Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Competitiveness Center, revealed that the next phase will adopt the pillars of competitiveness—“productivity, sustainability, and inclusivity”— in response to global developments and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the pivotal role of productivity in sustainable development, as well as the global shift toward a green economy and its appeal to investments that adhere to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.
The Minister of Commerce announced the Center’s new action plan aimed at implementing reforms that will enable the competitive environment to keep pace with new global trends centered on productivity, sustainability, and inclusivity, so that the Kingdom ranks among the world’s top ten most competitive countries by 2030.
Al-Qasabi said during the 200th meeting of the Executive Committee for Improving and Stimulating Business Performance in the Private Sector “Taysir”—affiliated with the Center—that the new plan stems from the Crown Prince’s directives aimed at transitioning to an economy based on productivity and global competitiveness. Furthermore, it marks a shift from facilitating the business environment to achieving global competitiveness across all sectors, and it aligns with the second phase of the journey toward realizing the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
He emphasized that the Kingdom’s many gains and achievements has laid the groundwork for a new generation of reforms designed to enhance businesses“ ability to capitalize on a stimulating business environment, particularly as the Center has established key committees to lead competitiveness reforms in the sectors of ”industry, agriculture, services, and technology.”, which will transform the systems and work methods in enterprises to align with the requirements of the local and global markets and developments in production, and support the development of the workforce and expertise to increase productivity, thereby achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
