JEDDAH, 15 May — A delegation of Saudi businessmen yesterday began a ten-day visit to Tunisia to initiate commercial exchanges and investments between the two countries.
The visit is organized by the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) in cooperation with the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
It is in response to an invitation from the Tunisian Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and includes 17 Saudi businessmen.
CSCCI Secretary-General Osama Al-Kurdi said the visit is part of the ongoing consultations among businessmen in both countries and aimed at increasing bilateral trade in consumer goods, petrochemicals and plastics.
Intermediary goods top the list of Saudi exports to Tunisia with a value of SR100 million in 1999 and 91 percent of overall exports.
Capital goods were SR6 million or 5.5 percent and consumer goods SR4 million or 3.4 percent of total exports.
The Kingdom imported SR51 million worth of goods from Tunisia during the same time of which intermediary goods amounted to 80 percent of the total, followed by consumer goods with 20 percent.
The balance of trade remains in favor of the Kingdom.
Al-Kurdi said Saudi non-oil experts to Tunisia during the same period amounted to SR86 million of which 46 percent or SR40 million were plastic products followed by chemicals making up 36 percent or SR53 million and minerals of 7.5 percent and SR6.5 million.
