The MIT Club of Saudi Arabia held its 14th Annual Dinner meeting in Riyadh on Sunday, March 31st, 2013.
His Excellency Mr. Abdullatif Al-Othman, Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), was the guest of honor and keynote speaker. The event was attended by MIT alumni, prominent civic, government and industrial leaders from Saudi Arabia, and representatives from the media.
Mr. Al-Othman gave an overview of SAGIA in terms of its achievements so far, the challenges it faces, and the priorities and initiatives taken to achieve its goals over the next few years. He mentioned that some of these priorities included attracting leading investors to the Kingdom, curtailing low quality investments, and enhancing the level of government services to potential investors.
In the second half of his presentation, Mr. Al-Othman mentioned that the current economic climate and level of government spending make it opportune to achieve the sustainable development objectives of the Kingdom. This would, however, benefit from putting together a unified investment strategy, supported by a robust governance framework, through which public and private stakeholders would work together to achieve this strategy. He mentioned that SAGIA is in the process of putting together this unified strategy.