The Government Communication Center held its periodic press conference today (Wednesday), with the participation of the Acting Minister of Media, Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, and the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Engineer Ahmed Al-Rajhi.

The Minister of Information affirmed that the Kingdom is witnessing unprecedented activity on all levels, as the Gulf tour of His Highness the Crown Prince - may God protect him - achieved positive results that strengthen brotherhood, cohesion and Gulf cooperation, which was reflected in the outcomes of the 42nd Gulf Summit hosted by Riyadh last December.

He pointed out that Riyadh received the President of the French Republic and the President of the Republic of Korea, as well as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, and that this visit opened new horizons for economic cooperation between the two countries.

Al-Qasabi stressed that achieving second place globally among the most flexible countries in dealing with the pandemic is a source of pride for everyone, and he expressed his gratitude to the workers in the various government sectors that work as one system, especially those working in the health and security sectors, and thanks are extended to everyone who responded and complied with the health instructions.

He said: “In the Kingdom, we continue to reap the fruits of Vision 2030, as the Evidence Law was issued, which is the first of the four legislative projects being developed under the direct supervision of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince - may God protect him - which will consolidate justice and transparency, guarantee rights and raise the efficiency of the judicial system.”.

In the industrial sector, Al-Qasabi expressed his pride in the national factories, which numbered 10,293, despite the pandemic conditions, as the value of their exports exceeded 208 billion riyals and reached 188 countries around the world last year, as the “Made in Saudi Arabia” exhibition came with the participation of more than 170 national companies, to market our national products.

He added: “In the technology and artificial intelligence sector, which is witnessing unprecedented acceleration and growth, Riyadh hosted the Leap 22 International Technology Conference, which represents a global technology event that annually brings together the most prominent minds and innovative pioneers,” indicating the participation of more than 500 speakers from 80 countries and 700 global and local companies in it.

Regarding mining and tourism - promising future sectors - that will achieve added economic value and create new job opportunities for the country’s citizens, the mining sector recorded a 1300% increase in the number of commercial establishments over six years.

Dr. Al-Qasabi explained that Riyadh hosted the International Mining Conference last month, in which more than 100 ministers and specialists from 32 countries participated.

Al-Qasabi touched on the announcement by His Highness the Crown Prince - may God protect him - of the “Central Jeddah” project, which will make it a global tourist destination.

His Excellency also pointed to a first-of-its-kind initiative, which is the launch by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Boutique Group, which aims to rehabilitate and develop the historic royal palaces and transform them into world-class hotels, whose luxury is inspired by the heritage and culture of our nation.

The Minister of Information confirmed that all this activity has been reflected in the development of the tourism sector, whose number of establishments has increased fivefold during the past five years, as the number of establishments was 1,000 and has now reached more than 5,800 establishments.

In the sports sector, which is witnessing a qualitative transformation, His Excellency said: “The Kingdom has become a global destination for major events, as it hosted for the third time in a row the Dakar Rally, in which 650 competitors from 70 countries participated, in addition to watching the dazzling aesthetic masterpiece represented by the Formula 1 race track, in which the number of attendees exceeded 160,000 people. Everyone also enjoyed watching the Spanish Super Cup, which the Kingdom hosted for the second time in a row and which enjoyed a large global viewership, until we reached the Formula E World Championship, where everyone experienced the fun and wonder in historic Diriyah.

His Excellency spoke about the entertainment sector, explaining that the Riyadh Season attracted more than 11 million visitors, including one million tourists from 125 countries, making Riyadh a leading tourist destination today. The sector continues to achieve positive results, which have created 150,000 jobs for the nation's citizens. He asked God to protect the wise leadership - may God support them - and to protect the people of the Kingdom, and to perpetuate security, safety, and stability for this nation.

In response to a question about the procedures for appraising properties expropriated for government projects, His Excellency Dr. Al-Qasabi said: “The Kingdom guarantees the rights of citizens with fairness and clear procedures through specific regulations, and any property owner has the right to object to the value of any appraisal within 60 days of the date of the decision before the Board of Grievances,” stressing the state’s keenness to protect the rights of its citizens.

In response to a question about commercial concealment, he stated that the deadline for rectification ends at the end of the day, emphasizing that no additional grace period will be granted. He reminded everyone that behind every concealer in the Kingdom is a citizen, and that deterrent penalties will be applied to concealers, reaching up to 5 years imprisonment and a fine of 5 million riyals.

For his part, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Engineer Ahmed Al-Rajhi, expressed his gratitude to the wise leadership - may God support them - for the unprecedented support for the labor and social development sector, which contributed to the growth and expansion of businesses and the strengthening of social protection, stressing that the highest participation of citizens in the labor market has been reached with more than 1.9 million citizens, who have proven their success and competence, and this is just the beginning of the road, noting that the ambition exceeds this number, according to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

His Excellency spoke about the National Labor Market Strategy, which was launched two years ago, explaining that it was adopted by the Council of Ministers with 25 reform initiatives. Its objectives include the economic participation of citizens, which was 40% at the beginning of the vision, and the target is to reach 60% in 2030. He pointed out that in the middle of the period the percentage reached 50%, which indicates the success of the work.

Engineer Al-Rajhi explained that the global “Labor Market Efficiency Index” is very important for attracting local and international investment, and that the Kingdom’s goal is to move and advance from 89th place to 20th place in the Labor Market Efficiency Index by 2030.

He explained that the strategy’s six pillars include improving working environment conditions, revitalizing the labor market, and developing skills, all of which focus on making the Kingdom’s labor market attractive to citizens, international talent, and investors, through quality initiatives that include planning current and future careers, developing personal skills, promoting a positive work culture, and continuously evaluating and developing labor market policies.

His Excellency said: “His Royal Highness the Crown Prince – may God protect him – launched major and giant projects such as Qiddiya, NEOM, the Red Sea, and others, which aim to create 1.8 million jobs directly and indirectly, as creating these jobs requires an organized, developed and attractive labor market.” He explained that the strategy works to create a suitable environment to attract investments, and that the role of government agencies is to work to achieve the well-being of citizens and suitable jobs for them, expressing his thanks to the employees in the government sector for their great role in achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

He added: “In 2021, we launched 32 localization decisions by focusing on qualitative rather than quantitative localization, such as the professions of accounting, law, education, marketing, dentistry, and others, to create 200,000 jobs.” He pointed out that in the same year, this localization created double the targeted number, and the sons and daughters of the nation proved their presence and creativity in all fields and activities.

He explained that the ministry aims to launch 30 new localization decisions in 2022, for new professions such as project management, quality, procurement, sales, finance, and others, to continue this approach to localization until the localization of all activities and professions is completed.

Regarding support, Al-Rajhi confirmed that the Human Resources Development Fund “Hadaf” spent more than 10 billion riyals on supporting the employment of citizens in the private sector, as the support reached more than 130,000 young men and women, through the disbursement of 50% of the salary in cooperation with the private sector. He noted that the “Wusool” and “Qurrah” programs target female citizens, to enable them to enter the private sector, as the target for the percentage of women’s participation in the labor market is to raise it from 21% to 32% in 2030, pointing out that the target was achieved this year, and a new percentage for women’s participation will be created at the request of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince - may God protect him.

He pointed out that the compliance rate in the private sector with the announced and agreed localization rates reaches 95%, which confirms the existence of a real partnership between the private and government sectors. He explained that the number of those joining the labor market for the first time is 400,000 young men and women, a number that exceeds the number of graduates in the same year, which confirms breaking the barrier between the graduate and the labor market.

His Excellency spoke about specialized professions, saying: “17,000 male and female engineers, 16,000 male and female accountants, 3,000 dentists, and more than 6,000 pharmacists have been localized,” stressing that these specialized professions are proud to have the sons of the nation in them.

Regarding modern work patterns, His Excellency said: “At the Ministry, we have worked on studying the work patterns in the market that the labor market needs now and in the future, and we have created the necessary legislation and platforms to support them, and we have activated modern work patterns through specialized platforms, namely the freelance work platform, the flexible work platform, and the remote work platform.”.

He explained that more than one and a half million people obtained the freelance work document in 288 specialized professions such as programming, e-commerce, marketing, and photography. The document gives its owner many regulatory capabilities such as financing and government support, as the number of those who obtained loans and government support reached more than 130,000 practitioners.

More than 37,000 citizens benefited from flexible work, and this model provides solutions for university students and covers peak business times. As for the remote work platform, more than 58,000 citizens benefited from it, most of them being female citizens.

Regarding the labor market environment, Al-Rajhi said: “Today we have full faith that the efficiency, attractiveness and productivity of the labor market are linked to the work environment, and we have launched many initiatives and programs aimed at achieving this, including, but not limited to, the Wage Protection Program with a compliance rate of nearly 80%.”.

The programs and initiatives also included the Professional Examination Program for Workers, which targets more than 1,000 specialized craft professions, with the aim of raising the quality of labor market outputs by verifying the skills of professional workers, the amicable settlement program for labor disputes, in which the settlement rate exceeded 65% of the total claims submitted during 2021, and the Together for Monitoring application program, which enables members of society to monitor and report irregular violations in the labor market.

His Excellency stressed the importance of working through digital transformation to accelerate business and provide the best services to customers and beneficiaries, which directly impacts the business environment. He explained that the Qiwa platform carries out more than 21,000 electronic transactions per day, whereas in the past it carried out only 800 services. He pointed out the Ministry's efforts to elevate the Saudi labor market to become among the globally competitive markets, under the support of the wise leadership - may God protect it.

He explained that the Kingdom has risen to 13th place in the Labor Market Efficiency Index according to the Global Competitiveness Report, and has become a full member of the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization, which reflects the status and confidence that the Kingdom enjoys in the organization and its effective role in decision-making and policy building around international labor standards; this reflects the attractiveness of local and global investment in the Kingdom, and it is the main generator of jobs.

Regarding the social development sector, His Excellency said: “Today, thanks be to God, this sector enjoys great support from our wise leadership, and this has undoubtedly contributed greatly to enhancing development and social protection.” He explained that more than 117 specialized classifications have been created in the non-profit sector, and the number of non-profit sector organizations has increased by more than 100%, as there were 1,632 in 2017 and in 2021 there were 3,444 organizations, of which more than 69% are specialized, and he thanked them for the efforts made for the sake of good and serving the community.

Also during this month, the National Center for the Development of the Non-Profit Sector launched its work to organize donations with the relevant authorities, expressing his pride in the successes achieved by donation platforms, including: more than one billion in donations on the Ihsan platform, more than 2.8 million beneficiaries on the Tabarro’ platform, and more than 33,000 beneficiaries who were provided with housing through the Jood platform, thanking all those who gave and contributed from the members of the community who love goodness and giving, explaining that the National Giving Index launched by the Ministry shows that 81% of Saudi society donated at least once during 2021.

His Excellency added: “We launched the National Platform for Volunteer Work, and the number of registered volunteers reached more than (815) thousand male and female volunteers, and more than 237 thousand volunteer opportunities. In 2021, we have more than 480,000 male and female volunteers, whose volunteer work was documented through the platform. The economic return from the volunteer work that has been done so far is estimated at 899 million riyals. We have a success story in volunteering during the pandemic that we went through, so thanks to all the male and female volunteers, whose number reached more than 120,000 volunteers who contributed to delivering more than 9 million food baskets and meals.”.

Regarding social security, Engineer Al-Rajhi stressed the work on developing the social security system that was approved by the Council of Ministers to be more capable of providing appropriate support to the most needy and deserving families in a way that covers their basic needs. Work has also been done on a group of programs aimed at enabling the children of social security families to have job opportunities, to move them from being dependent on welfare to being developmental, so that they become active members and contributors to driving the wheel of national development, in addition to empowering more than 75,000 beneficiaries.