Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming this afternoon. It is a great honor
to give a speech here in Saudi Arabia, a land of long history, ancient religion, rich
culture, and vigorous modern economic growth.
For the past four days, there have been illuminating comments and suggestions on
topics such as “Who qualifies as an entrepreneur?” “How should we encourage
entrepreneurial activities” and “How does the entrepreneurship contribute to
economic growth and overcoming challenges we face today?” I have been asked to
share South Korea’s experiences with the entrepreneurship imperative in the capacity
of a former prime minister of the nation and a scholar in economics.
Saudi Arabia has been pursuing profound changes in order to strengthen its
economic growth. Economic reforms are aimed at reducing the nation’s reliance on
oil revenue. For a nation with Saudi Arabia’s population size, development strategies
must be qualitatively different from those for nations with much smaller populations.