At the conclusion of the Eastern Region Economic Forum yesterday.
Sulaiman: The National Plan for the Development of Small and Medium institutions will be launched before December
Al Otaibi: The private sector is represented in the International
Report Indicators Committees to be an active participant in
decision making
The
Governor of the General Authority for Small and Medium institutions, Dr.
Ghassan bin Ahmed Al Sulaiman said that there are 39 government
agencies in a semi permanent session to review the procedures and their
applications in various sectors. He pointed out that before December, Small and medium, noting that it is a comprehensive plan for all governmental bodies, including private.
This was the first session titled "The role of economic
integration in the achievement of balanced development" and was
moderated by the editor of Mal newspaper, Mutlaq bin Hamad Al Buqami, as
part of the second day of the Eastern Economic Forum 2017, organized by
Asharqia Chamber on Thursday, November 9, 2017 , titled "Partners in the vision of tomorrow" and the
presence of a wide range of government officials, businessmen and
economic specialists, with the aim of highlighting the promoting business partnership in economic development.
The best option
Sulaiman
said that a series of initiatives that will motivate the institutions in the sector
towards positive growth and sustainability will emerge in the next few
weeks, noting that the Authority is working to organize this sector,
which is a cornerstone of the vision of the Kingdom of 2030 according to
the latest international foundations. Expressed his optimism about the future of the sector in light of the
attention of the rational leadership of the need for progress, stressing
that the next period will be the best choice for job
seekers.
For his part, Ali Bin Barman Al Yami, Chairman of the Commercial
Committee of Asharqia Chamber, highlighted a number of
challenges facing the Kingdom commercial sector, namely the difficulty
of starting the project, weak enforcement of contracts, obtaining
credit and registering property, as well as the challenges of foreign
trade.
In
his paper, which talked about the challenges of the commercial sector in
achieving a distinguished and hoped-for partnership, Al-Yami put
forward a number of mechanisms to enhance the role of the commercial
sector in the national economy by facilitating these tasks, in addition
to increasing the flexibility of the labor market, Financial stumbling blocks, development of regulations on the conduct
of business, promotion of competition in the domestic market and action
to combat trade concealment.
Immediate Municipality Licenses
Discussing the development of the investment environment
in the General Authority for Investment, Dr. Aaid bin Hadi Al Otaibi,
explaining and clarification (the Committee to improve the performance
of business in the private sector and incentive to participate in
economic development), pointing out that the goal of the Committee is to
increase the competencies of government services, and make the Kingdom
of the best States in the ease of doing business, as well as increasing the
effectiveness of communication with the private sector in the Kingdom by
involving them in decision making and legislation.
He
said that the committee works side by side with the private sector to
deal with the obstacles through its presence as a key participant in the
committee through the Council of Saudi Chambers, as well as its
representation in international reporting committees to be effective in
decision making. Questionnaires, analysis and study of expected impact, followed by
verification of private sector satisfaction with the announcement of
reform.
Level 7
As
for cross border trade or business facilitation, Al Otaibi said that in
the case of cross-border trade, the 24-hour container clearance
initiative was implemented, as was the reduction of import documents. In
terms of facilitating business procedures, an immediate municipality
was issued for more than 200 activities As well as the Standard Guide to Procedures.
Al Otaibi
said that the Kingdom is in constant progress in terms of business
facilitation, pointing out that according to the World Bank's Doing
Business report, the ranking of the Kingdom is in the seventh level
among countries. According to the international Competitiveness Index, World and level 4 between the Middle East and North Africa.
He pointed that work is currently underway to the system of
competition and government procurement and automation of procedures and
the activation of electronic documentation, and the expansion of the
initiative to clear containers and many other initiatives facilitate
business.
Clearing before the ship arrives
For
his part, the Director General of the General Customs Authority, Ahmed
bin Abdul Aziz Al Haqbani, spoke about the facilitation of the
commercial process, saying that it is a central axis of the Customs
Department, pointing out initiatives launched by the General
Administration of Customs to facilitate procedures in the commercial
process. In
order to enhance the investment environment and the growth of economic
activity in the Kingdom, in line with the objectives of the vision of
the Kingdom 2030 and the customs initiatives in the National Transition
Program 2020. Such as: the initiative to reduce documents from 12
documents to only two documents, In
order to support the national products and facilitate the procedures
for exporting abroad, by obtaining the appropriate amount of
information, as well as the initiative of the clearing in 24 hours, both
in Jeddah Islamic Port or King Abdullah Port, pointing out that it is
on its way to include all the ports of the Kingdom, The clearance will be before the vessel arrives at the port.
Integration of roles
Al Haqbani also said that the E-Documents initiative, which covers
about 95% of the required paper, was launched. He revealed that the
economic operator accredited in the Kingdom will be accredited in the
countries with which agreements are made.
He
said that the General Customs Department is implementing its
initiatives through the integration of roles with customs partners in
customs work from government agencies and the private sector. It is
re-engineering the customs procedures in line with the facilitation of
cross border trade, raising the level of control procedures and security
techniques, Risk management, automation of all customs and control procedures and
attention to the human element through building their capacity and
qualifying them in a comprehensive manner consistent with this strategic transformation.
Strong competition
"The
private sector is the champion of the next phase. It is a fundamental
pillar on which the Kingdom's vision of the future has been based. The
port services have been assigned to the private sector to manage and
operate them according to a commercial method," said Musaad bin Abdul
Rahman AlDrees, The
ports and port facilities are leased on a long-term basis in return for
a percentage of the income so all the operation and maintenance of
the stations in the ports are managed today by the private sector. He
pointed out that the ports are part of a system of work. Still singled out And attracting more investments, as there are nine ports in the Kingdom between commercial and industrial.
Al-Drees
said that the Kingdom occupies a strategic position linking the three
continents of the world, and that this site qualifies it to be a major
logistics platform, pointing to the strength of competition in this
regard, especially in the Red Sea, saying that we seek to enter this
challenge by continuing to facilitate the procedures, The port sector enjoys great support from the government.
Second meeting
In
the second session, which was chaired by the Executive Partner of the
Consultancy Company and a member of the Business Youth Council of Asharqia Chamber, Nayef Bin Khalifa Al Melhem, Undersecretary of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Development for Inspection and Development
of the Work Environment Dr. Abdullah bin Nasser spoke about the
importance of the construction sector in the Kingdom. Localization.
The
minister said that the ministry to achieve the goals of reducing the
unemployment rate in the Kingdom is working on various programs to
reduce the number of unemployment and wish the active participation of
the private sector, pointing to several formats with the Human Resources
Fund to provide support to the private sector, whether material support
or support sector qualified national staff , pointing to some incentives that make the Saudi employee stable in his work in the construction sector, he said that the subject of subcontractors has become a problem of
the contracting sector, stressing that the main contractor has a vision
to support the subcontractor and make it a useful component of the
contracting sector.
Classification of contractors
In
a working paper submitted by a member of the Board of Directors of the
Chamber and the Chairman of the Chamber's contracting
committee, Abdul Hakim bin Hamad Al Ammar, about the obstacles and
challenges facing the construction sector in the Kingdom, he summarized
these challenges in the legislative aspect by saying that decree 22 of
the Government Competition and Procurement System (35%)
and above the government authority's estimates and prevailing prices,
and the non-activation of Article 23 of the Government Competition and
Procurement System, which states that the Tender Examination Committee
may recommend the exclusion of any offer, even if it is the lowest bid. Price, as It was found that the bidder had a number of projects and the
Committee considered that the contractual obligations had
become too high for its financial or technical capabilities to affect
its implementation of its contractual obligations.
In
addition to the non compliance with decree 53 of the Competition and
Government Procurement Regulations: which states that the work may be
withdrawn from the contractor, and then the contract or execution is
terminated on his account, with the right of the authority to return the
contractor to the compensation due for the damage caused by the
contract. Contracted for its sub implementation without the prior written permission of the Government.
Non-activation of decree 71 of the Government Competition and
Procurement Regulations: which stipulates that the Contractor shall
remain liable in solidarity with the assignee or subcontractor for the
execution of the contract.
As for the challenges related to the owner of the project are: award
projects on the tender less financially and lack of interest in
technical aspects.
And the award of projects to contractors or consulting firms are not
qualified to suit the requirements, and the absence of technical studies
or financial precise project requirements and the absence of serious
supervision of the technical departments.
Building permissions.
As for the owner of the project, he said: The imposition of the owner
of the new terms and conditions were not agreed during the contract
(technically and financially), delayed payment of financial dues, and
the exploitation of the process of obtaining building permits for a long
period may reach the year due to frequent procedures.
The challenges related to the executing agency include a
large percentage of the subcontractors work beyond the percentage
stipulated in the contract, failure to inform the owner, and the effect
of the shortage of liquidity resulting from the banks multiplying the
required guarantees and raising interest rates in addition to financing
obstacles.
The
challenges related to human resources are the lack of commitment to
grant the number of visas according to the letter of support issued by
the money, and to rely on estimating the number of visas on a uniform
without taking into account the nature of the projects.
Al Ammar proposed the establishment of indicators for the construction
sector, such as the prices of construction materials and contractors'
wages, and the development of an electronic record containing the
interactive data on the contractor, its specialization and its previous
work in order to enable the public to determine the degree of
satisfaction with the contractor performance.
The importance of classification of contractors based on the level of
quality of work and not according to financial standards (experience of
the Union of French Contractors).
He stressed the need for the Saudi Contractors Authority to provide
advice in the field of construction technology, support and guidance to
take care of the interests of the sector with government agencies (the
experience of the German Contractors Association), and to provide
opinion to the relevant government bodies and legal affairs of its
members of small contractors.
terms of reference
For
his part, Assistant Minister of Finance for Technical Affairs Hindi bin
Abdullah Al Suhaimi said that the ministry is carrying out a number of
rehabilitation programs to raise the level of work internally and also
contribute to the development of the mechanism of work in government
agencies by giving them full powers in determining their priorities, so
that they are able to determine their budgets accurately, Pointing that the Ministry of Finance is committed to pay the dues
to the private sector within 60 days of receipt of payment orders.
Al Suhaimi said that the ministry is dealing with payment orders due
to the private sector through a digital portal that helps in achieving
speed, efficiency and transparency in dealing with payment
orders.
Al Suhaimi
said: The service of financial claims for suppliers and contractors
aims to collect all financial claims and review them with government
agencies to facilitate the exchange process, as it requires ensuring
that all financial claims are registered to the government from all
suppliers and contractors through this service, Government agencies.
Al Suhaimi
said that the ministry seeks to know all the financial claims on
government agencies through the programs and projects that have been
completed and thus facilitate the review and disbursement of these
claims. He pointed that the suppliers and contractors to the
governmental bodies can easily raise their financial claims by entering
the ministry's website and following the procedures. .
Aramco
As part of the framework of the scientific program, Saudi Aramco's Senior Vice
President for Technical Services, Ahmed Bin Abdulrahman Al Saadi,
explained that the company is working on many specialized programs to
support contractors and suppliers at different
times, thus enhancing the private sector partnership in the company's
projects by local and foreign companies.
Al Saadi
said that the program, which deals with the relationship of contractors
and suppliers, comes within the framework of the company's efforts to
encourage contractors and suppliers to increase the local content in
products and services, to localize innovation and technology, provide
job opportunities for Saudis and enhance local value.
Regarding the qualifying of employment, he said that the company established a number of institutes on the rehabilitation of employment
and aims to establish 18 institutes by 2021.
He said that the program supports the aspirations of the
vision of the Kingdom 2030 and the National Transition Program to
stimulate the private sector to manufacture and provide services locally
and reduce dependence on imports, especially in energy related vital
sectors.
Supporting the construction sector
For his part, Chairman of the Saudi Organization for Contractors
Eng. Osama bin Hassan Al Afaleq, said that the Authority is present
to support the contracting sector in all its activities and activities,
stressing that the specialists in the Authority are working on the
design of initiatives that contribute to the sector is useful and
effective.
Al Afaleq said that the Authority is responsible for developing
strategies and procedures that organize the sector and develop the
working mechanism to enable it to succeed. He pointed to the existence
of formats and communication with the relevant parties to organize
procedures that support the contracting sector and improve its
performance.
About the challenges facing the construction sector in the Kingdom, he
explained that the Authority is working to limit these challenges and
suffering by the sector staff to put them on the table with
them and cooperate in dealing with them in coordination with the
competent authorities.
Today the word is for local content
At
the third session titled "Ways to promote Business Competitiveness", moderated by the head of the Joatha Advisory Council, Dr.
Ihsan Bin Ali Bo Hlaika, who stressed the importance of competitiveness
for the private sector. The
National Economy, indicating that competitiveness is based on a number
of resources such as resources, efficiency and innovation, and the
Kingdom owns these sources, as confirmed by the Advisor to the General
Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and Head of the Local Content
and Private Sector Development Unit, The
Kingdom has been able to enhance its competitiveness as a young
industrialist and has many capabilities to prepare for competitive
competitiveness. He pointed that despite the difficulties of the
challenges, the Kingdom has proven its ability to deal positively with
these challenges in the past. Building on them the leading industries in the Kingdom are able to
enhance their competitiveness, while others have been created come in
the second and third level need many because they have not yet reached
enough progress.
Al Sukait
said that the Kingdom is currently living a new economic environment
dominated by the positive participation of the private sector in
economic development. He advised the business sector to reorganize
itself, especially that the government sector has become a forerunner in
terms of regulatory, procedural and other legislation and competitiveness.
Priority to provide products
Member of the Industrial Committee of Asharqia Chamber and the head of the Middle East Batteries Company, Talal Bin Ahmed Al Zamil, talked about
the challenges faced by the industrial sector in the Kingdom and the
mechanisms to confront them. These include developing the
competitiveness of national products, keeping pace with developments in
international markets and decreasing the percentage of the knowledge
component in the Saudi industrial sector As well as the industrial environment and sustainable development
framework, the challenges of industrial exports, the low level of participation in government competitions, and funding constraints.
Al Zamil
suggested mechanisms to handle these challenges by encouraging the
localization of knowledge in the Saudi industry to increase their
competitiveness, the existence of uniform standards and rules for the
security, safety and environment conditions of the factories, the
development of human capabilities and the increase of the flexibility of
the labor market. National products, financing capacities of the industrial sector,
and protection of the national industry in a way that does not
contradict the Kingdom's obligations towards the World Trade
Organization.
National facilities
Al Zamil
stressed some necessary measures in this regard, including:
strengthening strategic ties and relations between national institutions,
developing infrastructure in industrial cities, speeding up the
provision of electricity and gas services to factories in industrial
cities, offering land to industrial investors at competitive prices and
providing basic facilities
with the electrical specifications and standards required in some of
the proposed projects and the extent to which the NEMA-ANSI standards
are applied in the USA so that the factories can invest and expand their
work, and the clear criteria for exemption of customs in the field of
energy As
well as incentives for factories that invest in alternative energy to
reduce energy consumption, especially peak times, and provide energy at
competitive prices for energy-based industries to enable national
industries. From
the competition in local and international markets, taking into
account their contribution to the generation of value added, give
priority to the provision of primary products of the local factory,
with a proportion of specialty production to meet local market demand
and impose export tax in the case of commitment of factories to do so.
Three topics
For
his part, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian
Industrial Investment Company (DASR), Eng. Abdul Latif bin Ahmed
Al Uthman, stressed that the promotion of competitiveness needs to
identify three axes: the first is to identify or identify the industries
in which we want to excel; And
the third is the work on the design and implementation of smart
incentives, pointing out that the world is witnessing the transfer of
economic power from the west to the east, in addition to a quantum leap
in the areas of technology must be aware of the business sector because
of its strong support in the promotion of competitiveness, "Neom" is a message to the private sector and to the global technology, pointing out that the vision of 2030 m as its goal of
transforming the economy from a rational economy to a productive
economy is to enhance the competitiveness of the private sector.
He said that it took into account the technical progress factors
and the vision goals of the Kingdom and then proceeded to work on
advanced industries whether in engines or others.
Industrial strategy
The
Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources for Industry, Saleh bin
Shabab Al Salami, said that the ministry in its package much to enhance
the competitiveness started by the national industrial strategy, which
took into account the changes that are taking place and future in the
national economy, pointing that the work is close to completion and
was done with the participation of the private sector expected to be announced by the end of the year.
Al Salami
stressed that the industry in the Kingdom is growing at a good rate and
is in the advanced position in the Middle East. He advised the private
sector of high readiness and interest in exportable industries to seek
marketing outlets. He pointed to the national export strategy, Challenges and how to build a strong industrial sector capable of
achieving the target, noting that work is now on a mechanism to surpass obstacles to export and exporters.
"The
company has the competitive as a challenge, increasing the
efficiency of its employees, entering into emerging markets, and
constantly looking for ways to inprove the company and its products in
other markets," said Sipchem CEO, Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Ohali. The competencies despite the importance of resources,
calling on the government sector to achieve positive cooperation with
the private sector, especially as there are some legislative actions
that need to be reviewed.
At
the end of the sessions of the Forum, the Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the Chamber Abdulrahman bin Saleh Al Atishan
honored the memorial shields.
