The announcement was made during a two-day conference organized in Riyadh by the IMF and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance on 24-25 April.

The conference witnessed the launch of operations of the IMF regional office in Riyadh.

The new office will scale up capacity building, regional surveillance, and outreach to promote stability, growth, and regional integration.

It will also strengthen the IMF’s engagement with regional institutions, governments, and other stakeholders.

The IMF is grateful for KSA’s financial contribution to boost the capacity development of IMF members — including fragile states.

The regional office’s first director will be the Senegalese Abdoul Aziz Wane, a seasoned IMF leader with deep knowledge of the institution and a vast network of policymakers and academics worldwide.

The conference aims to review industrial policy’s key principles and draw lessons from its successes and setbacks in other regions, including Asian miracles.

This theme is important for the region’s oil-rich economies, as they embark on ambitious reforms to diversify their economies by reorienting resources toward tradable activities and providing good-paying jobs for citizens.

Moreover, the conference brings together regional and international policymakers and leading economists on industrial policy.

Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Fadhil Alibrahim opened the conference.

Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department Jihad Azour will close it with a roundtable discussion between policymakers from the Gulf Cooperation Council region.