‘Embrace changes’ brought by Fourth Industrial Revolution, AI

Trade ministers of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, during their participation in the third day of the 18th Conference of Arab Businessmen and Investors, unanimously agreed on the necessity of the region’s economies to adapt quickly to the changes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and catch up with Artificial Intelligence. Enhancing private sector leadership and consolidating the values of innovation and creativity among Arab youth will be the key to success, they observed.

Speaking at a panel discussion, Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Zayed Al Zayani said: “We are facing a radical shift in the economic structure, and we have no choice to compare, measure and evaluate.” “We have gone through several stages in the Kingdom, starting with the oil revolution in the first half of the twentieth century, and through the banking revolution in the 1970s, Islamic banking in the 1980s, and the information and communications technology revolution in the early 2000s,” he said.

“The education system is the basis for preparing a new generation and cultivating the importance of creativity and innovation since the early stages. In Bahrain, the age of employees in the Commercial Register has been reduced to 18 years, so we must lay the foundations in education based on boldness in investment, risk and entrepreneurship.” He stressed that the private sector should take the initiative of leadership, and must be the main catalyst and motivation for innovation and entrepreneurship and the initiative must always be in the forefront and stimulate creativity among the Arab youth.

He pointed out that “the world has become open and can compete with any nationality anywhere around the world, and it is time for the private sector as traders and entrepreneurs to motivate and prepare itself to compete with any nationality in any country and become qualified on the basis of competence and not nationality”. Mr Al Zayani reviewed Bahrain’s new experience in establishing the Bahrain Export Centre to stimulate Bahraini institutions to export their products, which in its first year benefited 30 Bahraini companies that were able to export to 25 markets around the world with exports exceeding $15 million.

For his part, the Saudi Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Majid Al Qasabi, called for enhancing the skills of the future and encouraging technology and creativity and institutionalising the culture of digital transformation to match the requirements, challenges and fears of the fourth industrial revolution in the Arab region and the Middle East region, with the importance of finding a compass to move towards artificial intelligence with competence and efficiency.  

He pointed out that Saudi Arabia has made great strides towards digital transformation, especially since last year’s figures indicate that electronic shopping rose by 49 per cent in the Kingdom, as e-commerce reached 80 billion riyals, including 30 billion riyals from companies to consumers, and the number of Electronic shoppers in Saudi Arabia to 14 million e-shoppers, the average electronic transaction per Saudi buyer 590 riyals, and there are in the Kingdom 34 thousand online stores.

Echoing a similar view, Kuwaiti Minister of Trade and Industry Khalid Al Roudhan said that the Gulf states have made remarkable progress in the economic agenda and recorded quantum leaps, pointing out that the Gulf people are open and know how to harness technology to create a commercial field.

“The amendment of the legislative structure is one of the challenges facing digital transformation, and opportunities must be exploited in the face of the challenges before us to fight in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution.”