The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the National Competitiveness Center, signed a strategic agreement with the World Bank Group to establish an international Knowledge Hub. This initiative aims to enhance international cooperation and drive sustainable development through the exchange of expertise and insights based on the Kingdom's experience in implementing economic reforms and the World Bank's expertise, thus contributing to supporting member states and helping them achieve their development goals.
His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Competitiveness Center, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, pointed out during the signing ceremony -with the participation of the Bank Group President, Mr. Ajay Banga- that the agreement confirms the distinction and richness of the Kingdom's experience in implementing economic & development reforms. These achievements were realized with the support and guidance of H.R.H. Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister (may God protect him).
H.E. Al-Kassabi emphasized that the Kingdom, through the National Competitiveness Center, has successfully developed a distinct Saudi model for competitiveness over the past years. This model has strengthened its competitive edge, driving remarkable progress and achievement of qualitative leaps in global competitiveness indicators and reports. The success has drawn interest from friendly countries, many of which have taken the initiative to request access to the expertise and unique knowledge developed by the Kingdom to help them build similar competitive frameworks.
H.E. Al-Kassabi further elaborated that the Knowledge Hub to be established under this agreement will serve as an international framework for countries to benefit from the combined economic and development expertise of the Kingdom and the World Bank Group, strengthening their global competitiveness.
Building on this, the World Bank Group President stated, “The new Knowledge Hub being created by the World Bank Group and Saudi Arabia is a key step forward to scale up and extend the wide reach of global knowledge critical to delivering such impact. Diversifying economies and driving policies that lead to a more competitive and efficient business environment are key to success."
The Knowledge Hub's activities include research, advisory, and analytical work, knowledge exchange, capacity building, and the development of innovative solutions and policies. These activities address competitiveness enablers, including enhancing the business environment, productivity growth, entrepreneurship, SMEs growth, innovation development, trade policy promotion and facilitation, investment policy development and promotion, and competitive market development. They also address challenges related to the Kingdom's economic transformation, most notably export diversification, trade policies, domestic resource mobilization, and public spending.
The Knowledge Hub's steering committee from the Saudi side includes representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Economy and Planning, alongside members from the National Competitiveness Center and the Saudi Business Center.
The Kingdom's implementation of over 800 economic and development reforms, coordinated through integrated government efforts and the National Competitiveness Center's specialized subcommittees, has dramatically improved business facilitation in priority sectors. The results of these comprehensive reforms propelled the Kingdom to 16th place globally among the world's 67 most competitive economies, as ranked in the World Competitiveness Yearbook, issued by the World Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
