JEDDAH, 2 May — Mining, road construction and information and communications technology have been identified as areas for potential Australian investments, according to Richard Alston, the country’s minister for communications, IT and the arts.
“The Kingdom is rapidly growing in many sectors. However, considerable opportunities exist in ICT,” the minister said after discussions he and his six-member delegation had in Riyadh and Jeddah during a two-day visit which ended yesterday.
“IT, especially e-commerce, opens up vast scope for involvement in offering solutions which are being targeted by some of the visiting companies,” the minister said. “The Australian government is keenly interested in exploring avenues for investment in the Kingdom. So this mission’s primary task is to identify the potential areas and opportunities for partnerships with Australian business,” he added.
The Australian mission had a meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry during the daylong visit to the city. Those interacting with the delegation were top JCCI officials led by Chairman Ismail A. Abudawood.
Alston said the Kingdom was his country’s largest business partner in the Gulf, with trade volume reaching three billion Australian dollars last year.
“While the automotive sector dominates our export portfolio, there’s great potential to participate in the expansion of the Kingdom’s services sector, and I look forward to the development of greater business links and cooperation between the two countries in the ICT field,” he added.
Australia is one of the most sophisticated and innovative information economies in the world and is consistently ranked in the top 10 nations for its ICT and e-commerce environments.
“Whether it’s advanced communications networks, ‘smart card’ solutions, excellence in photonics, online education or breakthrough Internet technology, Australia is increasingly at the cutting edge of innovation and research,” the minister said and invited Saudi businessmen to explore opportunities to develop business relationships with Australian ICT companies.
Earlier, Roger Bayliss at the Australian Trade Commission based in Dubai said the Kingdom’s growing health care sector was also being looked into as a potential business area.
Damian Fisher, commercial counselor at the Australian Embassy in Riyadh, said his country also had interests in testing and upgrading professional and vocational skills in the Kingdom. “A month ago, an Australian group visited Riyadh in this connection and found the prospects good,” he added.
The mission, which was here as part of a Middle East tour, had high level meetings with different agencies including the Ministry of PTT and Saudi Telecom Company.
