Directorship/Membership/Citation

DIRECTORSHIP/MEMBERSHIP/CITATION:
Turki Faisal Rasheed


DIRECTORSHIP

- Turki Faisal International Corporation (TFIC) Owner 1981 to present.

- Golden Grass, Inc. (GGI) Chairman 1982 to present

- Horizon Travel & Tours, Director 1989

- Al Mahara for Construction & Maintenance 1984 to 2000.

- National Agriculture Development Company (NADEC) Board member 1990.

- Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee member, 1990-1994

- Saudi Voters Center, Founder & Director 2004


MEMBERSHIP

- Coordinating Council for Election Monitoring member 2005.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

- Saudi Council of Engineers member 2004
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

- Saudi Society for Agricultural Sciences member 2004
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

- Saudi Management Association member 2004
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

- University of Arizona, Arizona, USA Alumni Association 1981


CITATION/AWARDS

- King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)
CIM prominent alumni 2006, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

- 2000 Outstanding People of the 2oth Century
International Biographical Center , Cambridge, England
For Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture Development in Saudi Arabia

- Who's Who in the World Eighteen Edition 2001.
The Marquis Who's Who Publication Board, USA

Saudis Seek to Invest in Sudan Farm Sector
Arab News
04 January 2006


A group of Saudi farmers will leave for Sudan on Jan. 31 on a four-day visit to explore the possibility of investing in that country's agricultural sector.

" We are willing to invest up to $ 100 million for setting up a joint stock company provided we own the land and not lease it. " Turki Faisal Al Rasheed, president of Golden Grass, Inc. told Arab News. Dr. Fahad Al-Sultan, secretary general of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry will be the leader of the delegation.

Asked why the Saudi farmers would like to invest in Sudan when the Saudi Government was providing incentives to then, he said the high cost of diesel oil was having an adverse impact on the agricultural production. "The price of diesel has shot up from 8 halalas to 40 halalas per liter during the last seven years," Al Rasheed said, adding that the price hike has an adverse impact on the Saudi agriculture. Also, the government is discouraging the production of water-intensive crops.

"At one time, 85 percent of our peanut production was earmark for exports. Now under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, export items are not eligible for subsidies. This has left farmers with no option but to scale down their production or quit the market," he observed.

Al-Turki blamed the Saudi negotiating team for keeping the farmers in the dark about the implications of joining the WTO. "There was no transparency on the government side as far as the farming community in concerned. If Saudi Arabia became a member of the WTO, it is not because of the negotiating team, but due to the political clout of our leadership and the initiative of King Abdullah".

With the Kingdom having formally acceded to the WTO, agricultural subsidies are to be gradually reduced by 13.3 percent over a 10 year period. The Kingdom has also pledged to reduce its overall support for agriculture under a long-term plan to minimize any adverse impact on the agricultural sector.

The tariff levels for the rest will remain unchanged for now. However, the Kingdom has agreed that it would not maintain any export subsidies on agricultural products.

The downturn on the farm front began when the government launched its program of gradual reduction of subsidies for the production of water-intensive crops like wheat, alfalfa, peanuts, etc.

Top Executive Wants Saudis to Invest in Domestic Market

Top Executive Wants Saudis to Invest in Domestic Market
Arab News
July 13, 2005.


The top executive of a Saudi agricultural firm, who lost heavily through overseas investments recently, is encouraging Saudi investors to channel their funds in the domestic market for safe returns.

Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed, Chairman, Golden Grass, Inc, which produces wheat, barley, peanuts and other crops, said he had incurred a 38 percent loss on his investment following the advice of a consultant working for a London-based bank.
During the same period, the returns on his investment in Saudi mutual funds average 50% in the post 9/11 period.

Al Rasheed said he found it necessary to warn Saudi investors against falling into what he described as "the trap laid by international investment firms" which are targeting 78,000 Saudi millionaires with lucrative offers.

According to Al-Rasheed, one of the factors on which overseas financial institutions have capitalized is the Saudi tendency to keep things under wraps when they incur a loss. He said they regard the loss of money as the loss of face.

"This suits banking institutions as they can go about making glib promises to the targeted audience without facing awkward questions.

Narrating his own case, he said when he was first approached by the representative of the London-based bank, he had been promised attractive returns on his investment. He was also told that the money be invested in a low-risk fund. However, it turned out to be a moderate-risk fund. "After a great deal of time and effort, I was able to escape from their clutches after losing 38 percent on the invested amount."

When he took up the matter with the multinational firm, the received their response which read in part: "Your account has always operated on an advisory basis. This means any decisions regarding investments or any other aspect of your account are entirely your responsibility. As such, monitoring of your account is limited as we rely on your specific instructions before we can take any action."

The Golden Grass chairman said his account with the London-based international bank was classified as moderate. "However, it did not have any minor growth of the principal; instead, it ended up after four years with losses of 38 percent of the principal fund."

Al-Rasheed said it is difficult to understand why one should pay for the advisory services rendered by financial consultants if the account holders are eventually held accountable for the loss they incur. By contrast, the bank claims the credit if the mutual fund is performing well.

Asked how the financial market was doing in the Gulf States, he said it was safe to invest there, even though the returns were not as high as in the Kingdom.

According to Habib F. Faris, Vice president, Clariden Bank, London, no investment is safe from all the financial perils that exist. Every investment is subject to one or more kinds of risk, there is now way around this "law."

Riyadh 'must pay farmers' dues quickly

Riyadh 'must pay farmers' dues quickly
Gulf News
29 April 1999
Reuters


A Saudi agriculture expert said yesterday an emergency wheat production plan announced by the kingdom's cabinet would only be effective if farmers received long-awaited back payments first.

"Saudi Arabia was producing four million tones plus or minus, but they didn't pay the farmers for a long time and this quantity went down and down, and we think that now it is below a million tonnes" said Turki Faisal Al Rasheed, president of Saudi agricultural firm Golden Grass, Inc.

Saudi Arabia has been trying to catch up on huge arrears to farmers which built up after the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.

In December last year, press reports said Saudi was to pay local wheat and barley farmers 1.4 billion riyals to cover part of their 1995-96 harvest-a payment which the government said would cover 64.4 per cent of the crop value.

Emergency plans

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Monday reported that the cabinet had instructed the agriculture ministry to prepare emergency wheat production plans to meet unexpected additional needs.

Agriculture sources said farmers had been instructed to grow enough to fulfill the kingdom's wheat needs, estimated at 1.25-1.5 million tonnes, according to government statistics, and the plan was purely for contingency reasons. He said there was currently 400,000 tonnes of wheat in storage.

But Rasheed believed the Kingdom was not producing enough to cover demand. Saudi wheat consumption is usually met by local production.