RIYADH: German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who ended his two-day visit to Riyadh yesterday, has called on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to provide more support to the world economy. The call was made by the visiting German minister following his talks with Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf and senior officials at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) here yesterday.
Steinmeier warned, “The Group of Eight (G-8) industrial nations could no longer resolve the current financial crisis that has gripped the world.” He said, “There is a need for a new framework on the global level that should include important emerging economies and the prosperous Gulf states of the Middle East.” Such a broader framework, he said, can help prevent recession and dilute the financial crisis that has affected all countries directly and indirectly.
He also urged the Arab world to provide more economic aid to Pakistan, which is on the brink of a financial crisis. Earlier, speaking at a reception hosted by the newly-appointed German ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Volkmar Wenzel, the German minister said that the G-8 industrialized nations were not in a position to resolve the ongoing crisis.
Steinmeier, who left for Abu Dhabi yesterday afternoon, called for more countries to join the major economic powers. His views to invite other prosperous countries in powerful blocks like G-8 were interpreted in Riyadh as contrary to what German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been saying. Merkel has been opposing an expansion of the G-8. But she is “open” to expanding the group at certain times, on certain topics so that all the relevant nations or organizations would be part of the discussion. Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who is set to run next year for chancellor against Christian Democrat Merkel, said he felt that creating a broader platform or framework including prosperous Gulf nations is the only way to create transparency in financial markets and to solve the problem individually and globally. He noted that the financial crisis issue would be discussed at the Washington summit in mid-November, in which Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will also participate.
The G-8 comprises seven big Western industrialized nations and Russia. The German foreign minister, who arrived in Riyadh late Monday from Islamabad, said, “the relations between the Kingdom and Germany have been progressively growing on all fronts.” He mentioned the visits of senior Saudi and German officials, while saying that the frequent bilateral consultations help the two countries to boost links.
In 2006, Steinmeier himself visited Saudi Arabia twice within three months. He also came to Saudi Arabia on May 7 last year, and King Abdullah was in Germany on Nov. 7 to 9, 2007. Economic relations between Germany and Saudi Arabia are developing dynamically thanks to Saudi Arabia’s high oil revenues of the past few years and the increased demand for goods such as machines and motor vehicles.
In 2007, German exports to Saudi Arabia went up 15 percent to 5.33 billion euros; however, imports sank 34 percent to 1.07 billion euros (mainly crude oil). In 2008, the trade volume is projected to go up again, although not dramatically.