JEDDAH, 2 March 2006 — China is full of investment opportunities for Saudis and the Chinese hope for a growing volume of trade between the two countries — especially since the recent visit to China by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. A Chinese delegation from the Ministry of Commerce and the Foreign Trade Center were at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) yesterday promoting the Chinese Export Commodities Fair (CECF), or Canton Fair, a comprehensive trade fair of international importance which is considered China’s No. 1 Fair.
On April 15 to 20 and from April 25 to 29 at CECF Liuhua Complex and CECF Pazhou Complex, the 99th Chinese Export Commodities Fair will take place. The fair has been held biannually every autumn and spring. During the past 50 years, CECF has become the most renowned brand of trade fair in China attracting thousands of Chinese enterprises in various sectors including industrial products, consumer goods and home products and attracting a huge number of buyers from around the world.
Ahmed Hijazi, director of international trade department at JCCI, opened the promotion seminar by praising the economic relations between China and Saudi Arabia. According to Hijazi, commercial trade between the two countries in 2004 was around SR10.4 billion and it reached SR15.34 billion in 2005. Most of Saudi export to China is oil and in 2004 it was worth around SR28 billion and in 2005 it reached SR46 billion. The economic and commercial counsel of the Consulate General of China in Jeddah, Zhou Chunlin, said that the purpose of the seminar is to inform Saudi businessmen of the fair and encourage investment in China. “The king’s visit to China has bolstered relations between the two countries which would expand and improve trade relations to the benefit of businessmen from the two countries,” said Chunlin. Already Saudi businessmen have taken the opportunity to visit China. In 2005, the consulate has issued 8,200 visas to Saudis most of them for business and this is an increase of 25 percent over 2004.
Head of the delegation, Xu Bing, the vice secretary of the CECF and deputy director general of China Foreign Trade Center, spoke about the opportunities for trade at the fair especially for Saudis who in 2005, 4,909 of them were registered as buyers and conducted a trade value of $1.18 billion. Cao Jiachang, director of department of West Asia and African Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce, announced that there will be a high-level Chinese visit to Saudi Arabia soon in reciprocation of the visit by King Abdullah to China which they are very proud of especially that it was his first visit abroad after becoming king. China is eager for the implementation of the agreements signed between the two countries during the visit. China also expects a growth and a diversification in its investments in Saudi Arabia, which have reached around $60 million during the past three years mostly in gas sector. “We also hope to finalize the free-trade zone with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council before the end of the year,” said Jiachang.
Jiachang told Arab News that there are many investment opportunities for Saudis in China besides the oil and petrochemical industries, which so far have been the main sector since the first agreements were made with Aramco and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) in 1992. These sectors include industry, technical, tourism and, after China’s entry in WTO, it opened its banking, education and services sector in addition to investment in real estate. There are no obstacles to getting visas, which could be granted up to two years according to Jiachang, and investors can own up to 100 percent of their investments except in real estate where there certain restrictions depending on the location.
With regards to dumping accusations made against China and fears of that occurring in Saudi Arabia, Jiachang said that there was no dumping of Chinese products in Saudi Arabia. “Chinese products entered the Saudi market in a big way, Chinese exports to Saudi Arabia in 2005 was around $4 billion, but that is not dumping.
There were some kind of political problems raised by some countries regarding dumping especially on textile, home products and furniture, but we say that we provide reasonably priced products for consumers based on our salaries which are lower than other countries. We as a government do not approve or encourage dumping because it is bad for our economy and our reputation, but there is competition and if there are any concerns we are ready to negotiate and solve them amicably,” said Jiachang.