforts made in comprehensive societal and economic empowerment, especially in women’s contribution to the labor market, and accelerating the pace of job creation in new vital sectors.
The forum stressed the need to maintain confidence in the global system, establish security and peace in the region, and support cooperation and dialogue among all world countries to confront many challenges, especially food security.
The Kingdom's delegation also highlighted its positive role in the G20. Saudi Arabia was G20 president in 2020.
The delegation presented the Kingdom's visions and aspirations on developing the capabilities of cadres and talents, and supporting the adoption of smart solutions based on technology and solutions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with the aim to accelerate the pace of digital transformation based on investment in advanced technologies.
On tourism, the delegation highlighted the Kingdom’s achievements in this sector. It cited Kingdom’s achievement in the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), issued by the WEF. The Kingdom rose to the 33rd place globally, jumping 10 spots from its ranking in 2019.
The success is a result of the steps taken to invest in tourism, in conjunction with providing facilities for doing business and investment, in cooperation with all government sectors, such as the National Competitiveness Center and the General Authority for Statistics.
In order to consolidate the efforts of international cooperation between the Kingdom and the WEF, the delegation signed a number of agreements. The first aims to boost the existing partnership opportunities between the Kingdom and Forum, explore future opportunities, identify opportunities that deepen the relationship to support the Kingdom’s transformation, and advance the global agenda in line with the main objectives of the WEF.
The second agreement covered promoting wise health care and activating cooperation frameworks between the public and private sectors and specialists in this field. The Kingdom joined the Global Alliance for Value in Health Care of the Forum in line with the agreement.
The third agreement covered food systems, food security, food waste management, food stability, and climate-smart agriculture.
