Every four years, for the last 60 years, the
The meeting is being hosted and chaired by Eng Abdullah A Al-Mogbel, chairman of the IRF and mayor of Riyadh, one of the best known and most dynamic global transportation leaders of this generation. Prior to his promotion to mayor of the capital city of Riyadh, Eng Al-Mogbel served for more than three decades as deputy minister of transport for Saudi Arabia. He recently took time off his busy schedule to talk about what participants can expect from the 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition.
He explained in detail how the industry can benefit from participation at the 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition. He said, “I think this is a big chance for the industry to see up close what’s going on in the field of infrastructure not only in Riyadh but also in the whole of Saudi Arabia. What I mean by infrastructure is not only the roads and railways, but also other projects. There is the sewer and drainage system upgrade going on in major Saudi Arabian cities — Riyadh, for example, as well as Jeddah, Mecca and others. There are infrastructure projects including clusters of large buildings and commercial centers and also the development of airports.”
“One very important project in Riyadh is the King Abdullah Financial District, which will house the large community of professionals working within the financial sector and related industries. This multi-billion dollar project will also host the headquarters of the Capital Market Authority, the Stock Exchange, banks, financial institutions and other service providers such as accountants, auditors, lawyers, analysts, rating agencies, consultants, and IT providers.”
“The infrastructure industry is now booming in Saudi Arabia, and I think it will be a big chance for the global industry to be here and participate — to see up close what is going on. Of course there are a lot of industry members already coming to Saudi Arabia and building infrastructure now. But many more companies that are not here should take this opportunity to see and evaluate business and project potentials and to participate in the construction of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.”
For the IRF World Meeting, the organisers have developed an ambitious scientific program spanning across 11 technical tracks and key topics that are of particular interest to Al-Mogbel.
He said, “I think safety is very important, as well as asset management; these, as well as the financing of transport projects are major issues that people will be attracted to. As you know, financing is an issue that affects every single country, whether rich or poor, because of competing government budget priorities. Currently, while governments still support most projects, there is an ever-increasing private sector investment in the form of public-private partnerships. I think these issues will be important, and as you might have noticed in the programme, there will be a ministerial roundtable discussion with ministers from different countries. At this session, ministers of transport and of public works will all share different ideas and approaches to solving challenges and issues that are very important for them; among these is the financial support for infrastructure.”
Al-Mogbel explained how Saudi Arabian academics and researchers will also contribute. He said, “They will be invited and encouraged to submit papers, to participate in the discussion, to chair some of the sessions, and to also participate in reviewing some of the papers that will submitted for this congress. Encouraging them is vital to us. The country needs them and it’s very important that we ensure Saudi professionals, scholars and private sector members are fully involved in a big event like this.”
