RIYADH, 18 September — The terror attacks on the United States will not harm investment relations between the Kingdom and the United States, which ranks No. 1 in terms of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in this country, said Prince Abdullah ibn Faisal ibn Turki, governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, while strongly condemning the attacks.
Prince Abdullah, who was the guest of honor here yesterday at the releasing ceremony of the “World Investment Report 2001” compiled by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said that total FDIs including US investments to Saudi Arabia exceeds SR34 billion since the opening of SAGIA. The releasing ceremony at the local UN mission was also attended by top UN officials besides senior Saudi officials and diplomats.
The 354-page comprehensive World Investment Report, with a preface by Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, gives an overview of the global investment scenario with special reference to the FDI trends and projections, the geographical dynamics of the FDI and the role of governments.
Saudi Arabia, according to the report, ranks as the 12th largest recipient of FDIs last year. Asked about major joint projects, which have attracted substantial FDIs, Prince Abdullah said that the money will go to a number of projects in different sectors, for which many Western and American companies have been granted operating licenses by the SAGIA. The US has emerged to be the largest investor in the Kingdom with nearly $6.5 billion capital injected by the US companies in a number of projects.
Saudi-US trade has been progressively growing. The two-way trade has been in the region of $20 billion annually. On the regional level, the six Gulf states have had the presence of over 700 US companies, which have on its payroll more than 25,000 Americans. These joint GCC-US business operations from the Gulf region support more than 950,000 US jobs and are the primary source of livelihood for millions of Americans.
Referring to the terror attacks on the US, Prince Abdullah spoke high about the US-Saudi relations saying that “these criminal acts will harm every country and the global economy as a whole.”
“Saudi Arabia will, however, tide over the economic crisis resulting from this terror attacks,” said the prince while adding that “it is really shocking and very bad for the image of the Arabs and the Muslims. Indeed, these attacks have tarnished our image before our allies.”
To a question regarding the role of SAGIA and its widening jurisdiction, he said that this Saudi investment agency has issued licenses to two major projects to be commissioned by a Japanese company and an Indian company.
“A US consortium has also been granted license to build 3,000 schools at a cost of SR13 billion”, said Fehied F. Al-Shareef, SAGIA’s deputy governor for investors services.
Al-Shareef said that “the American consortium, consisting of SGI Global, Aiu/Div of AIG-Dowd, Sanford & Mazza and Ste2EP LLC holding equal shares, has been in touch with the Saudi Education Ministry and the General Presidency for Girls Education. The whole project will be implemented on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis”.
The SAGIA has also granted a license to the British Zinc Resource Co. to set up an SR958 million facility to produce 100,000 tons of pure zinc locally.
Asked about future plans to ensure added protection to foreign investors and to provide more incentives, he said that the SAGIA is in the process of formulating a new policy within the framework of the new investment laws.
The SAGIA, he said, will welcome any country to lend their expertise to us in this process. Currently, SAGIA has experts from the US, UK, and Japan.
