WEF24: Saudi Climate Envoy - The Kingdom sets global energy and resource security benchmarks

2024-01-18 13:29:00

Today at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024 annual meeting, Saudi Arabia emphasized its commitment to collaborating with the global community to meet the world’s growing energy demand, while promoting ecological transformations and strengthening comprehensive economic resilience.

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Saudi’s Climate Envoy HE Adel Aljubeir emphasizes Saudi Arabia’s commitment to global energy and resource security at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 (Photo: AETOSWire)

In his speech addressing the Kingdom’s commitment to strengthening the long-term resilience of the global resource balance in the session on “Ambitious steps towards a sustainable MENA region”, His Excellency Adel A. Aljubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Member of the Council of Ministers and Envoy for Climate Affairs, said: “We are a conscious protagonist in the global community and our intention is not to follow the parameters, but rather to set those parameters.”

“The world continues to consume more and more energy, and this extra need for energy needs to be met with the use of alternative energy resources. Renewables are clearly the favorites”, added Aljubeir, highlighting the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI), which has already promoted more than 80 public and private sector initiatives, with an investment of more than 188 billion dollars to achieve global climate goals.

Earlier, His Excellency Mohammed A. Aljadaan, Minister of Finance, during his speech at the session on “Resilience: What it means and what to do with it”, highlighted the need for “significant structural reform” for countries to improve resilience “at institutional, fiscal and regulatory levels. Then you must engage the private sector and your own people, making sure you are providing them with safety nets in case of shocks.”

In turn, His Excellency Bandar I. Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, said in an intervention on the “Supply Chains of the Future” that high-growth sectors such as logistics, manufacturing and mining are becoming the decisive drivers of the Kingdom’s national diversification.

“Saudi Arabia has a combination of enablers, such as energy and petrochemicals, but also our geographic location.” In the industrial sector, Alkhorayef said, Saudi Arabia is collaborating with investors to help develop and export competitive and environmentally friendly products, “not just in the long term, but also in the medium term.”

His Excellency Faisal F. Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning, debating the Kingdom’s rapid economic transformation since the announcement of Saudi Vision 2030, which focuses on the development of new sectors, said: “Saudi Arabia has a playbook that all are watching, and this playbook is about ambitious moves.”

“In Saudi Arabia, we wanted to quickly boost our diversification. We prioritized 13 sectors that generated profitable conditions for the private sector,” said Alibrahim, noting that “this is the ideal time for collaboration to lead to the acceleration of innovation,” during the debates on “Top-tier Investors: Government Inc.’

At Saudi House, under the Bold Visions series (Ambitious Visions), a session was held. “The future of banking and technology in Saudi Arabia: What it means for investors” which had as guests Ibrahim Almubarak, Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Investment and chief executive of the Saudi Investment Promotion Agency (SIPA), and engineer Abdulla bin Mohammed Al Zamil, Chairman of Gulf International Bank, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.