Riyadh, September 24, 2022, SPA -- The exhibition of " Projects of Distinguished Cities during Reign of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has held a plenary session entitled " Impact of Vision 2030 Initiatives on Saudi Cities", with the participation of Minister of Tourism Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khatib; Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Eng. Abdurrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli; Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, and Minister of Transport and Logistics Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser. During the session, the Minister of Tourism discussed the implications of the Corona pandemic and the impact faced by the tourism sector in the world, which led to the loss of more than 25 million employees due to the pandemic. He added that the Ministry of Tourism has laid down strategic plans for the development of tourism in the Kingdom, asserting that the ministry worked on a comprehensive survey in the Kingdom. Al-Khatib indicated that the Tourism Development Fund is ready to finance tourism projects up to 50% of the project value, and the banks will support part of it as well, pointing out that the ministry focused on developing strategic and governance plans in order to raise the percentage of tourism in the Kingdom to 10%, which will support the national economy. He disclosed that the ministry signed an agreement to build a training center in Riyadh to qualify human resources and trained more than 50,000 male and female citizens in the tourism sector, with the aim of reaching one million jobs in the field of tourism in order to achieve the Kingdom Vision 2030. He concluded that the Kingdom aims, by 2030, to attract 100 million visitors, 50% of whom will be hosted by Riyadh. In turn, the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture confirmed that the Kingdom invests SAR 40 billion for the water sector and will invest approximately SAR 105 billion during the next 3 years in order to raise water efficiency and recycle it. Eng. Al-Fadhli said that the Kingdom Vision 2030 focuses on the environment, and that the Saudi Green Initiative has developed national parks and increased their number from 40 to 400 parks across the Kingdom, noting that the Ministry presents several initiatives aiming to sustain agriculture and help reach neutrality by 2060. For his part, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing praised the support being accorded by the leadership to the housing sector in order to increase the proportion of Saudi families’ ownership to 70% by 2030, stressing that the housing sector plays a pivotal role in achieving the Vision’s goals, citing the plans undertaken by the Ministry to upgrade the housing sector and improve the urban landscape and infrastructure. He also said that the Ministry works hard with other sectors to meet the challenges that will have a significant impact in the future, commending the assistance being provided by the authorities to each other to achieve their goals by 2030. For his part, the Minister of Transport and Logistics Services confirmed that the sector has recorded a set of successes since the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016, hailing the progress in the global road quality index, as "we were in 2016 in the 37th place globally in the road quality index, aiming to reach the 6th place by 2030, and increasing the use of public transportation in cities from 1% to 15% by 2030. He further said that the launch of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy is a historic stage and a qualitative leap in the transport sector as well as a major contribution to achieving the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, adding that it aims to consolidate the Kingdom's position as a global logistics hub linking the three continents of the world and improve the quality of life in the cities. He stated that the strategy will focus on the development of infrastructure, launching several platforms and logistics zones in the Kingdom, implementing advanced systems and strengthening effective partnerships between the government system and the private sector. --SPA 22:55 LOCAL TIME 19:55 GMT 0023 www.spa.gov.sa/w1789346