JEDDAH, 7 January 2005 — Minister of Trade and Industry Dr. Hashim Yamani identified six obstacles he said were impeding Saudi exports, preventing many of the goods manufactured in the Kingdom from reaching foreign markets.

These range from the absence of a specialized body for export development and poor marketing and promotion operations to lack of statistics and information on outside markets and the inability of Saudi producers to benefit from finance credits and loans provided by local as well as international institutions.

The minister called for a fully operational and efficient body for the development of Saudi exports that lacks neither by human resources nor financial backing.

Addressing a forum of Saudi exporters held in Riyadh over the past two days, Dr. Yamani said his ministry would provide the necessary facilities to enable the private sector to boost exports.

The Kingdom’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) would be an important step in the quest for securing international markets for Saudi products.

Another important element in this direction is the coming into effect last week of the Arab free trade zone that saw customs tariffs removed from goods moving from one Arab country to another.

Dr. Yamani said the Kingdom could benefit from the free trade zone by targeting selective markets with select Saudi products that would be most likely acceptable in those markets.

Saudi exports to Arab markets totaled SR38 billion in 2003, accounting for 11 percent of overall exports. Non-oil exports to Arab countries were SR18 billion. Almost three quarters of Saudi exports to Arab counties, or 73 percent, are reported with Gulf Cooperation Council states.

Non-oil exports account for a mere 12 percent of overall Saudi exports which are dominated by crude oil. In 2003 the value of non-oil exports totaled SR41.1 billion, with an increase of SR8.1 billion over the previous year.

The figure in 2004 is expected to increase by 24 percent to total SR51 billion. Petrochemicals account for 56 percent of non-oil products, followed by minerals, 8.9 percent, food products, 7 percent, and reported goods, 12 percent.

Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil, chairman of the Saudi Export Development Center, called for including refined petroleum products in addition to gas, phosphate, cement, marble, granite and other in the list of non-oil exports stating this would boost these exports.

If the above products were included in the list the volume of non-oil exports in 2003 would have jumped to SR85 billion, he said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia threatened tough measures against Kuwaiti exporters, accusing its Gulf neighbor of deliberately delaying the entry into Kuwait of Saudi products.

Saad Al-Barak, director general of Saudi Customs, said the Kingdom has for years been asking Kuwait to build a crossing point on its side of the border to facilitate clearance and entry of Saudi exports but the Kuwaitis continued to stall, giving unconvincing excuses.

Al-Barak told the exporters’ forum, the first to be held in the Kingdom, that the Kingdom is mulling a number of actions including according Kuwaiti exports similar treatment.

A meeting held over the past days between Saudi and Kuwaiti businessmen at Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry ended without agreement on allowing Saudi products entering Iraq through Kuwait.

A Kuwaiti trade delegation headed by Ali Al-Ghanim, chairman of the Kuwaiti Chamber of Commerce, visited Riyadh to discuss the matter.

The two sides agreed to hold a second meeting next week to be attended by representatives of the two countries’ chambers of commerce and Saudi custom officials to settle the pending problems.

The Saudis side also wanted Kuwait to reduce the fees paid by Saudi trucks entering Kuwait from SR415 to SR190 as charged by the Kingdom.