JEDDAH, 18 December 2002 — Japan, with two new joint ventures in Jeddah in printing ink and automobile air conditioner manufacturing, remains Saudi Arabia’s second largest investor country after the United States.
“New projects are in keeping with the recent improvement in the investment environment of the Kingdom and more Japanese investments here can be expected,” Japanese Consul General Hajime Tanaki told Arab News yesterday. “Our total number of investment projects is 37, including 10 industrial plants,” he added.
Speaking on the eve of his country’s national day, marking Emperor Akihoto’s birthday, the consul general said the total amount of Japanese investment in the Kingdom amounted to $2.3 billion. “The volume of bilateral trade is as large as $17.2 billion. Saudi exports to Japan amounted to $14.2 billion and Japanese exports to the Kingdom $3.1 billion in 2000,” he added.
According to him, major industrial investment projects include Eastern Petrochemical Co. (SHARQ), Saudi Methanol Co. (Ar-Razi), National Pipes Co. Ltd. (NPC), Saudi Factory for Electrical Appliances (SELECT), Saudi-Japanese Pharmaceutical Co. (SAJAPHCO), Saudi-Japanese Textile Co., Printing Ink Manufacturing Project and Denso Abdul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd., which lately went into production.
The Saudi Japanese Automobile High Institute (SJAHI), started this year, offers a two-year course at the technical college level and every year 200 Saudi students will graduate from the institute. “This project was first proposed at the time of the visit of Crown Prince Abdullah to Japan in 1998, and has now been realized as one of the most important projects of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),” Tanaki added.
He said a group of Japanese students would be visiting the Kingdom at the invitation of Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed later this month. “Their visit is sure to deepen their understanding of this part of the world,” Tanaki said. The Japanese students had taken part in a satellite videoconference linking their counterparts in the Kingdom. This was held simultaneously at King Faisal Specialist Hospitals in Jeddah and Riyadh and at the Tokyo Islamic Center in Japan.
“The conference of Saudi and Japanese students was held in the presence of Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed and president of the Saudi Science Club, and Yohei Kono, former foreign minister of Japan.
During the conference, both sides presented various aspects of their countries’ civilization, culture, heritage, education and geography,” he said, adding that Kono proposed the conference during his visit to the Kingdom last year.
Tanaki said a chartered nonstop flight carrying 300 Japanese tourists would arrive on Dec. 28 on a tour of the Kingdom. Since October 1996, 71 Japanese groups comprising 1,400 persons have visited the Kingdom.
