JEDDAH: Prince Khalid Al-Faisal has sent a message of thanks to King Salman for his care of the people of the Makkah Region and the development of their provinces. After visits to Makkah provinces and presiding over the council meeting in Jeddah Province on Wednesday, Prince Khalid told the King that “the sons of Makkah Region have expressed thanks for your concern to achieve anything that will serve them in this region.” The Makkah Governor, who is an adviser to the King, said the sons entrusted him to tell King Salman they sacrificed themselves for the protection of religion and homeland against any aggressor or who wants to disrespect this country. Prince Khalid stressed that the past ten years had witnessed a leap in quality to reach the first (developed) world. He said he had written an article on the opening of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology titled: “The first world on our land: what are we going to do?”. Since then, he said, he had seen more than one location of the first world on our land, he said. He said he recently visited the King Abdullah Economic City and has already said we have islands on our land that could be run in a modernized way. Prince Khalid gave further examples of the Diplomatic District in Riyadh, and military cities in different parts of the Kingdom. He expressed pleasure over what he saw during his tours to different provinces in terms of thought, culture and planning which, he said, reflected the image of modern Saudi citizen. Prince Khalid attributed the achievements made at the human level to the spread of universities over Makkah Region. He added that the value of accomplished and current projects in Makkah provinces was estimated at more than SR51.47 billion ($13.73 billion), with the exception of other mega projects in the Grand Mosque, King Abdulaziz Airport and Haramain High Speed Rail. He urged businessmen/women to join the development process in the country and to take investment opportunities. He said a workshop will be launched next Shaban to offer such opportunities.