On April 12, 2023, H.E. Mr. Berik Aryn, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Saudi Arabia met with Mrs. Lubna Olayan, the Chair of Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB) and CEO of Olayan Financing Company, DKNews.kz reports.
During the meeting, Ambassador Berik Aryn handed over to Chair of SAB an invitation letter of H.E. Mr. Alikhan Smailov, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to take part in the Astana International Forum, which will be held on June 8-9, 2023.
The parties also discussed issues of establishing bilateral cooperation in the field of finance and investment. In this context, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan informed about the activities of the Astana International Financial Center and invited SAB Bank and Olayan Financing to use the AIFC platform as a regional center for business and finance.
Mrs. Lubna Olayan expressed great interest in the political and socio-economic development of Kazakhstan, the main sectors of the economy, the culture and traditions of the people, as well as the role and place of Kazakhstan in the Central Asian region and the international community as a whole.
In this regard, the Kazakh diplomat brifed on the economic and foreign policy achievements of Kazakhstan over the years of independence, and introduced the current transformations in Kazakhstan as part of the initiatives and reforms of the Head of State to create a "New Kazakhstan". In particular, the Ambassador noted that the recent parliamentary elections and the formation of a new Government of Kazakhstan have become the final stage of a complete reset of key state institutions, following which Kazakhstan has entered a new stage in its development.
Lubna Olayan is a prominent Saudi businesswoman and philanthropist. In 2019, she became the first woman in Saudi Arabia to head the Saudi British Bank, and the first woman to deliver an opening keynote address at a major conference at the Jeddah Economic Forum in 2004. Lubna Olayan has featured in the Forbes list of most powerful women in the Middle East.
