Indian mission signs agreements for four Jeddah ventures

JEDDAH, 20 April — Four new joint venture projects are to be located in Jeddah following agreements reached between Saudi businessmen and their Indian counterparts.

Three of the joint ventures are related to plastics and plastic products, and one for biological nutrients and organic food, according to Indian Consul General Syed Akbaruddin.

Mazen Muhammad Batterjee, general manager of the Batterjee group for trading, industries and medical agencies, is one of the members of a high level business and industrial mission who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the last leg of the Kingdomwide tour here organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Batterjee will set up two joint venture plants in the city — one for medical equipment including syringes and the other for plastic tanks, the consul general said, adding that details including equity participation were being formalized. “Sites for locating the two plants have also been identified,” Akbaruddin said.

He added: “This is the first time that an Indian trade mission has succeeded in signing four MoUs during one visit. Several other MoUs are in the pipeline, which will ultimately result in many more joint ventures,” the consul general added.

There was an “overwhelming” response to the mission during its two-day stay here and several proposals for joint ventures also came up for discussion, the consul general said.

The mission included Dr. Jamshed J. Irani, leader and managing director of the Tata Iron and Steel Company, and J.M. Gandhi, chairman of Mutual Mecaplast. A.C. Patankar, principal advisor of CII, also assisted the mission members in their discussions.

On arrival in Riyadh on April 14, the Saudi Chambers of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) and the CII signed an MoU to boost cooperation in human resource development, management, environment, bio-technology, and SMEs.

SMEs development is a major area of interest to Saudi Arabia. After the MoU Indian experience in the development of SMEs with particular reference to the role played by the Indian private sector will be shared by the SCCI through ancillarization. The mission’s meeting with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Wednesday was marked by a proposal to set up two coordinating committees for information technology and SMEs.