JEDDAH, 24 February 2003 — As if to underline that business is more important than politics, a 14-member British trade mission arrived here early Saturday morning despite a travel warning the previous day from the UK Foreign Office advising against all non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia.
The group, led by former British Consul-General in Jeddah Lawrie Walker, includes both first-timers hoping to break into the Saudi market and others who have been exporting to the Kingdom for years.
None of the group felt any special apprehension about coming at this point in time, the growing regional tension and last week’s murder of a Briton in Riyadh notwithstanding.
“We don’t feel any threat here,” one of the mission members told Arab News. “We were told before we came that people are getting on with their lives as normal, and as far as I can see that’s true.”
“It’s business as usual,” said Alan Saunders, of Fitzgerald Lighting, which is currently on the lookout for distributors across the Kingdom.
Other companies on the week-long mission also feel that business can go on despite the wider political crisis.
“I wouldn’t be here if I thought that this was a waste of time,” said Adam Daniels of Lismore Instruments. “In the two days since arriving I’ve been proved right in coming. People are very much focused on business.”
According to mission leader Lawrie Walker, the visit — coming at this time — is proof of British companies’ commitment to the Saudi market.
“It shows that we’re not just fair-weather friends of Saudi Arabia. Even in the present difficult times, British companies are determined to strengthen the relationship.”
Saudi-British trade, both goods and services, is worth $7.5 billion a year. Some 7.5 percent of Saudi imports come from the UK, making it the Kingdom’s fourth largest supplier of goods.
