Muscat-Agencies
At the conclusion of its work, held recently in Muscat, the 14th Industrialists Conference recommended ”working “effectively and quickly to adopt policies and procedures to facilitate the flow of Gulf exports to enhance intra-GCC trade with Yemen”, as well as “utilizing ports in GCC countries and Yemen to become another outlet besides land ports to support industrial exports”.

The session, which was held under the theme “Industrial Exports: Opportunities and Challenges“ was attended by a number of prominent figures including Dr. Ali bin Masoud bin Ali Al Sunaidi, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Oman, Engineer Ahmed bin Hassan Al Dheeb, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Sultanate of Oman and Chairman of the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, and a crowd of industrialists, experts and interested parties.

The Future of Industrialists
Abdulaziz bin Hamad Al Aqeel, Secretary General of the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), delivered the closing statement and recommendations: ”His Highness Asad bin Tariq Al Said, Representative of His Majesty the Sultan, graciously opened the conference in the presence of the Secretary General of the GCC, Their Excellencies the Ministers of Industry of the GCC countries and Yemen, Their Excellencies the Chairman of the GOIC Council, members of the Council, and the Secretary General of the Organization.” ”Over the two days, seven working sessions were held during which the importance and role of industrial exports, challenges and opportunities were discussed, and the successful experiences of some countries in this field such as the Turkish and Singaporean experience were reviewed.“
He added: ”The organization was keen to follow up on the implementation of many of the recommendations issued by the previous industrialists“ conferences, for example, but not limited to the recommendations announced at the 12th Industrialists” Conference, such as the recommendation to prepare an industrial map of the GCC countries, the study was completed and the identification of absent industries and promising industrial investment opportunities for the GCC countries, many of which were promoted by the organization during 2012-2014. Also, the recommendation related to supporting and strengthening the handling and industrial partnership program in the GCC countries, where handling centers have been established in most of the GCC countries. In addition to the recommendation to invite GCC countries to adopt the vision of the creative society, which combines the purchase and construction of the knowledge industry, contained in the 13th Industrialists Conference, and in this context, the organization has prepared annual reports that diagnose the current status of the knowledge industry and the readiness of GCC countries to move to knowledge industries.“

Saudi Development Fund
The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) has succeeded in establishing a competitive industrial base in the Kingdom that contributed to raising Saudi industrial exports from less than 110 million riyals in 1974 to more than 162 billion riyals by the end of 2012, said Ali bin Abdullah Al-Ayed, Director General of SIDF. This came during a working paper he presented entitled ”The role of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund in supporting the industrial sector in the Kingdom and promoting its exports“ during the activities of the conference. Al-Ayed touched on the development witnessed by Saudi industrial exports by achieving high growth rates averaging 20% per year for the period 1974-2012. He pointed out that one of the most important reasons for the growth of Saudi industrial exports during this period is to take advantage of the comparative advantage represented in the availability of hydrocarbons to establish the petrochemical industry, and to enter into regional and international trade agreements, and the working paper explained the sectoral distribution of Saudi industrial exports. Al-Ayed said that chemical and plastic products constitute the largest proportion of about 77% of the total industrial exports for 2012, followed by food industry products 8%, basic metal products and their manufactures 6%, while machinery and electrical appliances constitute only 2% of the volume of Saudi industrial exports.
Conference recommendations
”In light of the working papers and lectures presented in the field of industrial exports and the discussions and dialogue with the ministers of industry in the GCC countries and the concerned parties, the participants in this conference reached the following recommendations:
1- Work effectively and quickly to adopt policies and procedures to facilitate the flow of GCC exports to enhance intra-GCC trade with Yemen.
2- Utilizing ports in GCC countries and Yemen to become another outlet besides land ports to support industrial exports.
3- Working to create a specialized agency in each of the GCC countries and Yemen to provide an integrated package of means of support and support for industrial exports.
4- Utilizing export guarantee institutions and bodies to support industrial exports, developing and expanding an advanced network of foreign trade offices, and activating the role of commercial attachés.
5- Upgrading the quality of national products and enhancing their competitiveness by working on building a solid technical base and paying attention to research and development issues and international specifications and standards.
6- Paying attention to the small and medium industries sector to play a role in promoting industrial exports.
7. Support the initiatives of the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) with the private sector in promoting joint projects to achieve industrial integration among member states.
8 - Exchange of information and expertise in the field of anti-dumping in order to promote intra-trade and international trade.
9. Maximizing the benefit of foreign direct investment, as well as foreign expertise in the production, marketing and export process and encouraging the flow of foreign direct industrial investment.
10 - Benefit from the facilities available in the World Trade Organization agreements for exports, and work to form a specialized technical committee to study them and circulate their results to all exporters in the region.
11 - Benefit from the experiences of countries that have achieved success in the export process: South Korea, Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil and others. 12- Prepare a comprehensive guide on exportable industrial products and the conditions of international export markets at the level of the GCC countries and Yemen, updated periodically.
13- The need to develop a national strategy for the development of industrial exports.
14- Urge governments, institutions, producers and exporters to use the rules and mechanisms of the World Trade Organization in the development of exports.
15- Work to raise the level of knowledge of the private sector about local, regional and international legislation, regulations and implementation procedures through the issuance of executive procedural guides to support industrial exports.