In the presence of Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman the “Saudi Made” Exhibition and Conference kicked off Sunday as part of the Riyadh Season at the Riyadh Front, which is one of the Riyadh Season zones. The event aims at enhancing the industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to realize self-sufficiency, increase Saudi exports to the world and diversify the economic base. Minister of Commerce and Acting Minister of Media Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, Minister of Investment Eng. Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Education Dr. Hamad Al-Sheikh and Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al-Ibrahim also attended the opening ceremony. Prince Abdulaziz, in a speech during the conference that was held at the exhibition, said: “Simply, my imagination cannot find a more important, more precious, or more trustworthy product than our young boys and girls in this generation and future generations who were created in Saudi Arabia and inherited their Saudi identity from their forefathers. “I have always said and will continue to say that our role is merely to enable them to realize the aspirations of our country and its achievements, and we have no excuse if they did not,” referring to the role of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy prime minister and minister of defense, in empowering this generation.” He added: “This generation has an effective, young, inspiring leader with a vision and bets that relying on the youth of today and the future is the key to realizing this vision, especially that they are the most capable and most vital for changing it into reality.” The prince noted that Saudi Arabia, in the coming period, will be an incubator for major achievements and promising occasion in all fields and will be a source of pride to us all exactly as it has always been. He stressed, “We will celebrate every day, every week and every month with a new product, a new initiative and a new achievement.” The ceremony also included a televised speech by Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef that went over several concepts related to the Saudi Made Exhibition, mainly: changing the program from a dream into reality thanks to the Saudi Vision 2030. He also reiterated the continuous support to the program from the Crown Prince, for it being a national program that aims at displaying the industrial power of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its potential in reaching the entire world. The minister added that the Saudi Made program aims at increasing the local consumption from products and services, enhancing the culture of loyalty to the local product, enhancing the attractiveness of the industrial sector to investments, helping find investment and job opportunities, helping companies increase their exports, and boosting the percentage of non-oil exports. Al-Khorayef also noted that the Saudi Made Exhibition has realized big numbers, pointing out that it includes 1,300 companies, 6,000 registered products, 29 partnerships with government institutions and national companies, and 170 companies participating in the exhibitions, stressing that more than 2,000 are expected to join later. Towards the end of the conference, a panel discussion was held under the title “A general review on the industrial sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, which was moderated by Saudi Made program Director Faisal Al-Maghlooth and saw the participation of executives from Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and Saudi Industrial Development Fund. The opening of the exhibition witnessed the signing of several agreements between Saudi Exports Development Authority and various institutions. The Minister of Energy and other officials also honored the sponsors of the Saudi Made exhibition. — SPA