RIYADH, 6 August — The Kingdom, which holds a major conference of Saudi exporters in the Dutch port city Rotterdam on Sept. 17, is seeking strategic business partnerships with European countries in a new bid to broaden its export base.
This will be the first exporters’ forum of its kind in a foreign country to be organized by the Saudi Export Development Company (SEDC). “The move to hold this forum is significant as it will help to cut the Kingdom’s dependence on oil revenues and boost non-oil exports”, said Dr. Abdulrahman A. Al-Zamil, SEDC chairman, in a statement here yesterday.
This event, Dr. Al-Zamil said, will help to win more markets for a range of Saudi products, especially in European Union countries whose imports from the Kingdom mainly comprise oil and petrochemicals.
On the trade front, the Kingdom has emerged as the 13th largest exporting nation in the world. It also occupies the 25th position in the list of importing countries. But this ranking is based on the Kingdom’s overall exports including oil. The value of non-oil exports totaled only SR25 billion last year compared to SR3.2 billion in 1982. Saudi products were exported to 155 countries. The Kingdom boasts more than 503,000 licensed business entities including 3,500 factories today.
Referring to the forthcoming forum of Saudi exporters Michal V. Pistecky, chief of the commercial department at the Netherlands Embassy, said here today that “his country has the potential to serve as an effective distribution center for Saudi products. Rotterdam Port, whose current capacity exceeds 300 million tons annually, is the largest port in the world. It handles 35 percent of all seagoing goods loaded and unloaded in the EU”.
The Netherlands, he said, can also serve as a strategic location for re-exporting world-class Saudi goods to different countries. Every year, more than 400 million tons of goods arrive in the Netherlands, which has become a hub of international business, said the outgoing diplomat. Pistecky, who holds a Masters degree in business administration from a prestigious French university, has already had his four-year diplomatic stint in the Kingdom.
In his interview, the diplomat, also spoke about the progressively growing trade between Riyadh and The Hague, the willingness on the part of the six-nation GCC and EU to endorse the long-awaited free trade agreement and the possibility of immediate accession of Saudi Arabia to World Trade Organization (WTO).
He said that Holland’s imports from the Kingdom exceeded 2.2 billion euros last year, whereas its exports totaled 860 million euros. About the forum of Saudi exporters, he said the event will provide an opportunity to educate Saudi businessmen on how to export their products to other parts of the world through Rotterdam port.
On the other hand, European businessmen will find an opportunity during the forum to explore possibilities of joint ventures and of financing their ventures and deals by the Kingdom-based financial agencies, which will have their representations at the forum.
Pistecky said that a number of officials besides a huge contingent of businessmen from the Kingdom and Europe will attend the event.
To this end, Dr. Al-Zamil noted that the event also seeks to generate awareness about incentives given by the Saudi government to foreign companies.
A seminar on Saudi exports and an exhibition of Saudi products will also be held on the sidelines of the forum. The Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) is the official sponsor of the three-day event besides being a participant.
Saudi government agencies like Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) will also be represented at the forum. A number of major national companies like NAFA Enterprises Ltd, Al-Zamil for Industrial Investment, Saudi Cement Company, Halawani Bros, Al-Sunbullah Food Industry will also participate.
