National Competitiveness Center Organize Workshop

The National Competitiveness Center held a workshop entitled Challenges of the private sector on starting, practicing, and closing commercial establishments, with the participation of about 120 business owners from the private sector, and the presence of 10 government agencies.

At the beginning of the workshop, the Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Competitiveness Center, Dr. Majid bin Al-Qasabi confirmed that the Kingdom is experiencing an unprecedented rapid transformation, through which it aspires to be among the advanced countries in the field of global competitiveness.

“We meet today in this workshop and our goal is to reach solutions to the challenges and obstacles facing the business sector,” he said, noting that constructive criticism is what leads government agencies to play their role, calling for concerted efforts between the public and private sectors to reach a stimulating business environment.

Participation of representatives of several government agencies concerned with challenges in the workshop comes within the framework of the determination to find effective solutions to all challenges facing the business sector, in the Kingdom in integration with government agencies, welcoming ideas or visions that contribute to solving them, the minister concluded.

For her part, the Deputy Minister of Commerce and CEO of the National Competitiveness Center Dr. Iman Al-Mutairi said: the views and suggestions will be of interest to the center, which aims to develop and improve the competitive environment, in the Kingdom, in addition to working continuously to enhance communication with the business sector through direct meetings. In addition to interacting with the developments and changes in the business environment, to solve the challenges and obstacles facing the sector and raise the competitiveness of the Kingdom globally.

The workshop discussed 50 challenges and solutions related to the procedures for starting, practicing and closing commercial establishments, inspection and control procedures, violations and fines, and proposed solutions to address the overlapping violations tracking among various government agencies, in addition to the clarity of the procedures for objecting to violations and the response of government agencies.

Business owners suggested that a list of violations and fines for each sector be specified on issuing the commercial register, in addition to the gradation of violations from verbal alerts to the application of fines incrementally, on violation repetition.

A standardized form of procedures shall be developed for it, in addition to the proportionality of the fine with the size of the facility and easing of fines for establishments operating in less developed regions, and the reconsideration of the fees for some certificates, especially those related to Saudization.