New Asharqia board member wants to strengthen SMEs

(MENAFN- Arab News) Najeeb saihati a young businessman who has been appointed by the ministry of commerce and industry to asharqia chamber's board of directors said he would present a program to develop small and medium enterprises in the region.

'we want to increase the success rate of smes" he told arab new

He emphasized the need to promote smes in order to strengthen the national economy and create more jobs for saudi nationals.

Total investment in the kingdom's smes is expected to reach $70 billion by the end of 2015 with the sector contributing 35 percent of the gross domestic product.

Saihati who is president of saihati group thanked eastern province gov. prince saud bin naif and commerce and industry minister tawfiq al-rabiah for the appointment and showing confidence in his capabilities.

He said asharqia board would hold its first meeting on sunday to elect its new president and two vice presidents discuss the chamber's future programs and set up various executive committees to distribute responsibilities

He stressed the importance of synchronizing the chamber's development programs in order to achieve better results.

'i am happy to see a number of new faces on the board and over the ministry's efforts to add new blood to the body. this will definitely have a big impact on the ground" he added

Saihati said he would work hard with his colleagues at the chamber to deliver good results.

'i recognize the huge responsibility and i really want to deliver and bring positive changes to promote trade and industry in the region.

The ministry has appointed two women — manal al-hamdan and sameera al-suwaiyegh — to the new asharqia board.

Other appointed members are: mohammed al-farraj naif al-qahtani and fahd al-thunayan

The six will join the elected members: abdul rahman al-rashid faisal bubshit abdul aziz al-othman abdul hakim al-khaledi mohammed al-dossary abdul mohsen al-faraj abdul rahman al-atishan bandar al-jabiri hassan al-zahrani rasheed al-rasheed faisal al-quraishi and ghadran ghadran.