KSA, New Zealand seek trade boost

Saudi Arabia and New Zealand are envisioning higher levels of economic cooperation with the Kingdom to open an embassy in Wellington and the New Zealand appointing a resident trade commissioner at its embassy in Riyadh.
Commenting on the development Greg Lewis, deputy head of mission, New Zealand embassy in Riyadh, said: “Saudi Arabia has confirmed its intention to open an embassy in New Zealand capital,
whereas our government announced to appoint trade commissioner in Riyadh, this will bolster our ties with greater co-operation between the two countries.”
“Its sole purpose is to strengthen the economic relationship with the Kingdom,” he stated.
He informed that the announcement came as the outcome of the just concluded 5th bi-annual Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) meeting in Wellington, in which the Kingdom side was led by Fahd bin
Abdulrahman Balghunaim, minister of agriculture.
During the JMC meeting, both the countries undertook to increase bilateral trade efforts, agreed to encourage investments, enhance co-operation in education including exchange of academic staff, extend co-operation in the field of technical and vocational training co-operation.
Moreover, New Zealand confirmed that Saudi nationals would continue to have visa free status to travel to the isle nation, he said.
As the Kingdom is a key export education market for New Zealand, the two sides have agreed to consider expanding the range of educational institutions and qualifications able to be studied by Saudi
scholarship students, he said.
The Kingdom has also expressed an interest in learning from New Zealand’s expertise in applying science and innovation to increase productivity and efficiency in agriculture, he said.
He signed off saying that the officials from both sides agreed to greater co-operation between the two countries regulators over market access issues.
New Zealand has a strong trading relationship with the Kingdom with over NZ$1.66 billion in bilateral trade.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia is the largest trading partner in the Middle East for the Kiwis.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is the seventh largest export market for New Zealand with bilateral trade at $4.86 billion in the year to 2012 and their exports to the region continue to grow at a rate of over 10 percent per year.