Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, President of the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage and Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of the National Program for Exhibitions and Conferences, announced the launch of the Saudi Academy for Events, Exhibitions, and Conferences Management in September 2016, a joint-stock companyheadquartered in Riyadh. The National Program for Exhibitions and Conferences and the National Center for Human Resources Development (Takamul) at the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage supported its establishment.

This announcement came during his recent chairing of the committee’s tenth meeting, held at the Authority’s headquarters in Riyadh, His Highness noted that the mission of this academy—which is the first academy for exhibitions and conferences in the Middle East—is focused on developing Saudi human resources to become a source of support for the exhibitions and conferences sector.During the meeting, he highlighted the tangible progress achieved in organizing the exhibitions and conferences sector and improving its services since the establishment of the National Program for Exhibitions and Conferences on 17 Rajab 1434 AH.

The Supervisory Committee also approved the National Exhibitions and Conferences Program plan for the years 2016–2018, as well as a draft of policies and procedures for holding conferences in the Kingdom, which will be posted on the program’s portal to solicit feedback from interested parties. The committee also approved the program’s plan to participate in IMEX 2016, and the Supervisory Committee reviewed the program’s performance during 2015 and reviewed the steps taken to implement the decisions of the Committee’s ninth meeting, held on the 23rd of Dhu al-Hijjah 1436 AH.