DAMMAM: Trade between Saudi Arabia and Spain will grow at the rate of 10 percent this year, Spanish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Manuel Alabart said in a function at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EPCCI) in Dammam yesterday.
Speaking at the meeting organized by EPCCI to receive a delegation of Spanish railway companies currently visiting the Kingdom, Alabart said his country and Saudi Arabia had excellent trade relations.
The delegation members discussed with Saudi businessmen various aspects of the upcoming railway projects in the Kingdom. EPCCI’s deputy chairman and assistant secretary general also attended the meeting.
“Spain has been striving to reduce the difference in the trade balance between the two countries; it is currently in favor of Saudi Arabia. Spain imported three times its exports to Saudi Arabia in 2007,” the ambassador said.
Saudi imports of Spanish products in 2007 were estimated at 5 percent of the total of Spain’s exports in the same year. While its exports were worth $253.8 billion in that year, its imports stood at $391.2 billion, he added.
The delegation met businessmen representing 12 companies specializing in railway works and discussed areas of likely cooperation between them in railway projects linking Dammam with Jeddah and also the Haramain project between Makkah and Madinah in addition to the proposed 1,500 km long Gulf railway.