JEDDAH, 29 March 2004 — A Saudi business delegation made up of 35 companies is to visit Germany in May, according to Omar Hamza, an officer with the German Foreign Trade organization.
The delegation is headed by CSCCI President Abdul Rahman Al-Jeraisy and Manfred Rothgaenger of German Foreign Trade.
The trip takes delegates first to Hanover, where they will visit the local chamber of commerce, and then to Berlin.
There they will attend the German-Arab Forum, where SAGIA will conduct a workshop on investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia.
The delegation will also visit Wolfsburg and look at the Volkswagen works headquartered there.
The German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs (GESALO) organized the trip in cooperation with the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Hamza said during a breakfast meeting with Jeddah Chamber of Commerce officials and businessmen.
Hamza said a German business delegation representing more than 25 big companies will be in the Kingdom in the first week of May, visiting Riyadh and the Eastern Province.
Peter Martens of German Foreign Trade said the purpose of the breakfast meeting was to bring Saudi and German businessmen together to exchange ideas and would now be held two or three times a year.
“The Arab world, especially Saudi Arabia, is a region where we face higher economic growth potential than most other markets. Germany believes in participating in economic growth by strategic partnerships,” he added.
He said last year, between January and October, the Kingdom’s exports to Germany registered a 14.8 percent increase over the same period in the previous year — from €6.9 billion to €7.9bn — whereas German exports to the Kingdom showed a five percent decline from €2.8bn to €2.7bn.
