JEDDAH, 6 February — A two-day conference on investments in Saudi Arabia will open today in Houston, Texas, with government officials and businessmen form the Kingdom and the United States taking part.
Organized by the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the conference will discuss prospects for investments especially in petrochemical industries and mining in light of the new economic reforms in addition to the steps taken by the Kingdom toward privatization, said Osama Al-Kurdi, CSCCI secretary-general.
Dr. Hashim Yamani, minister of industry and electricity, Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, the Kingdom's ambassador to the United States, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Tuwaijiri, deputy minister of industry and electricity, and Al-Kurdi will address the conference. They will be joined through satellite from Riyadh by Prince Abdullah ibn Faisal ibn Turki, governor of the General Investment Authority. From the American side, the speakers include the mayor of Houston, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Middle East and North Africa and the chairman of the Saudi American Business Council. The American ambassador to the Kingdom will take part in the final session.
Other participants include executives from the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, Riyad Bank, the Saudi American Bank and Xenel group.
Al-Kurdi said the conference is one in a series of economic forums planned by CSCCI to introduce investment opportunities in the Kingdom in the wake of recent reforms with the aim of attracting foreign capital.
The United States is the leading trade partner of the Kingdom with Saudi exports in 1999 reaching SR37.2 billion and American imports to the Kingdom during the same year reaching SR19.8 billion.
Kurdi said areas open for investment in the Kingdom included industry, mining, power, desalination and tourism in addition to activities relating to privatization.
