JEDDAH, 21 October — A large British trade mission, which met with local businessmen at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry here yesterday, has proposed a plan to target third-country markets jointly by the private sectors in the two countries.
“We’re seriously considering to jointly target third countries, especially in the Middle East-Gulf region. Saudi companies are competent and resourceful, and we’ve expertise,” Lawrie Walker, the mission leader, told Arab News.
“We’re here not to compete with the Saudi private sector but to share with them our expertise so that we further expand our joint ventures and partnerships, as well as participate in projects overseas,” said Walker, a former British consul general in Jeddah. He said such joint participation by Saudi and British companies had led to projects in Malaysia and Jordan.
“The mission’s meeting with the JCCI was rewarding as it helped us to renew our commitment to participate in development activities here,” Walker said, adding that JCCI Secretary-General Dr. Majed Al-Kasabi was delighted to see a strong delegation here.
Walker, who has led seven trade missions to this part of the world since his retirement from the diplomatic service, said the current mission was eyeing the ever booming construction sector, especially buildings, roads and tunneling, mobile telecommunications, services and engineering equipment.
“We are also emphasizing on cooperation in promoting small- and medium-size enterprises because they can generate more employment than huge capital-intensive ones,” Walker added.
About joint ventures, he said: “There were at least 100 joint venture projects here during my time when I headed the consulate. They have been steadily increasing year after year.”
Walker ended his five-year term as consul general here in April 1997.
Aside from the oil and petroleum sector in which our ventures are quite strong, many new ones have taken their roots in the recent past, the sectors being sugar, pharmaceuticals and training.
Last year, British exports totaled 1.8 billion pounds, with the Kingdom’s exports, mainly oil, to that country being sizeable, he said, emphasizing that the bilateral trade had been steadily expanding.
Walker said the mission’s first-time visitors were keen on studying the Kingdom’s vast market potential and looking for agents or partners, while those who had now repeated their visit wanted to further strengthen their ties and increase their market share.
Robert Hudson, export promoter for Arabian Peninsula of Trade Partners UK, said the mission was impressed by the contribution of the vibrant private sector to the Kingdom’s restructured economy.
The mission is MEA’s second this year, said Consul General Andrew Henderson at a reception at the consulate later the evening. A large number of local businessmen and trade representatives were present. The mission proceeds to Riyadh on Monday for a three-day stay and thereafter moves to the Eastern Province for another three days.
