RIYADH: Investment leaders worldwide attended the fourth edition of the Saudi Housing Finance Conference in Riyadh on Wednesday, inaugurated by the minister of municipal and rural affairs and housing. During his keynote speech, Majid Al-Hogail emphasized the significant progress made by the housing and banking industries as part of the Kingdom’s initiative to diversify the economy away from oil. Over 500 people from numerous countries participated in the event to support Saudi Arabia in achieving Vision 2030’s housing goals of increasing private sector investment to reach 70 percent homeownership by the end of the decade. “The housing market plays an important role in the growth and development of the Kingdom, indicating that the achievements made over the past few years are due to the contributions of the housing sector and its role in the economy,” he said. Al-Hogail also stressed the need for innovative solutions to address the sector’s pressing issues and safeguard the industry’s future. He noted that the Saudi Housing and Real Estate Finance Conference offers a forum for meaningful communication and idea exchange that will set the Saudi housing market apart for years to come. Attending the event were bankers, policy officials, financial regulators, senior industry leaders and experts in the financial sector at a local and global level. Hosted by Euromoney Conferences, the forum took place under the theme “Meeting the challenges of scale” and provided a platform for leading figures in finance to network and exchange ideas on building sustainable growth in the housing market. Experts discussed topics on risk management, lessons learned from international markets and the importance of financial and capital markets. In addition, the event addressed the new regulatory landscape, giga-projects, liquidity, higher interest rates and educating the investor base.