LOC20:32
17:32 GMT
RIYADH, March 26 (KUNA) -- The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries want to increase industrial sector's contributions to overall GDP to 25 percent by the year 2020, against the current 10 percent, a GCC official said Sunday.
Abdulraheem Naqi, Secretary General of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the GCC countries, said the Arab Gulf states sought to boost the industrial sector through diversification of income coupled with a greater role of the private sector.
He was speaking to reporters in the Saudi eastern city of Dammam over the GCC Industrial Forum, which would be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on April 5.
Naqi anticipated industrial investment to be around USD one trillion by 2020, up from current USD 323 billion.
He said the Forum would touch upon diversification of income and exports, challenges facing industrial sector, small and medium-size industries and the industrial map of the six GCC countries.
The GCC is made up of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman. (end)
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