RIYADH, 29 January 2004 — The Kingdom and other GCC countries can look forward to improved bilateral trade with India as they attend the first industrial conference, “Opportunities and Challenges — 21st Century” to be held in Bombay on Feb. 17-18, according to Omar A. Bahlaiwa, secretary-general of the Saudi Committee for the Development of International Trade (CIT).
“The conference is definitely a boost for bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and India on one hand, and between the GCC and the subcontinent on the other,” Bahlaiwa, also deputy secretary-general of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI), told Arab News yesterday. He said that some 17 Saudi businessmen headed by Abdul Rahman Al-Jeraisy, chairman of the boards of CSCCI and Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), and Dr. Fahd S. Al-Sultan, CSCCI secretary-general, will join their GCC counterparts.
“India and the GCC countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE — have a close trade relationship facilitated by geographical proximity. India admires the economic progress achieved in the GCC and the liberalization of the Indian economy has yielded substantial benefits to the GCC,” Bahlaiwa said. He added that the GCC is now India’s second largest trading partner after the United States. India offers the GCC investment opportunities which so far have been largely overlooked.
“The GCC countries look to the subcontinent as a market with great potential and they all actively ask Indian business and industry to look at them for opportunities,” he said. As the GCC has now chosen India as a dialogue partner, in addition to the US and the European Union (EU), the GCC-India industrial conference will open the formal economic dialogue between India and the GCC countries.
Bahlaiwa said, “It will provide an excellent opportunity for businessmen to meet, exchange views and plan strategy for the future economic and industrial cooperation in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It will be an ideal forum for the private sector to network and strike deals.”
He said that India would be represented by a ministerial delegation and a large number of Indian companies.
Bahlaiwa added that representatives from information technology firms and banks would also participate.
