RIYADH, 27 November 2006 — Saudis visiting Malaysia will have a number of special tourism packages to choose from next year when the country celebrates Visit Malaysia Year 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of its independence.
According to Malaysian Ambassador Ismail Ibrahim, tourist traffic from the Kingdom to Malaysia went up by 41 percent — from 21,640 during the first half of 2005 to 30,509 for the same period this year. He attributed the increase to the growing number of Saudi students. “The country also has good facilities for medical treatment,” the ambassador said.
Regarding the economic city in Jizan announced in November, the $30 billion project will be implemented by Malaysia’s construction giant MMC together with the Saudi Binladin Group. According to MMC, the new industrial zone will comprise two-thirds of the Jizan development. It will include a port, an aluminum smelter, steel plant, oil refinery, copper processing plant as well as fisheries and other agro-related industries.
As for Malaysian expatriates in the Kingdom, Ambassador Ibrahim pointed out that there were 900 Malaysian expatriates in Riyadh, of whom 600-700 were nurses. The rest are skilled personnel working in the IT and banking sectors as well as with Saudi Aramco. The total number of Malaysian expatriates in the Kingdom stands at over 1,700.
