RIYADH, 21 September 2006 — The United States will send an official trade delegation to the Kingdom after the holy month of Ramadan, Israel Hernandez, assistant secretary and director general of the Trade Promotion and Commercial Service, announced at a reception hosted yesterday in his honor by the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council.
Hernandez who is on a brief visit to the Kingdom met Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in Jeddah on Tuesday. Senior officials of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry, prominent businessmen in the capital and US Ambassador James C. Oberwetter were present at the reception held at the Equestrian Club.
“The time is ripe for a US delegation to the Kingdom to strengthen the bilateral trade relations between the two countries, Hernandez said, describing the Kingdom as a strong voice in the region.
“For the past 30 years we have grown together and this is the time that we need to have person to person dialogue to enhance the relations.”
He noted that with such a meeting, the US and Saudi businessmen could continue their dialogue and identify new areas of joint ventures in the Kingdom.
“We have 1,700 specialized companies and 100 trade offices to promote foreign trade and investment in the US and I will bring the best people here to promote trade in the Kingdom,” he said.
He said the structure and the composition of the delegation are yet to be decided and hoped that the intended visit will open new areas of cooperation in the field of trade.
During the audience with the king, he discussed the steps that could be taken to pursue the economic dialogue following President George W. Bush and King Abdullah’s last talks. Describing the Kingdom’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a remarkable entry, he said: “The WTO has become stronger with the Kingdom’s admission. The entire international community was supportive of the Kingdom’s entry into this organization.”
Regarding the issuance of visas to Saudi businessmen seeking entry to US, he said that he would help find the best solution to ease this problem.
“The Saudi businessmen have given me a set of recommendations and that issue will be settled in the coming months to facilitate quick issuance of visas,” he said. “The purpose of the proposed delegation is to keep the bilateral business relations intact,” said Oberwetter, pointing out that the two-way relations are progressing at a good pace and they have improved over the past two years without any impediments.
Hussein Al-Athel, secretary general of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Arab News that this is a good development in the Saudi-US trade relations.
“An official US trade delegation is to come to the Kingdom after a lapse of one year,” he said. “This shows that things are falling into right places.”
Saudi Arabia is the United States’ largest trading partner in the Near East and North Africa and it is the 17th worldwide. Additionally, the United States remains Saudi Arabia’s largest investment partner with close to $9.3 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI). As of 2005, the United States exported $5.56 billion worth of goods to the Kingdom while its imports from the Kingdom stood at $26.1 billion.