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The World Trade Center Association (WTCA) has been a landmark in the world of business and trade services. It provides, through the global network of the World Trade Center (WTC), an international system of public relations and integrated trade services. In this context, Mr. Hasan Al-Kojok, who took over as CEO of WTC Riyadh, five years ago, and was recently appointed a Board Member of WTC Beirut, speaks about the role played by WTCA.

Streamlining New Businesses
Al-Kojok, to begin with, refers to his extensive experience in financing investment projects in Saudi Arabia for more than 10 years, which has earned him a wide range of relations with public and private stakeholders in the Kingdom. He has benefited from his public relations network and has employed the same to serve and make his mission at WTC Riyadh a success, especially as the work environment is focused on services.
WTC Riyadh is part of WTCA, a community that is located in 92 countries across the globe. WTCA has more than 350 branches across countries, and play a key role in facilitating business between countries and companies in these countries, he points out.
"The local expertise of WTC branches is therefore helping to move toward international companies wishing to enter the domestic market in any country, especially new companies that are coming to invest and that do not have local partners. In this regard, WTC Riyadh, plays a major role in facilitating these companies' business. It broadens their horizons to get their needs and business requirements by employing the extensive network of relationships owned by WTC in the service of these companies in respect of services provided to customers, which Al-Kojok includes in his work to attract external customers to any country, and to provide the right environment for them to initiate their business and get off to a good start", he adds.

A More Mature Business Idea
"Over the past 40 years, WTC has become an invaluable milestone or point of reference in the countries where it is located for companies, which are looking for WTC by name because they believe it can secure all their requirements. In Saudi Arabia, we earned our name when I assumed the duties of CEO of WTC Riyadh five years ago", Al-Kojok points out.
He also brings to the fore that "the basis of WTC Riyadh’s work, was to provide real estate service, by securing equipped and virtual offices for the new-coming companies and providing related services, but the mechanism of action was developed to make the business idea more mature. The role of WTC Riyadh became based on the idea of securing an office platform for companies and individuals. Now, we offer through a group of partners all the services our customers need in the legal, investment and financial sectors. We put all the business requirements in their hands and save them time and effort by procuring a range of relationships and services that will enable them to complete their work with a high standard of experience. This represents a qualitative shift in the operations of WTC Riyadh, moving from real estate services to securing all business and investment requirements."

Attracting Customers and Encouraging Investments
Al-Kojok draws attention to an important point in terms of securing services to clients and customers at a lower cost and without any commission to WTC. This is considered a new added value to the vision and work progress of WTC Riyadh that attracts customers and encourage investments to the country.
He points out that at the domestic level; they have put WTC Riyadh on the right track by reinforcing its relations with ministries and different investment entities. This is reflected at the present-day amidst the Coronavirus crisis, where all the decisions that were taken did not constitute a burden for us because the work environment we provide takes into account the different possibilities that we can face, as we have reached a high level of maturity in the work environment to adapt to the various developments.
Al-Kojok touches upon the work mechanism of WTC Riyadh which aspires to open offices in Jeddah and Al-Khobar. He refers to the series of measures taken in the kingdom, which led to the increase of the number of companies coming to invest in Saudi Arabia. “Our role in striving to create a friendlier business environment for our customers is therefore important”, he notes.

Securing Investment Climates
Drawing on the experience of working at WTC Riyadh, Al-Kojok considers that “remote or virtual businesses” will be the headline of the next stage, especially after the crisis of Coronavirus, where companies proved their ability to work remotely, saving both effort and money.
We aspire to reach out to government bodies to help start-ups and provide them with an appropriate working environment, by securing space and international relations, and to help the said present their plans globally to attract investors. We are, therefore, seeking to provide these services in Lebanon to help anyone who wants to invest, improve and foster the country's economy. This is part of our aspirations to aid the Lebanese State, by directly providing resources in various areas and at various levels, and within a broad network of relationships that provides a range of options."
With regard to his duties at WTC Beirut, where he was appointed as a board member, Al-Kojok points out to the importance of working and making efforts to secure the right investment climates under the current economic and financial situation by expanding the range of options to achieve real trade competition and by looking for players who provide what the state requires, especially in terms of exporting Lebanese industries abroad, providing a work environment through trade missions, and securing the best conditions through world trade centers across the world. It is noteworthy that this process is conducted in a transparent manner and without any commission to WTC.
Our presence in Beirut is important due to the ability of WTC Beirut to provide all the services the country needs in terms of international trade relations, to enhance the reality of investment and trade relations.

A New World After Covid-19
Al-Kojok stresses on the importance of promoting the concept of virtual offices in cooperation with government bodies in order to improve the environment and working conditions for companies that are coming to invest, which reinforce the concept of commercial cooperation between customers and the state, hence the importance of removing barriers to opening up businesses and investments, facilitating management concept and reducing administrative red tape and obstacles to the development of the business and investment environment.
Al-Kojok points out that after Covid-19 we will be facing a new world that is not based on what was previously adopted. Companies will rush to get virtual furnished offices which will help reduce costs. The difference now, however, is social distancing. The world, will adopt eventually the virtual concept as a result of Covid-19; and given the economic crisis, the greed of the material world is on its way to extinction.

Ghazi Abunahl.. A Key Role In The Success of WTCA
Al-Kojok also refers to the role of the World Trade Centers based on Mr. Abunahl vision, pointing out to the extensive experience he has gained through his work with Mr. Ghazi Abunahl, who believed and continues to believe in emerging generations in the Arab world, away from the scourges of corruption, sectarianism and confessionalism. Al-Kojok underlines the importance of dealing with credibility and transparency. He notes that the Development and Organizational Plan at the WTC Board level by Mr. Abunahl was accompanied by confidence-building among Trade Centers members. For this purpose, he has established WTC Holdings Ltd, a Cyprus-based company with 18 centers around the world, with the aim to implement its vision that is designed to enable cooperating companies to be more successful in their markets.
With his vast experience, Mr. Ghazi Abunahl has been able to provide substantial support to WTCA. He has also contributed to the Association's advancement, the expansion of its network, and the increase of its affiliates with his futuristic vision and plans.