Business & Money | Tuesday 12 May, 2015 12:51 pm |

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in collaboration with the Arab Tourism Organization, an affiliate of the League of Arab States, recently hosted a special visit by the Ambassadors and Consuls of the Arab countries along with their families, for three days in the Bay La Sun Hotel and Marina “the city’s first hotel”. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the Economic City’s advantages and opportunities that include modern services, global standard infrastructure, and promising investment environment.

The diplomatic delegation was received by Mr. Fahd Al-Rasheed, Group CEO and Managing Director of KAEC, and Mr. Ahmed Linjawy, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, as well as Senior Executives from KAEC: (Dr. Hani Gharbawi, Mr. Mazen A. Tammar, Ms. Dania Beidas, Mr. Karim Mourad and Mr. Omar Faden).

Mr.Linjawy gave a detailed account of the city’s progress and presented a documentary film that includes the most important achievements and developments that have been completed. He pointed out that the city is one of the largest and most important economic projects run by the private sector in the Middle East, on an area of 181 million square meters, and is being developed to become an integrated city that benefits from a promising investment environment designed to enhance the global competitiveness of the Saudi market. He added that the City comes with a long-term strategy plan adopted by our wise government to diversify the national economy and reduce dependence on oil as a source of the national income.

Mr. Al-Rasheed expressed his delights to the ambassadors and consuls of the Arab States for their visit, stating: "This visit comes at a time when the KAEC is experiencing a rapid growth in various sectors and development projects. The delegation’s visit today gives us a great opportunity to show the latest progress of the city, and demonstrate our efforts to achieve the vision of an economic, social and tourism streams with modern specifications that contributes to the development of the national economy and ensure the prosperity of future generations.”

During the second day, the delegation visited the city’s different components and listened to an illustrative explanation about the advanced status of developments, describing the increasing number of residential products sales at the Coastal Communities that fit all income levels, where it provides an integrated urban environment that achieves residential, commercial, industrial and social integration. KAEC offers investment opportunities in all these sectors, with direct link of King Abdullah Port where transshipment operations started in 2013 and is on the way to becoming one of the ten largest ports in the world at the Red sea. This makes it a global destination for logistics services, and an access point to 250 million consumers in the Arab world (Middle East and North Africa), in addition to the Haramain High Speed Train stations and the land bridge. The delegation also visited the industrial valley and witnessed first-hand the growing pace in attracting local and international investors, which have exceeded 93 industrial companies, emphasizing the city’s continual efforts in providing job opportunities for national cadres.

At the end, His Excellency the President of the Arab Tourism Organization, Dr. Bandar Al-Faheed, and the delegation of the Arab States, shared their delight for what they witnessed during their stay in KAEC, and praised the qualitative jumps experienced by the Kingdom, economically and socially, and what the city offers in support of the national economy as a whole. They also praised the KAEC's strength as a source of national pride, considered one of the most important economic cities in the world due to the value it offers its clients and visitors compared to other cities.