JEDDAH, 26 May 2005 — Saudi Television Manufacturing Company (Saudi SAT) has signed an exclusive dealership agreement with Egypt SAT Company under which 15,000 televisions manufactured by Saudi SAT will be exported to Egypt in 2005 for SR60 million. “The agreement was signed two days ago in Cairo and it is the first agreement to be implemented after the recent Arab free trade zone agreement that calls for customs exemption between Arab countries,” said Ghazi Shalhoub, chairman of the board of directors of Saudi SAT. “These will be the first Saudi appliances in the Egyptian market and the first batch will be shipped next week,” said Shalhoub to Arab News.
Saudi SAT was established seven years ago. It has a manufacturing site in Jeddah which cost some SR600 million, according to Shalhoub.
The company has already exported its products to Sudan and Syria. The Egyptian SAT ordered different a product line including many of the latest LCD television sets with flat screens which hang on walls. “Saudi Arabia is the third country to manufacture these LCD sets after Japan and Korea,” said Shalhoub. “Our products are of very high quality and our prices are 20 percent less than others in the Saudi market and much less than the cost of other brands in Egypt,” he said. There will be an addendum to the agreement with Egypt SAT to export 300,000 units of its mobile brand called Jadailo for SR750 million. Jadailo is on the production line now and will be available in the Saudi market within two months. “Our mobiles are also of the latest and best quality including the LCD screen and G3. We will be shipping the mobiles to Egypt in three months,” he said.
At the signing ceremony Laila Alfar, chairwoman of Egypt SAT board of directors, said that this agreement would bolster trade relations between the two countries and open more investment opportunities. She also said that Saudi products have gained the confidence of the Egyptian people and that they look forward to future agreements between the two.