RIYADH, 10 July 2003 — Saudi Arabia together with China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam has lost millions of dollars in trade and business opportunities since the Kingdom imposed a travel ban on countries hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), embassy officials and businessmen told Arab News yesterday.
The three-month ban was officially lifted only on Tuesday following a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring that the SARS outbreak has been contained worldwide.
“The travel ban led to a lot of inconvenience, particularly losses to the businesspeople of the two countries. But now Chinese businessmen and workers have started coming,” said Xu Zhiguan, first secretary at the Chinese Embassy.
Visits, trade shows and business events as well as political meetings and cultural programs were postponed due to the spread of SARS in China. Many Saudi and Gulf businessmen were unable to visit China during that period.
He said that some business agreements were also hampered or postponed because of the spread of SARS. Many of the more than 7,000 Saudi businessmen who participate in international trade fairs organized by Beijing every year are still reluctant to visit. Two-way trade was also affected because of the restrictions imposed on the movement of people in both countries.
Salem Al-Khudairy, a Saudi businessman who imports toys and children’s wear from China and Singapore said his company faced “a lot of constraints even in terms of importing goods.” This was mainly because many visits of business partners from China and Singapore were on hold for several months.
