Tourism & Hospitality | Saturday 20 June, 2015 5:59 am |

The handicrafts sector is not only a promising economic project but also an integral part of our national identity and a treasure that should be protected by every Saudi household, said Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA).

Prince Sultan, who is also the head of the supervising committee of the National Handicraft Program (Bari), underscored the point while chairing the 6th meeting of the committee here at the National Museum recently.

At the outset of the meeting, the SCTA chief appreciated Bari’s efforts such as organizing a number of activities and events as well as achieving many goals.
He stressed on the importance of bringing about the aspirations of the state with regard to the development of the handicraft sector as it is a promising economic project and a part and parcel of the national identity.
“Handicrafts sector is a developmental project on which we greatly rely to create job opportunities and local development with the preservation of handicraft cultural elements as important components of the national identity,” he said.

“The major objective of the program is to make ‘Saudi Craft’ logo available in each and every Saudi household,” he added.
Addressing the meeting, Prince Sultan stressed on the importance of development of handicraft in line with the state’s directives in order to be a new economic sector to create various job opportunities for the Saudi youth not confined to artisans only, rather to be available for salesman and allied services.
He outlined that in the current phase of the program, “we aim to focus on quality, brand protection and marketing with the best and latest international experiences. We have already begun utilizing Turkish, Korean and Moroccan experiences in this field by entering into agreements with the handicraft organizations in those countries.”
The prince said: “The program, in coordination with the ministry of commerce and industry, as well as a number of investors and small and medium-sized enterprises under SCTA’s supervision, is on the verge of manufacturing phase through the establishment of incubator complexes for artisans to enable them to produce high-quality products in large quantities capable of marketing widely.”

Moreover, Prince Sultan instructed Bari to prepare a cooperation project between Bari and Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) and with other partners in the field of training to develop a training route that ends in employment or ends with small or medium project to be funded by Bari partners.
A presentation was made on the “comprehensive program of tourism and national heritage development” which is carried out by the SCTA in addition to reviewing a report on the partnerships of the program with a number of authorities and discussed the national record of the artisans.
A presentation was also made on the training program on pottery that was held in South Korea.