LONDON, 2 December 2003 — Prince Abdullah ibn Faisal, the chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), has said that the Kingdom is one of the most stable countries in the world despite recent terrorist attacks.

Addressing an investment conference here yesterday, the SAGIA chief indicated that the investment market in the Kingdom should open up faster and more comprehensively.

“There is no discrimination between foreign and domestic investors because openness is the cornerstone of investment and provides the best climate for investors,” he said.

In his keynote speech, Prince Abdullah expressed optimism that investment opportunities in the Kingdom would expand and develop.

The prince outlined SAGIA’s achievements since its creation three years ago, saying that more and more sectors of the Saudi economy were opening up to foreign investment.

The conference — “Investing in Saudi Arabia: Delivering Insights into Future Investment Opportunities in the Kingdom” — was organized by the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED).

Michael O’Brien, the British foreign office minister for trade and investment, said his country’s exports to Saudi Arabia rose by 26 percent this year despite the difficult circumstances in the region during and after the war on Iraq. He also pledged London’s support for Riyadh’s speedy accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

O’Brien told British and Saudi businessmen, bankers and investors that Britain is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner. “The UK delivers more goods annually to Saudi Arabia than its combined exports to India and Russia,” he added.

He emphasized that both Saudi Arabia and Britain are determined to continue the fight against international terrorism. This would not hamper British investment in Saudi Arabia, he said.

The minister had praise for the wide-ranging radical economic and political reforms currently under way in the Kingdom. “We expect that Saudi Arabia will join the World Trade Organization soon,” he said.

There are 150 joint ventures between the two countries, and some 30,000 Britons work in Saudi Arabia.

Among other speakers at yesterday’s session was the special adviser to the chairman of HSBC banking group Sir David Gore-Booth, who affirmed the importance of the Saudi Arabian market and banking sectors. HSBC owns 40 percent of the Saudi-British Bank.

Other sessions during the first day of the conference investigated the impact of Saudi Arabia’s accession to the WTO on trade and investment in the Kingdom, opportunities in the oil and gas sectors in the Kingdom, and the implications of the new Saudi capital market law.

In his address, Edmond O’Sullivan, editorial director of MEED, described Saudi Arabia as “the largest and strongest” economy in the Middle East.