مجلس نيوز | majlis-news
Today, within the sessions of the Future Investment Initiative conference, a session entitled “Regional Resilience … How Investors Tend to Diversify” was held with the participation of:
His Excellency the Bahraini Minister of Finance and National Economy, Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
His Excellency the Minister of Finance, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan
Founder, CEO of Colony Capital, USA, Thomas J. Barrack
Former White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt
The Bahraini Minister of Finance and National Economy stated that the Kingdom of Bahrain has worked to diversify the economy, and there are regular efforts that have been pursued for 20 years, including the establishment of joint committees, and the reduction of oil, whose contribution to the GDP was from 40% to less than 20%, so there is economic diversity and the work Continuous.
He stressed the importance of economic diversification to build a more comprehensive base for entry into different sectors, especially with the percentage of young people in the region who are looking for growth opportunities and directing their energies to build the state and exploit the existing opportunities.
His Excellency praised the economic reforms undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to confront financial challenges by launching plans and initiatives to increase non-oil revenues and develop the economy for a better financial position, referring at the same time to his country’s efforts in this aspect by launching the fiscal balance program. For his part, Al-Jadaan praised the serious change that is taking place in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and the Kingdom aims through the integrative healthy competition between the GCC countries to build, which is significant when working as one group.
The Minister of Finance stated that the Kingdom started Vision 2030 with clear goals, and during the past 4 years it was able to achieve its desired results, and with the existence of the Corona virus pandemic, its strength has proven through the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in dealing with the crisis.
He referred to the investments and reforms made by the Kingdom, the investments in terms of the structure and the laws and regulations that have improved over the past 4 and 5 years, as it has become easier to do business and invest in the Kingdom and facilitate the provision of data with transparency.
Al-Jadaan reviewed the Kingdom’s investments in technology that facilitated the transition from the real world to the virtual world, usually diversity is a winning formula for building an economy that will grow from the tax base that will achieve more government revenues that will enable the provision of better services to citizens and residents, and will produce more opportunities for citizens and ambitious talents in Different sectors. The Minister of Finance emphasized that the Kingdom is focusing on huge opportunities, some in traditional industries, and more serious ones such as climate change and the renewable energy sector, which is an aspect that he focuses on not only in terms of installation, in addition to focusing on technology and continuing investment in it, to achieve qualitative leaps, relying Young people have to invest in technology and meet the challenge.
His Excellency said: “The infrastructure on which we spent and introduced the privatization or privatization initiative during the year 2020 has grown by 20%, and in 2021 it will increase by another 20%, in the areas of water, health care, education, waste treatment and beyond, in addition to other sectors. The opportunities are great and I think that individual investors when they have a certain focus, they should look at that particular sector and invest in it. “