Some articles about the forum itself.
Editorial: Jeddah Economic Forum
17 January 2004
Today sees the start of the latest Jeddah Economic Forum, an event, which since it began in1999 , has grown to the point where it can claim to be the region’s strategic think tank which looks in fine detail at local, regional, and international economic and social issues from a regional perspective. This 2004 forum seems set to be the most informative yet. Beneath the banner “Achieving Accelerated Growth” more than a thousand business leaders and opinion formers from around the world will be gathering at the Jeddah Hilton.
This year, the growing role of women in business will be emphasized by the fact the opening address today is being delivered by Lubna Olayan, one of the Kingdom’s leading businesswomen and the chief executive officer of Olayan Financing Company. Among other female participants will be Queen Rania of Jordan, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Professor Laura Tyson, dean of the London Business School and Dr. Thurayya Arrayed, planning adviser to Saudi Aramco.
Today’s proceedings will focus on Saudi Arabia and the creation of foundations for sustainable wealth. Tomorrow the spotlight will turn to the regional agenda looking at economies in Asia and the Middle East. Among the senior political leaders who will be contributing here will be the Turkish Premier Recep Erdogan, the Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, the recently retired Malaysian Premier Mahatir Mohamad and the foreign minister of Kazakhstan, Dr. Kassymzhomart Tokayev. The presence of Samir Shakir Mahmood, member of Iraq’s Governing Council representing post-Saddam Iraq, is significant in many ways.
The third and final day will shift the focus to international issues and look at the ways to accelerate growth worldwide. The keynote speaker will be former US President Bill Clinton, making his welcome second visit to the forum, in a session that will be moderated by Prince Faisal ibn Salman, chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, publishers of this newspaper. There will also be contributions from the former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and Sweden’s minister for international economic affairs and financial markets, Gunnar Lund.
Within what promise to be a fascinating series of presentations and debates, probably the very greatest attention should be paid to the words of Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, director general of the World Trade Organization, who will wind up the forum with a final address. WTO membership is going to bring many far-reaching changes to the Kingdom, for which both government and business are busily preparing. This is therefore a most important event at a most important time in Saudi Arabia’s history. We would like to wish all participants a fruitful and enjoyable three days.
Women Steal Limelight at JEF
Roger Harrison, Arab News Staff
JEDDAH, 18 January 2004 — Lubna Al-Olayan, chief executive officer of the Olayan Financing Company, made history yesterday with a powerful speech at the Jeddah Economic Forum as women stole the limelight. It was the first time ever that a woman was asked to give the opening keynote address at any major conference in the Kingdom. The symbolism was lost on no one in the hall.
“We need to have a society based on merit, not gender or connections,” she told an auditorium packed with more than1 ,500 delegates from around the world in her opening speech.
She set the unofficial agenda with a challenging and perceptive analysis of her vision for growth in Saudi Arabia. She firmly established the presence of women as a rich source of seriously underused talent in the Kingdom and called on the Saudi business community to acknowledge and utilize their skills.
With cool surgical precision, Lubna Al-Olayan sliced strips off the hide of conventional Saudi business thinking, saying that there is a tendency to modernize but not to change.
“Abandon the progress without change philosophy,” she said, calling for a business culture and economy that runs on talent and merit, not connections and family. “If we want Saudi Arabia to progress, we have no choice but to embrace change.” She called for a greater focus on the human resources the Kingdom already has and to view the burgeoning population weighted heavily toward youth — 60percent of the population is under 25 — as a source of future excellence. “Women must become more involved in the process in order to contribute,” she said.
She warned against protectionism in jobs, hinting that the easy ride the Kingdom enjoyed from the oil boom is long over. “It should not,” she emphasized, “be too difficult to clear out unproductive employees,” and she called on the private sector to interact with the government and structure an educational system that focuses on more productive and practically oriented academic skills with direct application to the economy.
Her speech met with rapturous sustained applause and an acknowledgement from Nahed Taher, chief financial analyst at the National Commercial Bank. “As a Saudi female I think,” she said, “we have today made history.”
Professor Laura Tyson, dean of the London Business School and a former economics adviser to former President Bill Clinton, followed on with the theme “Building Foundations for Sustainable Wealth in Saudi Arabia.”
Her speech took up many of the themes of Lubna Al-Olayan’s, highlighting what she perceived as the “mismatch” between the current training programs and the realities of the Saudi economy. Professor Tyson urged the Kingdom to diversify away from a dependence on volatile oil revenues and to get the private sector more actively involved in training and developing human resources.
“Women make up 50 percent of graduates in Saudi Arabia,” she said, “but represent only five percent of the labor force. That is a very low return on an investment. Female inclusion will boost the average household income and release a huge amount of entrepreneurial talent.”
The mood of the day was perfectly caught by Khalid Zainal Alireza, executive director, Xenel Industries, who was moderating a later session. He commented on the lack of lighting in the women’s section of the hall. “You’re in darkness over there,” he said. Came the brilliantly quick riposte from one female delegate, “We are not in darkness; you just don’t see us.” After yesterday’s events, hopefully that will all change."
Brava to Lubna. She's just following the path of Khadija.