RCCI Secretary General Hussein A. Al-Athel and Ambassador Ahmad jointly opened the exhibition.

“We export a substantial quantity of our Indian products to the Kingdom since we maintain an excellent bilateral trade relations,” Ahmad said, pointing out that India could offer a variety of non-traditional items that could find easy market in the Kingdom. “Besides non-traditional products there are plenty of investment opportunities for Saudi businessmen in India. Also there are various attractive tourists destinations that could interest the Saudi clientele,” the envoy said.

“India sees the Kingdom as an important economic partner for investments, joint ventures, transfer of technology projects and joint projects in third countries,” Ahmad said.

Since mid-2000, a number of Indian firms have taken advantage of the new Saudi laws and established joint venture projects or wholly-owned subsidiaries in the Kingdom.

According to Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), it has issued 565 licenses (225 industrial and 340 commercial licenses) to Indian companies for joint ventures or fully owned entities, which are expected to bring total investment of $2.07 billion in Saudi Arabia.

These licenses are for projects in diverse sectors such as management and consultancy services, construction projects, telecommunications, information technology and pharmaceuticals, among others. Moreover, several Indian companies have established collaborations with Saudi companies and working in the Kingdom in the areas of designing, consultancy, financial services and software development.

Al-Athel said that India has a large concentration of expatriate population in the Kingdom which facilitates the country to export more indigenous items to cater to the market.

“It’s a fast growing economy and we would like to cooperate with India to get some more of its products that could fetch a ready market in the Kingdom,” the secretary general said, adding that such exhibitions will help Saudi businessmen familiarize with new Indian products and services that could be harnessed for the Saudi market.

The exhibition showcased catalogues, CDs and other publicity materials from Indian companies from various sectors.