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Published on: 4/24/2007
Last Visited: 4/24/2007
According to SAGIA Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh, Saudi Arabia attracted $10 billion worth of investments in petrochemical projects in 2005.
That is impressive â€" and the year is not over yet.The figures are even more impressive when compared to 2004.Investments for the second quarter of 2005 are up a staggering 4,600 percent over the same period last year.
Al-Dabbagh has no doubts as to why this has happened.
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Al-Dabbagh points this out: Because of liberalization in preparing for WTO membership "retail has already been opened; franchise has been opened; banking and insurance have been opened."The Negative List (listing sectors closed to foreign involvement) is "shrinking by the day," he says.An additional "big chunk" will be further eliminated because of accession to WTO and it "will disappear" altogether in time, he believes.
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Not that that is enough for Al-Dabbagh.
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Al-Dabbagh concedes that there is still progress to be made.Regulations may have been changed, but officials are not always aware on the ground floor."Every new policy has the challenge of implementation," he says.It can take time for them to sink in.
Nor does he have any hesitation about the mountain that SAGIA has to climb.There was $10 billion in petrochemical-related investments this year; its aim is to get $90 billion in the next 10 years â€" which is, as Al-Dabbagh points out, a major challenge.It is not so hard attracting investors to the big, relatively straightforward projects, he says.But, he adds, "the more downstream you go, the more interesting it actually becomes because the downstream opportunities offer the value added as well as the multiplier effect; which is important for the national economy, and the viability of the opportunities is partly based upon using the Kingdom as a launch pad to regional markets."
This explains the confidence.Thanks to the economic boom, to WTO membership, to economic reform, and to cheap feedstock, investor interest has never been higher.Some officials almost add Al-Dabbagh to the list, saying that since taking over he has made SAGIA fitter, more focused and more effective.
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Al-Dabbagh himself, busy seeing investors one minute, journalists the next, jetting off to address a meeting here, a conference there, appears unfazed by the challenges of the task ahead.Instead, he exudes a quiet enthusiasm for it.That is, presumably, because he sees it as winnable.As he points out, with evident satisfaction, a recent IMF report on doing business had Saudi Arabia at 38th position, up from 67 â€" ahead of all Arab countries, ahead of even Portugal, Italy and France.
Are businessmen being put off coming, Arab News asked, referring to red tape?No, says Al-Dabbagh, with firmness.
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