On Tuesday March 5, 2019, Asharqia Chamber held the General Assembly for the fiscal year 2018, during which the Chairman of the Board, Abdul Hakim bin Hamad Al-Ammar Al-Khalidi, reviewed the Chamber's achievements, activities and services provided to over 80,000 business owners.
The Assembly witnessed the attendance of the Director General of the Ministry of Commerce and Investment Branch in the Eastern Province Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al Khalidi, and deputy directors and members of the Board of Directors of the Chamber and a significant presence of the chamber's subscribers.
The chairman of the Chamber said that the Chamber has strengthened its efforts to continue to contribute to the development and prosperity that is in line with its mission to provide high quality services that meet the aspirations of the business sector and achieve the aspirations of participants and associates according to frameworks that simulate the development, professionalism, quality.
The Chamber has achieved many achievements in 2018, as it is one of the best years in terms of achievements, by continuing to launch initiatives, receive delegations and experts in various fields, establish forums and programs of their types and objectives, open doors of discussion and dialogue on various issues and topics related to the business sector and its role in the march of the national economy in accordance with a new strategy in line with the aspirations and objectives of the Vision of the Kingdom 2030.
Al-Khalidi revealed that last year witnessed the preparation of more than 60 researches and specialized working papers, as well as the issuance of more than 35 economic report on trade relations between the Kingdom and a number of countries.
It also presented about 18 topics representing the Chamber's views on various subjects and economic phenomena.
In terms of legal services and consultations, Al-Khalidi said that the number of beneficiaries of legal advice provided by the staff of the Chamber concerned about 472 beneficiaries, while the number of arbitration cases initiated by the Chamber were about 16 cases, including six cases.
The number of cases of commercial disputes were 29 cases, 18 cases of which were completed, while the number of cases of protest registered and ended were about 249 cases.
As for the services of Asharqia Chamber of Employment, Al-Khalidi said that the number of beneficiaries of the services of the center reached about 3963 trainees last year and trained with a number of training days amounted to about 316 days for 51 training activities.
Al-Khalidi said that in order to complete the Saudization Support System in 2018, the Chamber launched a national initiative to rehabilitate and train 3,000 citizens by qualifying them for 12 business activities.
The Chamber also organized 13 functional meetings in cooperation with a number of establishments.
The number of job applicants reached 3,360, who submitted about 2085 jobs with the participation of 18 companies.
In his speech, Al-Khalidi addressed the Chamber's services that aimed at supporting businesswomen in the region.
He pointed out that the Business Women's Center in the Chamber provided more than 233 information services during 2018, and about 130 consultants for small and medium enterprises and provide information about the procedures for those facilities and benefited 363 women.
While the number of lectures, seminars and workshops provided by the Center during the past year were about 18 activities benefiting 1176 women, in addition to providing 15 short and specialized training programs to help women entrepreneurs and productive families to start their projects, with 735 benefited women.
Al-Khalidi pointed out that Asharqia Chamber gave more attention to Small and Medium Enterprises during the past year, as it has held a number of events under different headings, including direct consultations, training programs, extensive meetings, various visits for young businessmen and businesswomen.
For example, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Center provided about 560 consultants throughout the year from management, marketing, institutional and technical consultancy.
The Center also organized 35 programs for the small and medium enterprises sector in the region.
In addition, Asharqia Young Businessmen and Businesswomen Councils held many events and programs during 2018, including "my experience" program, "Tasheel" program, visits, "I Can" program and dialogue of entrepreneurs.
In addition, during the past year, the hand in hand initiative was launched as part of the initiatives of the Young Businessmen's Council to support business entrepreneurs.
Al-Khalidi said that during the past year the number of business Committees in the Chamber was about 16 committees that held 57 meetings, in addition to 56 working group meetings and 12 extensive meetings.
The number of lectures and workshops organized by the Committees sector were about 36 lectures and workshops, with 62 meetings and visits.
On the level of social responsibility, Al-Khalidi said that over the past year, Patients' Friends Committee has provided medical equipment and supplies worth more than 4 million riyals to about seven hospitals in the region.
The Chamber also organized several community and charitable activities, such as Awqaf and Social Responsibility Diwaniyya, as well as the annual blood donation campaign.
In order to develop the internal work environment of the Chamber and improve its human resources system, the Chamber held more than 17 training programs between the general and the specialized for 139 employees with a total number of training hours of 2600 hours, in addition to honoring 45 employees who have spent five years or more in the service of the Chamber, as well as the development of administrative and technical systems for the internal work environment, the quality certificate for information security has been renewed and the quality certificate for continuity of business has been renewed.
At the end of the Assembly's work, Al-Khalidi appreciated the great support of His Royal Highness Prince Saud Bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Eastern Region, for all the outputs of the Chamber and his keenness to sponsor the private sector and stand beside it.
He also thanked His Royal Highness Prince Ahmed Bin Fahd Bin Salman, Deputy Governor of the Eastern Region, who has always shown positive interaction with the Chamber's initiatives and programs.
He also acknowledged all the government departments and others, which have had outstanding contributions and fingerprints in many of the projects launched by the Chamber during the past year.
