Business & Money | Thursday 12 May, 2016 3:45 am |

The new Commerce and Investment Minister Majid Al-Qassabi pledged on Tuesday to work hard and do his best to achieve the aspirations of the wise leadership in accordance with the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision.

The minister was speaking in Madinah at the Third Awards Ceremony for Excellent Government Performance in the presence of Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman.
On behalf of his ministry, Al-Qassabi received the Award for Excellent Government Performance from the governor.
The MCI branch in Madinah won the Gold Award for consumer satisfaction and the Bronze Award for serving and employing citizens with special needs.
Last year, the MCI branch in Madinah grabbed the Silver Award. This year, 136 government departments in the Madinah region participated.
The minister said: “I extend my thanks and appreciation to Prince Faisal bin Salman for his kind support to enhance competitiveness among the government departments to achieve citizens’ needs by offering high-quality services.”
Al-Qasabi thanked his predecessor, Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, for his immense contributions to the prestigious award given in recognition of the MCI’s services.
Government departments participating in this contest in Madinah were subject to special evaluation criteria set by the authority in charge of this program, where a number of workshops were held.
The participating government departments were informed earlier of the guidelines of the competition.
The Ministry of Commerce and Investment recently launched the new Corporate Law to enhance the value of companies and to promote their trade activities to contribute to the development of the national economy.
The new law, which came into force in early May, one of the most prominent economic regulations for sustainable development, is issued by the state to provide an economic environment to be as incubator and a source of incentives for initiatives and investment.
The new law aims to enhance company value and to develop activities and contributions for serving the national economy. It also contributes in reducing procedure costs and encouraging business activity initiatives so as to promote the Kingdom’s leading position and its competitive advantages, and encourage more investments from entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprises.
The new system provides the appropriate legal framework for the practice of fair and sound corporate governance principles, institutional concepts, and supports the growth and continuity of economic entities, besides improving the institutional performance and the integrity of business transactions through the application of sound and fair standards of transparency and disclosure.
The new system will give a greater role to the shareholders’ associations and boards of directors in shaping corporate strategies and their companies’ responsibilities and activities.
MCI jurisdiction includes all companies except joint stock companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange, where the supervision and control of such companies would be under the jurisdiction of the Capital Market Authority.