Saudi Arabia Highlights Human Capital Investment At WEF 2026

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- Human capital is the key driver for a competitive modern economy, and economies must prioritise investment in people to remain competitive in the future.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States (US), Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud, said empowering people is central to sustainable economic growth.

“When you place the right people in the right place at the right time, absolute magic happens. The Kingdom is the place, we have the people, and the time is now,” she said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Minister, Ahmed A. Alkhateeb said the Kingdom reached its Vision 2030 target of welcoming 100 million tourists annually seven years ahead of schedule and has continued to exceed the target since 2023, alongside sustained growth in tourist spending year on year.

The Ministry of Economy and Planning also announced plans to launch the SUSTAIN Platform in beta in 2026 during a NextOn talk at Saudi House.

Developed in collaboration with WEF and Bain & Company, SUSTAIN is an artificial intelligence-enabled matchmaking and partnership platform designed to strengthen cross-sector collaboration and accelerate the delivery of sustainable development initiatives.

In addition, the Quality of Life Program Center and UN-Habitat jointly announced the outcomes of the Quality of Life Initiative, a global platform supporting a people-centred approach to urban development.

Separately, SDM announced a partnership with Weill Cornell Medicine – Cornell University under the Frontier Science for Human Health initiative, a Saudi–US space research collaboration focused on advancing innovative space and computational biology technologies for human health missions.

-- BERNAMA