This is during the Inauguration Ceremony of the 15th OIC Trade Fair on 22.05.2016 in Riyadh
His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, governor of Riyadh, has Inaugurated the 15th OIC Trade Fair in Riyadh, on Sunday evening 22.05.2016 AD, under the kind patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, with the participation of more than 39 OIC Member States, through a separate pavilion for each country. The Trade Fair is attended by a number of Ministers and H.E. the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Mr. Eyad Madani, the Director General of the Islamic Centre for development of trade, a number of ambassadors, senior officials, businessmen and investors from the Kingdom and the Islamic countries.
H. E. the Minister of Commerce and Investment Dr. Majid Al Qasabi, delivered a speech saying: “It is my honor and pleasure to express the greatest thanks and sincere gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, may Allah bless him, for his kind patronage of the 15th OIC Trade Fair in Riyadh, H.E. explained that hosting this great event by Saudi Arabia comes concurrently with launching the Kingdom`s Vision 2030, whose first pillar is based on the Arabic and Islamic background”.
H.E. added “Almighty Allah has blessed and granted our Islamic countries many promising investment advantages. By working hard, through a clear vision, we could make use of these advantages to achieve prosperity for our homelands and welfare for all.
H. E. pointed out the important role of the 15th OIC Trade Fair in promoting the level of trade exchange and intra-regional investment among OIC Member States, as well as defining the investment opportunities, trade and economy in the hosting country to the OIC Member States, businessmen and investors, also finding new markets for the products and industries of the participating countries.
H. E. said: “We are so happy with the participation of about 39 Islamic States in this Trade Fair, especially when we know that the intra-regional trade among the Islamic Countries reached $ 878 billion US Dollars over the past year, 2015 AD. H.E. expressed his hope that this trade volume would be doubled over the next few years, so that it may reflect the depth of the Islamic Relations. H. E. looks forward that major economic leaps may occur in the economics of all Islamic countries, so as to enhance the volume of trade exchange among them.
H. E. welcomes the Kingdom`s investments and products reaching the Islamic countries, at the same time he welcomes the Islamic products and investments in the Kingdom.
H. E. added that the Kingdom continues to make a big leap in its national economy in the short and long term 2020/2030, which will be reflected on the Saudi citizen and the Islamic countries. H.E. wishes all success for this Trade Fair, so that it may come up with positive results for OIC Member States economies.
His Excellency the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Mr. Eyad Madani reviewed the OIC importance and role, being the second largest international organization after the United Nations, since it does contain 57 Islamic Member States. Meanwhile, he called on the private sector to play a greater role in the coming period in light of the global economic activity and the active role of the private sector, he stressed the importance of the integration among the private sectors in the Islamic states, he said that we are in a world controlled by giant companies, so he expressed his hope that there would be multinational companies in the Islamic countries, he added by giving example that in the Islamic world, we do not have enough vaccine industry. Finally, H.E. expressed his sincere gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for his support to the Organization of Islamic cooperation and for his kind patronage of the 15th OIC Trade Fair, and he extended his thanks and appreciations to H.R.H. Governor of Riyadh for the inauguration of the said Fair.
Dr. Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah Al Zamil, Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers, expressed in his speech his sincere thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, may Allah bless him, for his kind patronage of this event, also he thanked the guests of K.S.A., ministers, ambassadors, businessmen and industrialists from Islamic countries for their attendance and participation in this Trade Fair. He said, thanks are extended to the brothers in the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and investment, the Organization of Islamic cooperation, the Islamic Center for development of trade and the Council of Saudi Chambers for organizing this great event.
Dr. Al Zamil said: “It is my pleasure and honor that K.S.A. is hosting the 15th OIC Trade Fair, which is considered a landmark and a great event for more than 30 OIC Member States, under the kind patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, with the participation of major Saudi companies operating in the sectors of construction, building, infrastructure, energy, mineral resources and others. This, without any doubt, reflects the interest of the Saudi government and its business sector in this great event, and it does embody the Saudi policies to create strong trade and investment relations with the Islamic countries on the basis of mutual benefits and cooperation.
Dr. Al Zamil hoped that this economic, commercial and industrial mass demonstration would give a strong boost to the economic relations, exchange of expertise, transfer of technology and deal-making to achieve mutual benefits and to strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation among OIC Member States.
Dr. Al Zamil explained that having an actual look at our most Islamic States, would show a terrible low living standards, measured by the actual income of the individual, with dangerous rising of unemployment rates, especially among young male and female, the quality of educational services and the capacity of their institutions, needed for economic and social development. These conditions are aided by negative trends, such as the pressure of population growth and low levels of food security.
Dr. Al Zamil added, despite all that, the economic prospects in the Islamic countries are promising and growing. The OIC Member States can exceed the economic crises and the risk of marginalization on the way of their mutual economic cooperation. Therefore, the OIC Member States should begin, in the first stage, to promote the intra-regional trade. Here, we call on and urge the private sector and its executive institutions, for being the main factor of the economy of the member states, to work for intensifying the trade exchange among the Islamic Countries by all means, to be committed to all decisions issued in the meetings and conferences and to support the policies and practices to achieve the economic integration among the Islamic countries' markets. This, undoubtedly, will make the Islamic nation take its proper position among the major world countries. The private sector should address the economic challenges facing the world and our Islamic nation in particular, it should urge our governments and people to exert more efforts for greater synergy and cooperation between business organizations and the private sector in various Islamic countries, in order to achieve more economic cooperation among OIC Member States through setting up joint ventures, to be integrated by the comparative advantages of all Islamic countries, to create job opportunities, to find real development in the Islamic countries, so that our Islamic world would become the economic power, we all aspire to.
Sheikh Saleh Kamel, Chairman of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a speech delivered on his behalf by Mr. Omar Bahlaiwah, Secretary General of the Council of Saudi Chambers: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has succeeded in building strong trade and economic relations with the Islamic countries, and succeeded as well in creating an objective and meaningful partnership for comprehensive and sustainable development for all.
He said that the Saudi move towards building integrated relations with all countries, including OIC Member States, was the most important pillar of its success in facing all difficulties experienced by the global, regional and local economy, this is in addition to what the Saudi economy owns of tools that made it able to meet the challenges facing the global economic growth, and it was able to achieve positive rates of economic growth, based on the diversification of income sources and the active contribution of the non-oil sectors.
He added that the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, as it seeks to raise the trade and investment level among the Islamic countries, as well as to promote the two-way links through their business sectors, also to coordinate efforts and positions in order to enhance the power of the Islamic business sector and to develop its economic structure, so as to assist in achieving the goals and entitlements of the economic clusters era, it has done a vigorous and intensive efforts for launching dozens of forums, conferences and events around the year, across the Islamic world, to achieve these noble goals, to have two-way coordination for finding an Islamic economic power to bridge the two-way gaps in the Islamic world, to promote Islamic solidarity, to have communication links with the world, to bear in mind more work and endeavors to ensure the preservation of the acquired gains, and to achieve the next stage benefits.
He praised the efforts of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Islamic Center for Development of Trade (ICDT), with the Islamic Chamber and business sector in the Islamic countries, in order to develop the trade relations among them, as well as to display the investment opportunities, also to activate the economic partnership to a large extend in various fields, to achieve the economic and social development among the Islamic countries.
He said that the private sector has given a clear evidence in developing the economy of the Islamic Countries through the fruitful results, such as the implementation of thousands of projects in 49 OIC Member States, in the field of infrastructure, with special funding amounted to $ 500 billion US Dollars during the period 1990-2015 AD, where these projects included telecommunications, energy, transport and water sectors, in addition financing the OIC intra-regional trade, with a cumulative value of $ 25 billion US Dollars in 2015, in addition to the contributions in the field of providing investment and ensuring exports, which amounted to $ 20 billion US Dollars in the same year.
He added, as we are witnessing the inauguration of the 15th OIC Trade Fair, there will be a great event in a few days, which is the 9th Forum for OIC businesswomen, to be held on 25.05.2016 at the headquarter of the Council of Saudi Chambers, which is organized by the Islamic Chamber in collaboration with the Council of Saudi Chambers. We hope that these events may contribute to the development and strengthening the trade and investment relations among the OIC Member States, so that to open new channels to exchange views and ideas on how to upgrade these relations to a better level, through accelerating the steps toward activating the role of the Islamic Financing Institutions, as well as the boards of joint business, to support and encourage businessmen and businesswomen, also to support the executive institutions of the business sector in the Islamic countries, in addition to the development of practical mechanisms to implement and follow up the outcome and decisions of the conferences, forums and the meetings of businessmen and businesswomen and do the necessary follow-up, more than that finding ways and methods to develop the process of exchanging information, also to review the regulations and agreements governing the trade relations among the Islamic countries, as well as discussing the investment opportunities in various fields and any possible obstacles and the mechanisms of addressing them, also to encourage launching more exhibitions to introduce and familiarize the export potentials of each country, taking advantage of these meetings and trade events to have trade and investment deals that give a strong impetus to move forward towards the development and promotion of economic partnerships among the Islamic countries.
He expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to His Royal Highness, Governor of Riyadh for honoring the inauguration ceremony, which is a clear and important indication of the interest of the Kingdom`s leadership in exerting all efforts and endeavors for the promotion of Islamic economic ties, and serving the Islamic business sector, wishing success to all, and looking forward to this Trade Fair for achieving more and more success.
Sheikh Saleh Kamel, expressed as well his thanks and appreciations to His Excellency Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Investment for the well organizing of this Trade Fair, he also extended his thanks to His Excellency the Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers, Dr. Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah Al Zamil on the Permanent and constructive cooperation of the said Council with the Islamic Chamber, and their giant efforts in organizing such big and great event.
At the conclusion, H.R.H. Governor of Riyadh honored the sponsoring companies, including Jabal Omar Co., Almarai Co., Saudi Post, Asir Inc., The Kingdom Holding Co. The Saudi Group for Research & Marketing, Hawawi Co.