RIYADH, 28 April — British Ambassador Sir Derek Plumbly has said that the Saudi-British Offset Committee would meet in the next few weeks to discuss a number of investment proposals under the Al-Yamamah Offset Program. There are over a 100 Saudi British joint ventures in the Kingdom, of which the latest is the Saudi British Electronic Training Institute, a high-value project, which has already started operating in Riyadh.
According to embassy sources, seven projects with a cumulative value of $1.6 billion have been taken up under the Al-Yamamah Offset Program. Overall, the value of British investments is $3.5 billion, which is expected to go up further with new projects under consideration.
“Investment is a strong priority for UK, which is the second largest foreign investor in the Kingdom after the US,” Plumbly said. In the oil and gas sector two major British oil companies are keen on investing in the gas sector under the Kingdom’s gas initiative. “The British government is supportive of these companies’ interests,” he observed.
Asked about the bilateral trade, he said British exports to the Kingdom declined to $2.3 billion last year following the Saudi ban on dairy exports in the wake of the mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases. “They have badly affected our dairy exports,” he said. The ambassador said Saudi non-oil export, mainly petrochemicals, stood at $1.5 billion last year, registering a 20.5 percent growth over 1999.
A number of agreements have been signed between British and Saudi universities as part of an academic exchange program, the ambassador said.
adding that it was the result of a memorandum of understanding signed with the British universities by Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari during a visit to London last month.
He said the cooperation agreement involves the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), as well as Manchester, Edinburgh and St. Andrews universities. A total of 1,700 Saudi students are pursuing studies in the UK, of whom 80 percent higher education.
Answering a question on the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in his country, Plumbly said: “We have not noticed any decline in the number of Saudi tourists to Britain. The country is open to business, although there are some restrictions. There were 100,000 visitors from the Kingdom last year and we hope it will be the same this year as well.”
According to Ian Wilson, consul at the British Embassy, the number of visas issued in the first quarter of this year stood at 2,500, down from 3,200 during the same period last year. He, however, clarified that the decline does not necessarily imply a slowdown in the tourist traffic from Saudi Arabia, since the figure also includes a large number of multiple visas issued by the embassy.
