JEDDAH, 19 March — A number of British companies participating in a catalogue exhibition at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry are on looking for joint venture partners, agents or distributors in Saudi Arabia.
“There is vast scope for our companies to establish joint ventures or enter into terms with local agents or distributors in a variety of activities,” British Consul General Andrew Henderson said at the opening of the show titled SuperCatex UK catalogue exhibition on Sunday.
JCCI Secretary General Dr. Majed Al-Kasabi and Henderson jointly inaugurated the three-day exhibition. On display are brochures and trade literature in such diverse sectors as plastics, engineering, medical, printing, leisure/tourism, publishing, electronics, telecommunications, horticulture, agriculture, textiles, education, catering, foods, construction, clothing, safety, surgical, automotive, training, transportation and chemical, etc.
The show has the participation of 150 British exporters, some of them new to this part of the world who are displaying catalogues of more than 2,500 products and services. “Local businessmen will find many opportunities for partnership with them,” Henderson told Arab News. “The business relationship between the two countries is strong and the current show that will next run at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (March 24-26) and at the Dammam Chamber of Commerce & Industry (April 1-3) will further cement the strong bilateral trade links,” he added.
“Many of the companies are willing to visit the Kingdom in due course to further explore the business potential with prospective partners and end-users,” Henderson said.
The Kingdom is the UK’s largest market for goods and services outside the OECD. Visible trade between the two countries amounted to over 2.5 billion pounds last year. Saudi visible exports to the UK have grown by 13 percent over the last two years. The UK takes 60 percent of the Kingdom’s non-oil goods for exports to the European Union. The stock of UK interest in the Kingdom is worth some 3.5 billion pounds, British Ambassador Sir Derek Plumbly said in a message to the exhibition.
Roger Church, deputy consul general and head of the commercial section at the British Consulate General, said: “This is the second show of its kind here. The first such event was held in September 1999 in Jeddah, Abha, Riyadh and Alkhobar.”
In the past years over 1,500 local companies have used SuperCatex to form new business relationships with British companies.
Copies of catalogues and a special edition of CD-ROM are being distributed to local businesses. The British exporters CD-ROM is web connective and features full company details on over 50,000 British companies, an exhibitor said.
