Princess Haifa urges Saudi youth to embrace technology and innovation at Misk Forum

Princess Haifa bint Mohammed Al-Saud speaking at the Misk Global Forum. SPA
Short Url
Updated 19 November 2024
Follow

Princess Haifa urges Saudi youth to embrace technology and innovation at Misk Forum

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has created an environment that empowers its young generation to realize their ambitions through the Vision 2030 program, according to the Kingdom’s vice minister of tourism. 

Speaking at the Misk Global Forum in Riyadh, Princess Haifa bint Mohammed Al-Saud, urged the Saudi youth to master new technologies and rely on credible sources of information.  

She emphasized the importance of staying well-informed and stressed that success requires patience and perseverance, the Saudi Press Agency reported. 

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative is one of the most ambitious plans to transform the Kingdom and prepare it for the future. One of the key goals outlined in the program is empowering the youth by providing them with job opportunities and access to technology. 

“Nothing is impossible in Saudi Arabia. We are fortunate that Saudi Arabia has proven that progress and development are achievable,” said Princess Haifa. 

She added that the Kingdom’s transformative journey is unprecedented, both regionally and internationally.  

Saudi Arabia’s job creation efforts are showing positive results, with the latest report from the General Authority for Statistics revealing that the unemployment rate among Saudi nationals has fallen to 7.1 percent.  

This marks a 0.5 percentage point decrease from the previous quarter and a 1.4 percentage point drop compared to the same period last year. 

The report also highlighted a significant improvement in the unemployment rate among Saudi women, which saw a sharp quarterly decline of 1.4 percentage points, reaching 12.8 percent by the end of the second quarter. 

The eighth edition of the Misk Global Forum, held under the theme “By Youth for Youth,” began in Riyadh on Nov. 18. The two-day event brought together young leaders from the Kingdom and around the world, creating a platform for dialogue and collaboration. 

The Misk Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in 2011 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, plays a key role in fostering the young generation in Saudi Arabia by developing an environment conducive to creativity and innovation through initiatives such as Misk City, Misk Art Institute, Manga Productions, the Science Center, and Misk Schools. 

In September, Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb announced that the Kingdom is allocating substantial funds to boost the tourism industry and create jobs, especially for young people and women. 

In August, a report by professional services firm PwC revealed that countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, are undergoing rapid transformation, driven by a growing youth population eager to embrace change and innovation. 

The report also highlighted that the young generation in Saudi Arabia is increasingly aware of sustainable development goals and noted that organizations like the Misk Foundation are supporting the youth through a wide range of initiatives across sectors including education, innovation, arts, and culture. 


Saudi minister at Davos urges collaboration on minerals

Global collaboration on minerals essential to ease geopolitical tensions and secure supply, WEF hears. (Supplied)
Updated 20 January 2026
Follow

Saudi minister at Davos urges collaboration on minerals

  • The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals

LONDON: Countries need to collaborate on mining and resources to help avoid geopolitical tensions, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.

“The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals, the concentration in different areas of the world,” Bandar Alkhorayef told a panel discussion on the geopolitics of materials.

“The rational thing to do is to collaborate, and that’s what we are doing,” he added. “We are creating a platform of collaboration in Saudi Arabia.”

Bandar Alkhorayef, Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources 

The Kingdom last week hosted the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. Alkhorayef said the platform was launched by the government in 2022 as a contribution to the global community. “It’s very important to have a global movement, and that’s why we launched the Future Minerals Forum,” he said. “It is the most important platform of global mining leaders.”

The Kingdom has made mining one of the key pillars of its economy, rapidly expanding the sector under the Vision 2030 reform program with an eye on diversification. Saudi Arabia has an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral wealth and the ramping up of extraction comes at a time of intense global competition for resources to drive technological development in areas like AI and renewables.

“We realized that unlocking the value that we have in our natural resources, of the different minerals that we have, will definitely help our economy to grow to diversify,” Alkhorayef said. The Kingdom has worked to reduce the timelines required to set up mines while also protecting local communities, he added. Obtaining mining permits in Saudi Arabia has been reduced to just 30 to 90 days compared to the many years required in other countries, Alkhorayef said.

“We learned very, very early that permitting is a bottleneck in the system,” he added. “We all know, and we have to be very, very frank about this, that mining doesn’t have a good reputation globally.

“We are trying to change this and cutting down the licensing process doesn’t only solve it. You need also to show the communities the impact of the mining on their lives.”

Saudi Arabia’s new mining investment laws have placed great emphasis on the development of society and local communities, along with protecting the environment and incorporating new technologies, Alkhorayef said. “We want to build the future mines; we don’t want to build old mines.”