The government's role in creating a thriving and sustainable economic environment will be the main focus at the Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF), to be held in Saudi Arabia, later this month.

The GCF is an annual meeting of global business leaders, international political leaders, and selected intellectuals and journalists brought together to create a dialogue with respect to the positive impact organisational and national competitiveness can have on local, regional and global economic and social development.

The event will take place from January 25 to 27, and will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh.

This will be the eighth edition of the forum and the agenda will centre on the theme 'Competitive Governments'.

The event will be opened at a special ceremony on the evening of January 25, before a full program of presentations and workshops with the participation of leading academics, businesspeople and political leaders from Saudi Arabia and around the world.

Following the opening address by Abdullatif Al-Othman, governor and chairman of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA); former UK government minister, Lord Peter Mandelson will chair the first panel discussion; with former prime minister of Georgia, Nika Gilauri; Tawfiq Al Rabeeah, Saudi Arabia's minister of Trade and Commerce; and Abdulrahman Al Barrak, the minister of the Civil Service, to discuss 'Competitive Governments and Saudi Arabia: A Gateway to the World'.

The importance of the technology sector in the diversification of the Saudi economy will also be stressed, with contributions from leading global experts including Google chief Eric Schmidt, and agenda items such as 'Encouraging technology innovation and development in Saudi Arabia'.

Other important discussions will examine how the Saudi economy can benefit from enabling more women to take a more active economic role, and the role of education in empowering young people, and preparing them to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Al-Othman said: “With key inputs from Saudi and international thought leaders from the private and public sectors, GCF 2015 will address regional and global trends in governmental best-practice, citing success stories from within Saudi Arabia and the global community.”

“The speakers and panellists comprise some of the best business, political and academic minds, working in their fields. It is the participation of these experts that makes the GCF such an important event in the business calendar," he added.

Founded in 2006 by the SAGIA, the GCF has grown into one of the largest and most important annual gatherings of academics, business leaders, politicians and journalists in the region, it added. – TradeArabia News Service